If blacksmiths could survive the Industrial Revolution, then we think they've got a pretty good shot at being around twenty years from now. After all, someone's gotta shoe the nine million horses in the United States.

Of course, blacksmiths don't just look to satisfy equine taste in iron footwear. They can also be involved in the entertainment industry—it took a New Zealand blacksmith four years to forge all the weaponry and armor needed for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And then there's the smithy at tourist attractions like Colonial Williamsburg: someone legit has to be manning the bellows. You may think this career is one that died with the advent of modernity, but as long as sword-and-sorcery flicks get made by Hollywood, there will be a need for blacksmiths.

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