Smed vs hefslagare

[Carolyn Eccles]

What is the difference between a smed and a hefslagare. My dictionary defines both as a blacksmith

[Monica Svedberg]

Hi Carolyn,
A hovslagare is a smed (blacksmith) who makes horse shoes and puts new shoes on horses, a farrier.

[Bo Berndtsson]

hovslagare = farrier
smed = (black)smith

[Carolyn Eccles]

Thanks Bo and Monica
I take it they are the same. Why would a parish call some men a smed and some a hovslagare?

[Monica Svedberg]

Carolyn,  
A smed (blacksmith) makes all sorts of iron works in a forge.
A hovslagare (farrier) shoes horses. Hov means hoof.  
It´s two different professions today, but formerly it was the smed who shoed horses. The owner of the horse took the horse to the forge for shoeing.
Therefore a man may well be called smed in one church book, and called hofslagare in anorther if he mainly worked with horses.

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

The SAOB dictionary says that in the past hovslagare not only shoed horses and made horseshoes and horseshoe nails, but also cured horses.
 
And under smed, it mentions that over time, several specialised types of smiths branched off as separate professions from the original do-it-all blacksmith - hovslagare, nailsmiths, scissorsmiths, locksmiths, weaponsmiths and armorsmiths.