The most important occupation in the medieval Polotsk was the processing of ferrous metal which was made from cribs. Polotsk artisans owned forge welding and forging of iron and steel. Practiced soldering, coating products with non-ferrous metals, chasing and inlay. Metal was treated with grinding wheels and bars. Some iron products (stirrups, spurs) were covered with a thin layer of tin (tinning), others were inlaid with non-ferrous metals, small punching was used. Steel strips were welded on the working edge of labor implements. In the 11-13th centuries in Polotsk among the artisans of metal processing there were 16 specialties. Polotsk craftsmen manufactured products at a high technological level. The assortment of blacksmiths in the Museum of Local Lore is represented both by handicrafts and handicrafts (bit, braid, adze, fish hook, lures). The most difficult products of the Polotsk mechanics were locks, which made them hinged, laid on, and immovable. The museum has a small fairly common in the 12-13th centuries a padlock of a cylindrical shape, which has a handle. For locks of this type, special cranked keys were required. In the museum you can see different keys: a key from a padlock, a master key with two teeth from a patch lock, a bar key with a ring for hanging from a cylindrical lock. An interesting find is the key to the inner fixed lock of the 30s of the 13th century. Its openwork bezel resembles a square with a cross in the middle. Such a rhombic-cross motif (“keys”) was spread in the Belarusian ornamentation of fabrics, known from ethnographic materials. The museum exhibits ancient scissors, similar to modern tools for shearing sheep. Such products were common from the tenth century, but the finds of ancient articulated scissors are very rare. Unusual objects for modern people today are the roll chair of the 13th century for the extraction of sparks and ice drift thirteenth century, which was used in the winter for horseshoe to avoid slipping.
