Logan Stowell of Atlanta hammers hot iron held by Greg Gehner of Edinboro at the Center for Metal Arts in Johnstown. Nate Weiss of Johnstown (back) watches as he waits at the forge for metal to heat. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
JOHNSTOWN — While the big mills employing hundreds of people are long gone, the age-old craft of forging hot metal into tools and works of art lives on in the historic Cambria Iron and Steel complex, where the Center for Metal Arts occupies five buildings and brings in students from around the world. Nail Tools
The center, which offers workshops and residencies, is known as a “destination school,” said Executive Director Patrick Quinn, adding that the longer programs draw students from every state as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia and more.
“We offer everything from tool making to traditional joinery, architectural style work and sculpture,” Quinn said.
The not-for-profit school uses the Blacksmith Shop, which features a full complement of original turn-of-the-century forging and smithing tools and a variety of steam-powered hammers, including a 10-ton steam hammer.
Other buildings in use include the Rolling Mill Office Building, Pattern Shop, Guard Shack and CMA House.
Working in the old buildings and among the equipment from a bygone era, students get a hands-on learning experience and a history lesson, too.
“This facility is fantastic,” said Ohio resident Carrie Elvey, who participated in the six-week winter residency this year.
Elvey, who has been blacksmithing for a couple of years, created a giant ant and several moths for a display about dark sky conservation.
The center had all the tools she needed, she said. “They let us have free reign.”
While Elvey was wrapping up her time at the center, the complex is a beehive of activity nearly year round, Quinn said.
Programs “really get cranking” in early April and run nonstop through mid-November before the pace starts to slow, he said.
As executive director, Quinn oversees all aspects of running the school’s educational programs, including maintaining the machinery, fundraising for restoration of the historic shop and creating the curriculum.
When programs slow down, he makes assessments for the next year’s course offerings.
There are a lot of students who become independent metal workers after taking classes, he said, but some students are already established business owners who want to learn a specific trade or technique from a mastersmith. There are also students who take classes at the school as a hobby, he said.
The workshops range from one day to six weeks and anywhere in between, Quinn said, adding the shorter workshops draw more local residents.
Atlanta resident Logan Stowell, 27, said a former employer encouraged him to take classes at the center several years ago, and he’s been a returning student ever since.
“I came to this residency to be inspired by other artists that work in my craft and take a break from my normal working environment,” he said, adding he enjoys doing collaborative work with some friends who he’s met at the school.
Quinn said the school has between 14 and 20 different instructors and a “very, very high” percentage of returning students in its paid workshops and residencies, which change every year.
“Every class is full of returning students, and that’s the biggest compliment, I think,” he said. “We grow every year.”
This year’s classes include weekend workshops, such as a two-day friction folder course for seasoned beginner-level students in April and September and a May 4 introduction to forging course, during which students will create their own fire pokers.
On March 25, Quinn will teach beginning students power hammer techniques during a four-day workshop.
The workshop is designed to give students a firm grasp on the safe and efficient use of power hammers with a special focus placed on tools and techniques that apply to bladesmithing, he said.
According to Quinn, students should expect to execute several forgings that deal with basic hammer function and techniques to develop a strong familiarity with the machines and various tools. Once a strong understanding of the machine is developed, he said they’ll go over how those techniques will help students forge both hidden tang and integral bolster chef knives.
One aspect that many people don’t realize is that math plays an important part in forging.
Not only do blacksmiths need to understand the material and shapes, they need to figure out how much material to use to get their finished project.
Quinn draws everything before he redistributes the mass of the object through forging.
“We have to do a ton of volume-metric calculations so that we understand how much material we need to make a specific tool or object,” he said. “It’s helpful for me to draw the shapes to scale, measure everything, calculate the volumes and then translate that to the raw material so that I know how much to cut.”
Other workshops this year include making a collaborative sculpture and forging a variety of tools, such as a pair of scissors, hammers and a handmade padlock.
Classes are small, allowing for everyone to safely work on their projects. In addition, tongs, hammer, top tools and hand tools are forged by the staff.
There are anvils, vices and swage blocks, and both solid fuel and gas furnaces. For larger forgings, there are three self-contained air hammers available.
In addition to workshops and residencies, the center offers private lessons, open studio times and public tours.
The tours present a chance for area residents to see the historic buildings, a tool-making demonstration and learn more about the history of the Cambria Iron historic landmark. Participants will get to see the 4,000-pound and 3,000-pound Chambersburg power hammers, recently restored to working form, and a live blacksmithing demonstration in the workshop.
Tour dates and times can be found on the center’s website at centerformetalarts.org. Click on the “About” tab at the top of the page and scroll down to “Tours” to register.
Tours last about 1.5 hours and participants should wear closed-toe shoes.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.
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