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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2012)
The Clackamas Print Wednesday, June 6, 2012 newsed@clackamas.edu News White hot metal melds with students Romans explains the fin e r points o f blacksmithing to D a vid Williams as he heats up iron bars in a forge. By Craig Hartrampf The Clackamas Print*“ tarlg' fahg ta!ng "is all you can hear. Student black smiths are^ pounding..out. new creations from steel and. other metals to form something thèy can imagine i n . their minds, forming new shapes like artistic forks and more simple things like a rod that’s been modified to. fit into a specific device. The class is Welding „103,. an elective that any student can participate in. W hether it’s a welder expanding his skills to be more marketable or an artist who’s trying tq learn a new form o f art to express him self in, blacksmithing is open for just about anyone. The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased and professional manner. Content published in The Print is not screened or subject to censorship. blacksmithing for example, basic paper and draw an apple or concepts like metal manipula something weird. Blacksmithing tion,, tools, heat control and the is the same thing. I can make a metal itself,” said Romans, j tree stump with branches grow Romans admits that there is. a ing from every which way and steep learning curve at first. out.” “Like using a hammer, a lot Jonah Baker, a student at o f people d o n t know how to use Clackamas Com m unity College, Adam Buell is a blacksmith a hamm er correctly. But after enjoys blacksmithing with a pas in g assistant who; started as a [students! get used to it, it isn’t sion. student in the class and stayed as hard,” he said. with it volunteering until he Buell says blacksmithing has. [was offered a job helping out. lost its popularity and was dying ’l ig h t’ uir died m?“ from the 50s all the w ayt6'’tlie toty about this ever increasingly ‘90s. Romans also said over time, g g S a popular class. with new technology advancing “ [Blacksmithing] started off through the years, blacksmithing A lo t o f peo p le six years ago, but it lacked struc had become archaic. However ture and direction, and it wasn’t the class is becoming more peo p le d o n t know until Bert Romans took things popular. Romans credited the how to use a over did the class really have a new popularity o f the class due ham m er correctly,” structured material and direc to the fact that blacksmithing tion,” said Buell. “We now start has m any artistic uses as well as with learning hooks and we go commercial. Bert Romans from there to more complicated Blacksmithing/Welding “If you want to use [black things.” instructor smithing] as an art, it opens Welding and blacksmithing up a whole new world for you. ihstructor Romans contributed W ith blacksmithing, you can to the class and how it/s struc- make [art] more organic,” said tured. Romans. “It’s like an artist. They • “I w ant to pursue this as “We start with ,the basics o f start off with a blank piece for m uch as I can. I’d like to make it 6i Editors Copy Editor: Katherine Suydam News Editor: Joshua Dillen Arts&Culture: Isaac Soper Sports Editor: John William Howard Associate Sports Editor: Emily Rask 19600 Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 Writers & Photographers Editor-in-Chief: Brian-Baldwin ■ ■ . David Beasley Breanna Craine Joey Fisher Craig Hartrampf Patrick Quirm Felicia Skriver Chris Taylor Steven Weldon Photo Editor: Brad Helneke Web Editor: Anna-AxelsOn Design Editor: James Duncan Ad Manager: Patrick Emerson Adviser: Melissa Jones 503-594-6266 Production Assistants Mollie Berry Járonte Goldsby Martin Gonzalez Harley Jackson Hicham Kerkour Christian Adams • Joey Nardin I Ellen Niles Trent Noon Evon Trembly as an interior designer, even if it’s just as a hobby,” he said. Baker had a prior interest in it before he started, unlike fel low student Ben Cooper, who is seeking his associate’s in m anu facturing. H e took the class for a very different reason. “I took the class to fill out the two remaining credits to go full time and it ended up being fun,” ¿¡aid Cooper. Both Baker and C ooper agreed that one o f thè more im portant skills taught in the class was how to use a hammer properly. W hen it comes to job seek ing, Cooper said, “Clackamas C om m unity College is well known for their welding and blacksmithing in the Pordand manufacturing business.” This opens up a lot o f poten tial for students who want a job, not only coming from a highly regarded source, but one that’s also dose to home. W hen asked about how well the blacksmith ing class is, Cooper gave it nine out o f ten. Contact Information chiefed@clackamas.edu copyed@clackamas.edu ; newsed@clackamas.edu aced @clacka mas. edu sportsed@clackamas.edu photoed@clackamas.edu admgr@clackamas.edu webeditor@clackamas.edu
