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
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unbiased and professional
manner. Content published in
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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
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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.
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