Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..
Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
The Carthage Forge is located on the lower level of a restored historic building near downtown Carthage. Owner Matt King’s large workspace will do double-duty as the meeting room for the newly forming Sandhills Blacksmith Guild.
Jerry Darnell of Mill Creek Forge, in Westmoore. File photo.
Matt King hammers a piece of metal at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
Matt King displays the sign he plans to install on the front of the renovated building where The Carthage Forge is located. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
An 18th century adjustable candle stick crafted by Matt King at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
Matt King holds a hanger with a gilded bronze leaf he crafted at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
The Carthage Forge is located on the lower level of a restored historic building near downtown Carthage. Owner Matt King’s large workspace will do double-duty as the meeting room for the newly forming Sandhills Blacksmith Guild.
A hammer, anvil, a pair of tongs and a forge: The basic tools needed for blacksmithing haven’t changed much through the course of history. Modern artisans like Jerry Darnell and Matt King are keeping the tradition alive, and growing.
“Crafts are not something you can read a book about and master. You have to pay your dues,” says Darnell. “Some things come easier than others, but blacksmithing is not one of them.”
A Moore County native, Darnell grew up around iron work and inherited his father’s welding shop when he was still a young teacher at Pinecrest High School, where he taught math and computer science for 37 years.
“I’d come home from work and piddle,” eventually adding a blacksmith shop after seeing a demonstration in the early 1970s at a craft fair in Boone. “I built a forge and got a piece of metal hot and started beating on it. One thing led to another and I learned quickly that, ‘Gee, I didn’t know anything,’” laughs Darnell.
Jerry Darnell of Mill Creek Forge, in Westmoore. File photo.
An acquaintance suggested he look into taking a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown. There were five people that first year and “no one knew anything, including the instructor.”
The following summer Darnell returned — and the next year as well — to learn from a true master craftsman, the late Francis Whitaker.
“He was the first person we met who knew how to do something. At the time he was 73 years old,” Darnell recalls.
By 1990, Darnell was the seasoned expert teaching apprentice blacksmiths as an instructor at John C. Campbell Folk School, teaching every Fourth of July week for 31 years, in addition to teaching gigs in Pennsylvania and Missouri.
Darnell also opened Mill Creek Forge in the Westmoore community, near Seagrove. His shop is well-known for producing replica furnishings for historic sites, private historic homes and historical movies and television shows, including 78 handcrafted candle chandeliers and wall sconces for the movie set of the Oscar-nominated film “The Revenant.”
“I guess I’ve been doing it about as long as anyone else. There’s not too many of us beating and banging in their 70s,” he says.
Down the road, Matt King and his family moved from upstate New York to Carthage in 2013, when he accepted an engineering position with a manufacturing business in Sanford. One weekend, while out wedding gift shopping with his wife, King stumbled upon Mill Creek Forge. Two hours passed quickly.
Matt King hammers a piece of metal at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
“After a long conversation with Jerry, I knew that blacksmithing was something that I wanted to learn more about,” he says. “I spent a few Saturdays with Jerry and I was hooked.”
King started with a small forge in a lean-to in his backyard, but there were limitations on what he could do in such a small space.
On his daily commute, he regularly passed by a dilapidated building just two blocks from the historic courthouse in Carthage, that was once a feed and seed store and then a family-owned air conditioning and repair business. The roof of the low-slung cinderblock building had collapsed in. There was talk around town of the building being demolished to make way for apartments.
King reached out to the Grimm family and they made a deal.
“They were excited that I wanted to preserve the building,” King says of the 2.5 year rehab project, which included rebuilding the walls, installing a new roof and new floors.
On the lower level of The Carthage Forge, King has created an expansive work space where he emphasizes traditional forging techniques, though he’s also invested in some modern equipment such as a power hammer and torch. The space is large enough to accommodate big projects such as decorative railings and gates.
Matt King displays the sign he plans to install on the front of the renovated building where The Carthage Forge is located. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
On Friday evenings, he often stops by Mill Creek Forge to visit his mentor and now good friend, Jerry Darnell.
“I’m up there about every other week and every time I learn something new,” he says.
“The appeal of blacksmithing is the creation process. To take a raw piece of metal and turn it into something with a hammer and heat, for me that is the joy of it. To take metal and turn it into something that is aesthetically pleasing and also functional.”
In 2015, a new reality show began airing on The History Channel. “Forged in Fire” follows a competition-style format with four blacksmiths tackling blade-forged projects over three elimination rounds.
“It set the world on fire. Everyone suddenly wants to make knives,” laughs Darnell, who prefers crafting traditional functional historic pieces, not weapons. “What they are making isn’t fake but the way they are filming it, choreographing it, the way they are doing it is fake. But it was a shot in the arm because people became interested again in blacksmithing. You had people buying that stuff up and they were really excited about forging, but they didn’t know what to do with it.”
There are a handful of blacksmithing schools in North Carolina and, Darnell cautions, like any craft it takes practice and patience to master.
“You hate to burst anybody’s bubble, but blacksmithing is like playing a musical instrument. Just because you can play guitar doesn’t mean you can play like Eric Clapton. It is incredibly hard to learn how to do some of the things that are done in a blacksmith shop,” Darnell said.
Back in the 1980s, Darnell served as president of the Artistic Blacksmith Association of North Carolina, a statewide organization committed to strengthening the blacksmithing community and promoting public understanding of the trade. There are six chapters; however, here locally in the Sandhills, there was a big hole. Interested blacksmiths had to travel over an hour to find a chapter.
Word began to spread about King’s new shop in Carthage, which has a large enough work area to accommodate groups. The NCABANA president appealed to him directly.
An 18th century adjustable candle stick crafted by Matt King at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
“They pushed me until I said yes,” he says, with a smile. His wife, Joanna, is helping out with spreading the word online and created a Facebook page for the new Sandhills chapter of the Artistic Blacksmith Association of North Carolina.
The chapter will hold its inaugural meeting Saturday, July 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at The Carthage Forge. The meeting, King explains, is informal with time for a meet-and-greet, lunch and a demonstration. All interested blacksmiths, regardless of experience, are welcome to attend
Matt King holds a hanger with a gilded bronze leaf he crafted at The Carthage Forge. Laura Douglass/The Pilot
“Jerry is my inspiration for this whole thing. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here,” King says. “I’ve got the space and I want to give back what Jerry gave me. When you have a good mentor like that, it is invaluable. Being able to give that to someone else, to carry on my passion, would mean a lot.”
Mill Creek Forge is located at 4512 Busbee Road, Seagrove. Visit online at www.millcreekforge.com or call (910) 464-3888.
The Carthage Forge is located at 211 Martin St., Carthage. Visit online at www.thecarthageforge.com or call (864) 363-1155.
The Sandhills Blacksmith Guild, a local chapter of the Artistic Blacksmith Association of No…
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