Special Feature David Shultz: Blacksmithing... Turning Metal Into Functioning Art If you're walking anywhere near Dogwood Forest Road, you just might hear the distinctive ringing sound of a hammer beating metal. That's David Shultz, Fairview Forest's resident blacksmith. As one of the craftsmen at the mountain's first annual craft fair a few weeks ago, David set up a forge outside the clubhouse, fired it up and showed off his skill turning metal into functional art. "I got interested in blacksmithing four years ago and took a course at Blue Ridge Community College in Hendersonville," said the retired carpenter and steel company employee. "Blacksmithing is more or less a hobby for me." Out of raw steel, David makes things like strap hinges for doors, decorative supports and braces, hooks, racks for pots and pans and coat racks. "I like to make useful but artsy stuff for around the house," he said. David, who is a member of the Artists Blacksmith Association of North America, works with steel that he finds at area scrap yards. "A lot of thought goes behind every piece," he said. "You can't just grab some metal and start beating on it. I know what I'm going to make before I start, and plan it out how I'm going to do it. There is a little finesse behind it. You can't just be a brute and whale on it or you'll mess it up. "There's kind of a magic to forging hot metal. You have to know when it's ready by looking at the color. That just comes from experience. You can start bending steel around 1,400 degrees when it's dark red. For forging, you have to get the fire up to 2,100 to 2,300 degrees. When you're forging, you only strike two sides of the metal. You strike one side of it, turn it 90 degrees and strike the other side. Then you turn it back again and strike the side you just did before. You do it that way because the anvil does the work on the opposite sides that you're hammering. "You have to remain focused because when you take the piece out of the forge, you have only 15 to 20 seconds to start forming it into the shape you want before it cools off. You have even less time when you first start out because the anvil is still cold and sucks the heat right out of the piece. Each time you bring it out of the fire, you must have your hammer and other tools ready and know what you're going to do with it while it's hot. "From the time I fire up the forge, it can take up to two hours to make a hinge because it's a precision thing. It has to fit just right and be nice and snug." David works at an outdoor covered workshop at home and has three forges — two coal-fired and one fueled by propane. "I use a gas forge most of the time because it's so easy to push a button. You don't have to build a fire out of coal." He hammers on a 165-pound anvil. "When I shape the steel, I get into a rhythm with my hammer," he said. "The anvil rings, which is kind of nostalgic. But if I'm doing it all day long, I tend to get tired of that sound so I put a magnet underneath the anvil, and that takes the ringing away. It sounds more like a thud instead of a ring. If I'm demonstrating blacksmithing to people, I like to create the ringing sound. The blacksmith at the Biltmore Estate is so good with his hammer that it's like he plays music on his anvil. He's been doing it for 30 years." David comes from a line of craftsmen. His father was a carpenter and his grandfather was a shoe cobbler. "I enjoy taking a piece of steel and creating something out of it," he said. "I'm making something original in a traditional way. It's not going to say made in Japan or China. The tradition of the old timey blacksmith has always intrigued me. The more I do it, the more I like it. "About 90 percent of the stuff I've made I've given away to family and friends. I think I've got all my friends satisfied. I've sold my stuff at a few craft shows. I'm starting to stockpile some things so I'll be ready for other craft shows, like the one in Fairview Forest next year." And, no, David doesn't make horseshoes. The person who does that is called a farrier. "I also work with wood," he said. "I build cabinets and furniture and other things. That's my trade. But making things out of wood is like work to me. It doesn't intrigue me the way blacksmithing does." By combining his woodworking and blacksmithing skills, he does custom work like tables, mantles and doors and decorative functional pieces. Born and raised in Asheville, David graduated from Reynolds High School in 1969 and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Upon his discharge in 1972, he helped build a house on Weeping Cherry Forest Road in what was then known as Arrowhead Hideaway. (Unfortunately, the house burned down a few years ago.) He also worked on another house here, a double roundette. "There weren't too many people living here back then and the roads were dirt," he recalled. "You needed a Jeep to get up here. It sure was a lot different back then. I never thought I'd end up living here." Years later David bought property on Dogwood Forest Road and eventually built the house himself in about six months. He and his wife Julia Moore moved into it in 2005. "It's a great house," he said. "I have an 1,800-square-foot basement which I turned into my woodworking shop. I have planers, joiners and table saws down there. And with my blacksmithing equipment outside, I could spend my life here and never have to leave." Fairview Forest Homeowners' Association   •   101 Fairview Forest Drive   •   Fairview, NC 28730