WCU alumnus and ‘Forged in Fire’ contestant Brock Martin visits campus for blacksmithing demo
Master blacksmith and WCU alumnus Brock Martin (left) shows WCU mechanical engineering student Seth Brown how to hit the metal after it has been fired.
By Julia Duvall
“Strike while the iron is hot” is an old saying about taking an opportunity while you have it.
Timm Muth, alumnus and professor of practice in Western Carolina University’s College of Engineering and Technology, took that saying literally when he invited master blacksmith Brock Martin, a 2010 graduate of Western Carolina University, to campus to demonstrate blacksmithing to students in his introductory material science course.
Before coming to WCU to teach, Muth was the director and project founder of the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro, where he worked with Martin, one of the featured metal artists at the park.
“I’m a hands-on kind of guy so we would always take students to the JCGEP, but it has become so popular and such a valuable asset to the county that it is too crowded to bring classes out there,” Muth said. “So now we bring the artists here to campus. The students have spent the last few weeks learning about steel so now they are learning from Brock about the qualities of steel change depending on how it heats and cools. He knows steel on a very intimate level and provides some unique insights into working with the material.”
Martin earned degrees in entrepreneurship and Japanese from WCU. He has been a full-time blacksmith for 17 years and was a contestant on the show Forged in Fire. He provides some unique insights into working with steel.
“Being a WCU graduate, I enjoy coming back here and working with the students and sharing what I really enjoy,” Martin said. “I’ve been working with Timm and the JCGEP pretty much since the beginning, so getting to work with him in this role is great.”
Martin set up an outdoor blacksmith work area and students in Muth’s class as well as other engineering classes watched him work and tried their hand at making pieces, specifically metal hooks.
“There are six basic forms and techniques that Brock is specifically showing the students,” Muth said. “This is also a great way to give them real-world safety experience in a controlled environment, as they will be dealing with open flames, turning gears and other safety hazards in their engineering careers. This gives our students a good foundation for learning how to be safe in these environments.”
Seth Brown, a junior from Hendersonville studying mechanical engineering, is thankful for the hands-on learning experiences WCU students are given.
“I went to some other universities and wasn't really pleased with the amount of help you could get in terms of grasping the content,” Brown said. “Then, I decided to go to WCU. The one-on-one you get here really helps in understanding the material. It has been a real enjoyment coming to WCU because the professors make themselves available to help us. Getting to be hands-on with this forge is awesome and something you wouldn’t get to do anywhere else.”
