- Another tradition that's become art is blacksmithing.

Producer Clay Johnson and his videographer Eric Olson met Jordan Jackson, a blacksmith who won a forging competition on the History channel, and now he's opened up a place in Rutherfordton where you can forge your own iron masterpiece at Night Owl Iron Works.

[door opens] - This class will obviously be starting with a railroad spike.

You guys are gonna forge it up to about this point.

- [Clay] Jordan Jackson is a professional blacksmith.

He's teaching students how to turn a railroad spike into a knife.

- [Jordan] And it allows them to kind of just sort of dip their toe in the pond a little bit.

- [Clay] Students put their spikes into a 2,500 degree forge to soften them.

They'll form a handle, then draw the spikes out, and flatten them to form the blade.

- [Jordan] Then just hammer.

[hammer whacks] Turn it 90 degrees.

[hammer whacks] I just want people to see that they can do something that maybe they're not comfortable with.

It's kind of so far outside of their norm, so I want them to see that, you know, they can watch it, but, you know, you can also also do it too.

You know, it just takes a little bit of guidance most of the time.

- [Clay] Jordan used to be a hairstylist and got into blacksmithing as a hobby.

- One of my favorite things is taking like something that's known for its strength and, you know, rigidity and being able to get it hot and just make it, you know, move and do what I what I want to, and taking something that could essentially be trash or just a plain piece of bar steel and turning it into, you know, something beautiful like a sculpture or a tool of some sort to use.

- [Clay] Jordan became a full-time blacksmith in 2018 and encouraged his good friend Rachel to do leather work.

- He kept trying 'cause he needed some leather work for all of the knobs and things he was making, and he just didn't have time to do it.

So he asked me if I would and I didn't think I could, but he kept on asking.

I tried it because I've never done anything with my hands before, and I didn't have high expectations, but I absolutely loved it and it wasn't great at first, but I just kept trying and I just fell in love with it.

We had this crazy dream of just seeing if we could make a living at it, and we had no idea what we were doing.

- [Clay] In 2018, they forged a partnership and a business called Night Owl Iron Works and Leathercraft, named for the early days when blacksmithing was just a nighttime hobby for Jordan.

- [Rachel] It just is a testament, I think, to our relationship.

- [Clay] They forged a marriage that same year too.

- [Rachel] We're very different, but we come together, and it is just such a great marriage.

We make a really wonderful couple and that's not lost on us.

- [Clay] The Jacksons sell their work online, at craft festivals, and to customers at their retail shop in downtown Rutherfordton.

- [Reporter] It's not just a retail piece that they've picked up.

You know, it has a story.

And when they pass it on to their kids or a friend, and it sees a lot and it's been through a lot, you know, and it builds its own character, and it's a piece that has a story.

- [Clay] Soon after opening their business, the Jacksons started teaching classes.

- The interest in the classes really picked up.

A lot of people wanted to learn to do what we're doing.

It's funny because a lot of the times we hear that our crafts are a dying art.

And I don't think that's true at all, because we see so many young people come in, and they just wanna learn the craft and they wanna learn about it.

And so just being able to share that experience with people is probably my favorite part.

- [Evan] Just the little things that you didn't think you could do, you can do.

[hammer whacks] - [Clay] Evan Garrison made a knife to add to his knife collection, but it will be the only one he made himself.

- I thought it was gonna take forever to get flat, but it didn't.

It didn't take that long at all.

- So put your hammer strike like right there.

They're always surprised at how much they can move the material and, you know, I always make comparison that the steel moves just like clay does.

And so then when they start to make that connection, they can start to sculpt.

People tend to be like a little intimidated at first, and so then when they come in and they see that they can do it too.

Like, it's just, it's real satisfying to me, you know, to see people get that excited about doing it.

At the end of the day, that just means the world to me, and just see people have that much fun and do something they didn't think they could.

- Night Owl Iron Works and Leathercraft is at 174 North Cleghorn Street in Rutherfordton, and they're open Wednesday through Saturday.

For more information about their classes and workshops, give them a call at [828] 201-2683 or go online to nightowlironworks.com.