Tommy Carroll: Camp Creators & Alumni Artisans Series

There are few places at camp more enticing and fascinating than the blacksmith shop. It’s full of loud hammers clanging against metal, hot flames flickering from the forges, and the distinctive smell of smoke wafting from the chimneys. Every summer, wide-eyed boys head up to the shop, excited to try their hand at blacksmithing for the first time. Many return year after year to advance their skills and create new pieces, but there are likely very few who imagine such an exciting craft could be a career.

For Tommy Carroll, blacksmithing and metalwork are not only his passion, but his livelihood too. He taught blacksmithing at Falling Creek from 2010 to 2018, and now lives with his wife Sam in nearby Hendersonville. Tommy isn’t limited to just blacksmithing, as he also works as a bladesmith, bone carver, jeweler, and founder of Mountain Rain Forge.

Tommy got his start after attending a blacksmithing course in Arkansas in the early 2000s. “I did that for two summers before working at camp, and at that point I had only learned how to forge knives,” Tommy remembers. “Getting to camp, I was super nervous that first year. I was thinking, ‘I know how to forge a knife. Do I know how to forge anything else?’ I wasn’t yet understanding that it’s the same skill set, but just different ways of implementing the skills. I learned quickly because Mel was the head of the blacksmith shop then, and I was able to apprentice under her in a way.”

The bladesmithing classes in Arkansas were Tommy’s initial introduction to forging, but he says that summer camp was what helped him grow his craft. “Otherwise, life probably would have gotten too busy, and it would have just stayed a hobby. Teaching at camp was a huge opportunity to build on those skills and learn new ones.”

These days, blades remain Tommy’s favorite thing to forge. What sets bladesmithing apart from blacksmithing? “It’s mostly the metallurgy,” says Tommy. “Blacksmithing was mostly tools and hardware, like farming equipment, gates, nails, and stuff like that. Bladesmithing is just focused on blades for axes, knives, or swords, and typically uses higher carbon steels. There’s a lot more to it in terms of how you heat the metal and at what temperatures, and there’s a heat treatment process at the end of the forging process to ensure the blades have hard edges for a long time, that kind of thing.”

When it comes to metals, Tommy forges with anything from softer iron to higher carbon steels, but his favorite is damascus steel, a material made from forge welding two different metals together. At first, Tommy never dreamed that this passion would turn into a way of life. “I honestly tried to run away from the idea of doing blacksmithing as a career,” said Tommy. “In college I thought, ‘Now I need to get a real grown-up job.’ I ended up failing my senior seminar for political science, which was my degree, and so I had to retake it and add another year of classes. I found out that there was a jewelry program at my school, and so I convinced them to let me take some classes even though it wasn’t my major, but then fell in love with that program and took that on as a second degree.” In the end Tommy graduated with an additional degree in metalsmithing and jewelry.

His first apprenticeship was also thanks to his college courses, specifically the business writing class he was in. “My professor had us all write to a dream employer, pretending that they’re not hiring and you have to convince them to hire you regardless. I had been attending Renaissance Festivals for fun with my family, and I saw William Lloyd’s booth. He does the most incredible bone carving, and he puts those on swords and knife handles. I decided to write to him in my letter just for fun. But then, I got the paper back and I got an A on it, so I tweaked it and actually sent it to William, asking to be his apprentice. He took me on, and so that year I took a summer away from Falling Creek, went to New Mexico, and I apprenticed for him. He’s the reason why I do what I’m doing now full time. He taught me how to carve, how to be a better artist, how to handle the business side of things, and even got me a good gig at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.”

These days, Tommy still attends festivals around the country and has even had some former campers apprentice with him at these festivals. Tommy’s wife, Sam, also attends these festivals as a performer. Additionally, Tommy now has a studio of his own at his home in Hendersonville. He has both gas and coal forges, though he prefers working with the coal forges since they heat the metal quicker and hotter, without heating the shop as much.

In addition to having former campers join him at Renaissance Festivals, Tommy has also partnered with fellow blacksmithing instructor, David Echeverria, who taught blacksmithing together with him for several summers between 2014 and 2021. “David has been an integral part of Mountain Rain Forge,” said Tommy. “When I was given the opportunity to run the blacksmith shop at the Maryland Renaissance Festival I called David up to see if he would join me. Given David’s joking nature he made me talk for nearly 30 minutes even though he had made up his mind to help me out within the first 3 minutes. He then spent 9 weeks working the festival, living in a tent, blacksmithing, and pulling harmless pranks on me. He is a great artist, a great friend, and now runs the shop at FCC.” David has since joined Falling Creek’s full-time facilities team, and plays a key role in helping camp run smoothly year-round, not just during the summer months when he leads the blacksmithing program.

It’s been years since he last worked at camp in 2018, but Tommy still uses the lessons he learned at Falling Creek in his career today. Teaching campers how to blacksmith was great practice for the demos he leads at Renaissance festivals. “I’ve gotten pretty good at explaining what I’m doing to a crowd, so camp was super helpful and I think that actually helped me get the position at the Maryland festival.”

Tommy says that his time at boys camp helped him learn new skills and techniques through teaching. “A lot of times I’d learn by a camper or counselor coming up to me and asking, how do you make this? And then together we’d figure out how to make something new. It was a very fun process.” Tommy explained that at camp, you didn’t need to have all the answers, just the enthusiasm and curiosity to figure things out. “Just having a group of people who believe in your ability and your work was just priceless.”

For Tommy, the most rewarding part about his job is being able to create something new. He enjoys making what he calls his “staple pieces” such as jewelry pieces or knives, but nothing compares to when he’s able to craft a one-of-a-kind sword. “Swords take a couple months to a year to make, and once it starts coming together at the end it’s very fun. Then finally, when the piece is finished and on display, that’s a very fulfilling part of the job.” Tommy will research different blade shapes, materials, symbols, and mythology behind different cultures when he crafts a custom piece. He’s currently working on one of these custom swords - a Damascus Viking sword to be specific.