A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 64F. Winds light and variable..

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.

Pictured are welding students from James Rumsey Technical Institute, who forged the sword that recently won first lady Cathy Justice’s Golden Horseshoe Sword Smithing Contest. Rumsey students were Gabe Eller, Memphis Hartle, Jasper Edens, Carter Jones, Logan Pittsnogle and Mason Nelson. The design was by Musselman students Jillian Eicher and Avery Nine.

Pictured are welding students from James Rumsey Technical Institute, who forged the sword that recently won first lady Cathy Justice’s Golden Horseshoe Sword Smithing Contest. Rumsey students were Gabe Eller, Memphis Hartle, Jasper Edens, Carter Jones, Logan Pittsnogle and Mason Nelson. The design was by Musselman students Jillian Eicher and Avery Nine.

HEDGESVILLE — James Rumsey Technical Institute student Gabe Eller remembered walking down the hall, running across Principal Donna Van Metre.

“Ms. Van Metre came up to me in the hallway, and she looked at me and said, ‘You’re just the person I’m looking for.’ Usually, when Ms. Van Metre says that, it could either be really good or really bad,” Eller laughed. “She handed me these blueprints, and at first, my mind was blown, because I didn’t think we could do it. I really didn’t. Then, everyone else was telling me it was unlikely, stuff like that. It gave us the motivation.”

What Eller thought he and his classmates couldn’t do was forge a sword, one designed by Musselman students Avery Nine and Jillian Eicher for first lady Cathy Justice’s Golden Horseshoe Sword Smithing Contest. The designers were paired with the technical students to forge the actual sword, and the final product was recently named the state winner, the sword that will now be used in the ceremonial knighting of Golden Horseshoe honorees.

“I was actually really surprised at how good it came out,” Eller said.

The team that forged the sword included Rumsey welding students Eller, Memphis Hartle, Jasper Edens, Carter Jones, Logan Pittsnogle and Mason Nelson.

Thinking back to that hallway meeting, Eller said it was a completely different feeling when the Eastern Panhandle group was announced as winners.

“When we got to Charleston, it kind of set in: to stand there and keep winning, when we just won,” he said. “To think back to when Ms. Van Metre handed me the blueprints, it was like night and day; my mind was blown.”

And the feeling of winning, Nelson summed up with a “shew.”

“It was shocking mostly. A lot of other really good entries were there,” he said.

To forge the sword, the welding students took on a project they’d never really dipped their toes into before, the program focusing on more on the industrial side of welding as students are prepared for the workforce.

“We really didn’t have any idea how to craft a sword to begin with,” Eller said. “This is a weld shop, so we’re not really into that intricate, fine arts kind of stuff. We’re more industrial, certifications, welding big stuff. It was very outside of our comfort zone, but we used some of the material that we had in the shop.”

With a clear intelligence and passion, Eller shared the team took an I-beam and strip cut it to 3 feet, 6 inches, cutting nine pieces and grinding them down to craft the blade, which had to be five-eighths of an inch wide.

“The first problem we ran into was when we strip cut the I-beam, it would warp or bow,” Eller said. “It just wasn’t working, but finally, the last one we cut, cut perfectly straight.”

The blade that went to Charleston was grinded for five days, the boys doing so by hand from a piece that was cut square. It was also sanded by hand and finished with a clear coat, which took four times to get the right finish. The high carbon content of the I-beam causes rust, the beam’s materials causing the clear coat to fog initially.

The forging became a bit of trial and error, as the welders took on the brand new world for them, but it also allowed them to bring out some creativity and become artists for the project.

“While (Eicher and Nine) are designers, these guys are designers and fabricators, as well,” welding instructor Kyle Albright said.

He added the group of boys went above and beyond, crafting a case to go with the sword.

“That wasn’t even part of what the girls had in the (design). In the collaboration, you’ve got the designers, and you have the fabricators, who are also designers,” Albright said. “They have to mesh what somebody’s idea is and then kind of make it realistic.”

The artistic process from the boys’ side took an already impressive design from Nine and Eicher and made the sword standout among other entries. The original wooden design for the handle became a 3D-printed object as the boys wanted to keep everything at Rumsey.

Several other parts of the sword were 3D printed at the school, too, including the seals seen on the handle. Having braided wire brought an additional texture to the handle and using real horseshoes added to the design, and for Eller, the color scheme and leather wrapping on the handle sealed the deal.

“The biggest thing we changed that I thought really made the sword standout was the leather wrapping on the handle,” he said. “I don’t think it would have been the same without it.

“It was really neat to see everybody get outside their comfort zone and use artistic abilities. To get handed a piece of paper is one thing, but to make that piece of paper reality, that’s something totally different that people take for granted. Not many people have the ability to do it, but we did.”

With the award claimed and the sword forged, the group of six welders now goes down, along with Eicher and Nine, in West Virginia history, something the boys hold dear to their hearts.

“It’s pretty cool, knowing you did something that’s going to be a part of history,” Hartle said,

Pittsnogle added: “Something that’s going to sit in the Capitol Building for at least the next 20 years.”

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