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AAMC Reporter: February 2008If I Had a Hammer
As vice dean for research and academic affairs and professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Bruce E. Jarrell, M.D., is always up to date on the latest surgical gadgets. But away from academia, he puts the high-tech instruments aside and reaches for some more basic tools. Things like a hammer, an anvil, and tongs—all standard issue for your average everyday blacksmith. When he first started blacksmithing, though, it was more out of necessity than sport. Growing up on a farm, Jarrell said that self-sufficiency was an important part of life. "When you live on a farm, you learn to make a lot of things," he said. "One of those ways was by forging metal." Blacksmithing went to the back burner until 16 years ago, when he and his family were living in Arizona. His daughter, inspired by the early Spanish ironwork in the Southwest, signed up for a class. He joined her, and hasn't stopped shaping metal since. The appeal, he said, is the flexible nature of the craft. "What's exciting about blacksmithing," Jarrell said, "is that iron is an open medium when it's hot. You can make it go in any direction—spread it out, punch holes in it. You can really design and execute anything that comes into your mind." Jarrell now has a shop complete with a forge, or fireplace, where he makes metal hinges, railings, and tables, among other crafts. All his pieces, he said, combine utility with aesthetic appeal. As with surgeons, blacksmiths use their hands on their craft. With blacksmithing, however, Jarrell said he can relax and not worry about being so precise with his movements. "Surgery is very refined," he said. "With blacksmithing, you don't have to be so exact. It's a nice break, and refreshing to work with your hands in a new way." —By Elissa Fuchs
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