Michael Bell uses a press to shape a thin piece of metal into a blade on March 12. Sword blades can be shaped with a press or hammer and anvil. World Photo by Jolene Guzman

Michael Bell started up the electric motor on a gigantic press he uses to shape the blades of Japanese swords.

“Bam! Bam!” The dies clanked together on the approximately 3-foot-long flat piece of steel, turned red from the heat of the forge fire.

“It’s 1,500 degrees, but it will go all the way up past 2,000 as it warms up,” Bell, 61, said loudly over the hissing of the forge, which sounded like a heavy wind storm.

The warmth of the fire quickly spread throughout the cold workshop.

The press is one way of shaping the hot metal. The other is by hand, using a hammer on an anvil.

Bell, who has been a professional swordsmith for 38 years, got his training in a five-year apprenticeship starting in 1970 in Oakland, Calif., with a Japanese master, Nakajima Mune Yoshi. He now teaches the ancient art at Dragonfly Forge, his swordsmithing school on his 20-acre property in Coquille.

His son, Gabe Bell, a 23-year-old graduate of Willamette University, recently received a bachelor’s degree in international studies, with a minor in Japanese. He is his father’s teaching assistant and an apprentice swordsmith.

Father and son, and another apprentice, Adam Coleman, 27, who joined them three years ago, teach all the related arts of forging blades, lacquer finishing and woodwork.

“We work with steel and iron, as well as soft metals — gold, silver, copper and alloys,” the elder Bell said.

Bell lived in Japan as a child and has been back several times, the last time in 2006 when his son was studying there.

“I like to say to my students, ‘Japan is to a swordsmith, what Jerusalem is to a Jew,’” Bell said.

Between conducting classes — a basic forging class lasts one week, five days a week, eight hours a day — Bell also is a reserve officer for the Coquille Police Department.

The three of them recently built a new workshop and went from a 160-square-foot space to having a 720-square-foot area, where they can teach their students. Their classes consist of no more than four prospective “smithys,” Bell said.

At an open house he is planning for April 14 and 15, he has scheduled a blessing by lay priest Robert Golden, a minister of Mugendo Zen.

“In Japan, smithys are generally holy ground,” Bell said. “It’s usually an odd combination of Buddhism and Shinto.”

The open house will follow an Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show at the Eugene Fairgrounds on April 12 and 13.

“People come from all over to attend, and a lot of people spend two days after visiting area knife shops,” Bell said.

Bell said he got his inspiration watching Samurai movies as a child. In 1969 he got his first sword and, in 1970, met his teacher.

“It wasn’t even a plan I had, just an opportunity,” he said.

Mune Yoshi, who died of stomach cancer shortly after returning to Japan in 1977, gave Bell two assignments.

“The first was, pass on what I learned from him. The second was that I have to adapt to American ways, at the same time maintaining the integrity and all of that,” Bell said.

Bell moved to his rural property, with only a dirt road as access, in 1987, and has been making a living as a full-time swordsmith since then.

Coleman said he came to work for Bell after attending one of his week-long classes. Prior to that, he was a wildland firefighter in eastern Oregon for eight years.

Bell held a sword he designed, with a handle made of wood he lacquered and adorned with a wrap-around stingray hide and silk cording.

“From every aspect of what you see him holding there, he’s created every bit,” Coleman said.

The steel has patterns that is brought out in the polishing stage, the younger Bell said.

“Especially in Japan, they’re seen more and more as art pieces,” Coleman said.

The lacquer is made in a traditional method, from a tree resin, with charcoal powder drawn through it, Bell said.

His customers are usually serious martial artist and/or collectors, he added.

His son, who studied at Tokyo International University, said he and his father looked at quite a few swords and met many swordsmiths while they were in Japan.

“It’s been over 1,000 years of history of it,” he said. “In Japan, each part of the blade has its own specialist to make it.”

When making the blades, they sometimes use the traditional iron ore that’s found along the coast and in streams. Michael Bell held some of the rough black stones in his hand, as black powder sifted back into the bucket.

“We melt it and introduce carbon. Then it will convert it into steel,” he said.

They have put a new twist on the old ways though, by starting the process with a piece of logging cable.

“The cable isn’t the traditional way to do it, obviously,” the younger Bell said, smiling. “It’s the iron sand.”

Swordsmithing classes and open house offered

Courses are offered at Dragonfly Forge Swordsmithing School, located at 88321 North Bank Lane in Coquille. Both a basic forging course and a Koshirae (scabbard and mountings) course are five-day classes that cost $1,100. Other two-day classes in Habaki (blade collar), handle wrapping and Kajioshi (final grinding and aesthetic refinement) also are offered, and cost $300.

Dragonfly Forge will hold a two-day open house and grand opening of a new larger facility on April 14-15. This event, which follows the Oregon Knife Collectors Association show in Eugene, will kick off the summer swordsmithing school season.

Space is limited. For more information, those interested can visit http://www.dragonflyforge.com/ or call owner Michael Bell at 396-3605 or e-mail michael@dragonflyforge.com.