In an era of invisible, cloud-based commerce, Brian's Welding is an old-school business, full of metal and machinery. This month, the welders went even more retro, gathering around an anvil and red-hot forge to learn the ancient art of blacksmithing from an Israeli artist.
When Amit Har-lev arrived in San Jos脙漏 recently from Israel to teach at Brian Padilla's spacious shop in downtown San Jos脙漏, the guys didn't have all the right tools for shaping hot steel into handmade nails or gate handles, let alone the more whimsical items Har-lev is fond of making. So Har-lev made them a rack full of steel tools - hammers and punches and chisels - teaching Padilla and his 17 employees as he went.
"He's really opening our eyes," said Padilla, a welder since 1979. He and his workers normally use machines to help them cut and shape metal into the gates, staircases and decorative architectural metalwork they've become known for over the past few decades.
But seeing Har-lev in action, tapping and pounding on hot steel with hand tools, he said, "There are a lot of different avenues we could open up with this."
The newly made tools were all on hand as Harlev heated a five-eighths-inch-thick steel rod with a torch, then methodically turned the tip of it into an exquisite little hand-hammered hummingbird with a gently curved bill. (In Israel, curved-bill hummers are common, he says; the workers at Brian's also persuaded him to make a straight-billed one so it looked like the local variety.)
Over the course of 20 minutes, Padilla held the oxyacetylene torch as Har-lev heated small parts of the metal rod in its flame, then worked with various tools to create the bird's head, bill and tail and finally a spiral pedestal to hold it aloft, all out of the single rod.
He erupted into a cheer when the bird was done: "All riiiight!" he exclaimed, adding "Don't touch it!" - a warning to onlookers that the lovely little thing was still hot enough to burn flesh.
While he worked, though, he barely said a word. "If you really look, you can see the principle" behind manipulating the metal, he explained. "I don't have to speak sometimes."
Until recently, Padilla knew Har-lev only by reputation. He had studied Har-lev's videos on metal forging, using them to do some basic blacksmithing of his own. Then one day, a customer showed him a copper rose she'd been given by Harlev. Padilla was stunned to learn that the customer knew and would introduce him to the well-known, well-travelled craftsman, who has taught in several U.S. cities as well as in Europe.
A plan was hatched, and Padilla and his wife, Diana, paid for Har-lev to come teach at their place for these two weeks.
The welders said they would benefit immediately from Har-lev's blacksmithing lessons.
"This is really going to help my art and take it to a different level," said Mark Negrete, who operates one of the metal-cutting machines at Brian's Welding and, in his spare time, creates and sells metal dinosaur sculptures. "And he's a really nice guy, too," Negrete said of Har-lev.
Har-lev, 41, lives in the town of Udim, about an hour from Tel Aviv. After running a printing business, he started his career in metalwork in 1998 when he visited a forge. He loved it so much he stayed there to learn for four years.
"What amazes me is you can take a plain piece of rod and put life into it," he said. "You can create something out of leftovers."
At his forge and school in Israel, he not only makes tools but also tables, benches and sculptural pieces. Recently, he crafted hundreds of custom hinges, latches and door handles for a horse stable. He also offers "team-building" blacksmithing lessons for corporate clients.
Padilla said he's hoping to get Har-lev back to San Jos脙漏 sometime next year to offer blacksmithing lessons to the public. Padilla says there are some such classes in the East Bay, but none that he knows of in Silicon Valley.
In the meantime, he and his workers will keep on forging.
"He's left us with everything we need to continue to - promote this lost art," said Padilla.
