In Western North Carolina, where Lucas House grew up, people understand blacksmithing as an art form, he said. "Someone usually knows someone who does blacksmithing," said House, 25, who has lived in Raleigh since attending N.C. State University. "Here, when I tell people what I do, they say, 'Oh, do you shoe horses?' I get that at least once a week. So one thing I'm working on now is to get people to understand what blacksmithing is."

So, for the record, House does not shoe horses. Instead, he heats, moves, and shapes metal into as many forms as there are ideas and uses. That could include railings, furniture, fire screens, lighting and bookends.

Wanted to weld: House grew up in Yancey County, and then lived in McDowell County when his parents became the managers at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland. You can see some of his work there, from outdoor railings and benches to a whimsical sculpture. It was in high school in Mitchell County where House took his first welding class. "My mom was making handmade tiles and I thought I could make tables for them." His mother, Kathy, is a potter, as is his sister, Sarah, who has a studio in Burnsville.

Cold to hot: "With those fabrication skills, that kind of got me going," said House, who was able to then work with noted Burnsville blacksmith Paul Lundquist. "He introduced me to hot works, where you could shape metal instead of grind it. Metal just clicked with me. You hammer something out and you can drop it on the floor and it doesn't hurt it. And there's something about 2,000-degree metal that is kind of fun."

Process of elimination: House first studied architecture at State. "It was very hard-core and straightforward and I quickly decided to do industrial design, which is pretty much everything but architecture," he said. "Then when I found out a whole semester was going to be on designing a computer printer, I started doing independent studies in blacksmithing." House, however, needed a place to heat up metal.

Early start: He found a space to call his own at Antfarm Studios, an artists' collective in a renovated 1925 warehouse in Boylan Heights. "There was a blacksmith there before me, so I just had to bring my welding supplies, gas forge and anvil." At age 20, he was the youngest artist there "by far. I was pretty lucky to get in." Five years later, House is the longest-running person there. "It's unbelievable. I'm there 40 to 50 hours a week. I've built some tools that are pretty noisy. I've got a 150-pound air hammer. I don't why they put up with me, but I'm glad they do. I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for Antfarm."

Spreading the word: "I love to teach, more so than even making stuff," said House, who is in his fourth year of teaching eight-week classes on Saturdays in the fall and spring at Central Carolina Community College in Siler City. "You can go into a shop with just a few tools and teach everything. It's really simple, just a few techniques. We work with the bare necessities. Tools, an anvil and a forge. It forces people to see they don't have to have all the fancy stuff." Every class has newcomers and old-timers. "I've got four or five people who have been taking the classes since I started them." His students kid him about his age, he said, "but I hope it encourages them a little bit. Anybody can get to the level I am if they stick to it. Although it helps to be 25 when it's 100 degrees outside."

Assignment tabled: House likes to play student as well. He has taken several workshops at Penland School of Crafts, and this year took a course with noted Apex blacksmith Enrique Vega through Central Carolina. "It was excellent. We all made a little side table, something I wouldn't have built on my own. We had to use a couple elements, a leaf, a taper, and a button. It had to be kind of thin, more ornate than what I usually do. So through the assignment and other students, I pulled in different styles."

Custom is king: Vega is one of the few full-time blacksmiths House knows who do no production work, only custom commissions. "Everybody I talk to who has been successful says you have to do both," he said. "I've started some little stuff, like bookends and flowers, I've done mirrors, letter openers. But I like to make stuff really nice; it's hard to produce blacksmithing really quickly." House recently has been doing custom work for the home of a doctor in Cary. "He realizes blacksmithing is an art," he said. "It's a pleasure to work with people like that." House completed a fire screen and is now working on a railing along stairs leading into a wine cellar. "It's got vines, not super intricate, but all the leaves are different. Every inch of every vine has been heated up and hammered, and all the grapes are hammered, and the vine twists and turns."

What's next: As for which direction House will take, "that's the big question. I just bought a house with my girlfriend, and Antfarm, well, I can't stay there forever. I'm already taking up a lot of space," he said. "If I get employees or work in a larger scale, I'm going to run out of space. But I'm not really sure which way I want to go with yet. If I ever won the lottery, I'd spend my time doing a whole house in metal. Stairs, furniture, lighting. It's just so versatile."

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.