The Wendell August Forge

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:38:33 PST

Early in his life, Wendell August had a hard time settling himself to one task. He was a schoolteacher for a few years, only to give it up in order to travel the American West. Between 1909 and 1911, he jumped from place to place and job to job. He eventually returned to his home in Brockwayville, Pennsylvania, got married, and became a coal broker. Soon he also held partial stakes in a diamond mine, a ranch, and a mercantile company. It was the mine, however, that would hold his future.

You see, Wendell wanted two hand-forged latches made for his new home. He had a blacksmith at the mine, Ottone Pisoni, make the latches for him. Impressed by the low cost and high quality, Wendell asked Mr. Pisoni to help him start a new forge for ironware. Pisoni obliged, and with three other blacksmiths and August himself, they gave birth to the Wendell August Forge in 1923. Located in Grove City, Pennsylvania, the forge exists to this day.

In the years to come, August and his forge would face almost complete obliteration multiple times. The year 1929 brought with it the stock market crash. The forge only survived due to the six workers going without a paycheck for half a year. In doing so, they were able to complete a contract and save the company. The second brush with fate came with the outbreak of the Second World War. By then, the forge was using aluminum, and the military decided that they needed the aluminum more. Once the forge reopened in 1946, consumer spending was down and the forge limped along until 1958 when the Chief Designer James McCausland died. McCausland's passing took away the majority of Wendell August Forge's creative design power. Another blow came in 1963, when Wendell died after a heart attack. Ownership passed to his son, Robert.

After years of just surviving, along came Bill Knecht, who purchased the forge from Robert August in 1978. Bill turned the forge into somewhere that you would actually seek out, not just somewhere to stop by on a whim. After some refunctioning and remodeling, retail space, workshop tours, and antique display cases drew additional income to the struggling business.

By 1994, business was going so well that the company opened the Berlin, Ohio location. Focused even more on attracting visitors and not passers-by, this location included a company museum, an enormous gift shop, and forge tours. In addition, the sight includes oddities like a working player piano, the World's Largest Hand Crafted Replica of the Packet Ship Columbia, and the World's Largest Amish Buggy.

To contact the Wendell August Forge, telephone them at 800-923-4438 or visit them on line at wendellaugust.com. Next time you find yourself in Ohio's Amish Country, stop by and see them. Bring a quarter for the player piano, and make sure you don't leave unless you take the time to forge something with your own two hands. It is just another service the Wendell August Forge provides.