The focus of most companies today is on integrating current technologies to compete in the marketplace. But some insightful entrepreneurs aren’t so blinded by new technology that they fail to see value in traditional techniques.
Take Joe Halter, for example.
As president of Solmet Technologies Inc., the Canton company he founded in 1985 as a manufacturer of open-die steel forgings, Halter saw a rare opportunity to secure a new niche market when, in 1994, a local manufacturer closed its blacksmithing division. Halter’s purchase of the division’s vintage blacksmith equipment evolved into a successful separate entity for Solmet — a new company called Forged Accents that profits from practicing an antiquated trade.
“We took over their blacksmithing business lock, stock and barrel, and hired Roger White, Timken’s former blacksmith,” says Halter. “We started making forged steel industrial tools, like tongs and crane hooks for use in steel mills and foundries. But when Roger taught the art to our employees, some of our more skilled individuals became interested in doing artistic work.”
That’s when Forged Accents started taking on custom projects and producing them the old-fashioned way. Practicing traditional hot-forged blacksmithing methods and using hand-wrought steel, ceramic tile and stained glass, Forged Accents began to specialize in custom-made furniture, such as fireplace tools, forged wine racks and tables.
Halter says Forged Accents was a natural evolution as a spinoff of Solmet, which specializes in metallurgical test forgings, open die and hammer forgings, cold sawing services and custom blacksmithing.
“Forged Accents is actually a smaller version of what Solmet does, because Solmet is a custom, open-die forging shop and we make big pieces, from drive shafts to couplings,” says Halter.
Collaborative creations
Halter reveals that collaborating with other like-minded entrepreneurs was the key to producing and selling the unique offerings created by Forged Accents. For example, Halter collaborates with Kepcor Inc., a Minerva manufacturer of handmade tiles; Studio Arts & Glass, a North Canton company that designs and restores stained and beveled glass; and John Strauss Furniture Maker LLC, a local manufacturer of custom wood products.
“We all benefit from these collaborations by expanding the different elements of the arts we all specialize in, from the forged products to the stained glass and the wood veneers,” says Halter. “We complement each other’s designs, and we push the envelope and exchange ideas in terms of what we can all do together.”
John Strauss, president of John Strauss Furniture Maker, says that most notably, all of these entrepreneurs are applying traditional, practically antiquated techniques to create quality products.
“Joe’s company uses stuff that goes back to the Iron Age, 500 B.C. or that period. Veneers are a critical element of what we do here, and those date back to the Egyptians, who used them to make decorative inlays and other pieces,” he says.
Strauss explains that, up until about 50 years ago, glues produced from animal hides were used as veneer adhesives. Today, manufacturers use sophistical glues that are resistant to heat, moisture and other conditions, and modern machinery is used to press the glues. Strauss presses his veneers in a vacuum, using atmospheric pressure.
“We use a lot of innovative equipment, but we also use equipment and tools that you’d find in a woodworking shop 100 or 200 years ago. A lot of things are different, but basically, the ideas are the same, so some of the technology and tools are the same,” Strauss says.
Another old-fashioned Strauss specialty is gold, metal and aluminum leafing, used to accentuate furniture designs.
“What distinguishes our design line is that we use a lot of hand-carved curving and detailing on the legs and feet of some of our furniture,” he says. “Primarily, we use gold and metal leafing in those projects, and that’s a very old process.”
To ensure that his is a genuinely handmade product, Strauss also uses traditional joinery — such as pegging, mortise, tenon and dovetail joinery — to construct many woodworking projects, whether it’s a bed, a desk or a table.
“Everything we do here is essentially the same technology that cabinet and furniture makers used at the time of Louis XV,” he says.
In his collaborations with Halter, Strauss designs and builds wooden tops for some of the tables created by Forged Accents.
“We’ve also designed some pieces of furniture that involve blacksmith items that they’re providing. So we’re symbiotically working with each other,” says Strauss.
A lost art
When Forged Accents began creating more artistic products, rather than using finishes typically used for industrial tools, Halter and his craftspeople began researching antiquated blacksmithing techniques. the goal was to learn what traditional finishing methods were used to preserve the natural metal patina of each finished piece and to ensure strength and quality.
“We found that hundreds of years ago, blacksmiths used natural, nonsynthetic oils like linseed oil, turpentine and beeswax,” says Halter. “So, that’s what we use now to finish these pieces. And each blacksmith brings a piece of himself to the art — just as tradesmen did hundreds of years ago.”
Brian Delaney, who stepped in as Halter’s chief blacksmith when White retired last year, explains that since each product is forged by hand, a great deal of care and detail goes into the manufacturing process, and each blacksmith breathes individuality into every project.
“Not everyone is cut out to do this. You have to have a desire to do things with your hands, and you have to look at it as an art — not just a job,” Delaney says.
“That’s true for me and for a lot of other people doing this kind of work,” says Strauss. “I have a graduate degree, and I choose to do this not because my father and grandfather did it, or because I couldn’t find another job. I’m doing this out of choice, because I have an artistic background.”
Strauss explains that, unlike a manufacturing company that mass-produces furniture, his business is more of an artisan shop that specializes in handmade pieces.
“We’re different from the majority of shops because we’re in a minority category in which projects are done one at a time, in limited editions,” says Strauss. “So instead of lot of automated machines, you find skilled craftspeople using whatever techniques and technologies are appropriate to the project we’re working on.”
Halter and Strauss are quick to point out that, like the other companies they collaborate with, they’re choosing to create custom pieces — and that calls for what some consider antiquated technology.
“None of us wants to mass-produce anything, because consumers have become so accustomed to walking into a store and seeing mass-produced products, many of which aren’t even made in this country,” says Halter. “What we want to do is provide consumers with opportunities to have something designed exactly to specification.”
“What we’re looking at is creating an artistic, quality piece of furniture that your grandparents are going to pass down,” Strauss emphasizes.
And they’re doing it by reviving a lost art. How to reach: Forged Accents, (888) 646-8411 or www.forgedaccents.com; John Strauss Furniture Maker, (330) 456-0300 or www.straussfurniture.com
