Ceremony starts new forge era
GROVE CITY — Like the etchings it creates, the Wendell August Forge company Thursday took the first step toward rebuilding its business just five days after a fire destroyed its plant.
"Today we begin a new chapter," owner and president Will Knecht said after leading a prayer Thursday afternoon.
Operations manager Jeff Brown hammered the first new die, which will honor the Pittsburgh Penguins' last game at Mellon Arena. Employees, families, news cameras and Grove City Mayor Randy Riddle all gathered to watch, many of them wearing earplugs to lessen the noise of what the company calls its "first hammer."
The company already has set up a temporary workshop at 390 Lincoln Ave., using old equipment the forge never managed to sell.
Workers will have plenty to do during the next few days to get the production facility and the office space upstairs ready for Monday. The company is still finalizing plans for a temporary retail space in Grove City it hopes to have open by April 1. Once settled in, the company will begin the rebuilding process on the original Madison Avenue lot.
The company's 55 employees have been working almost non-stop since Monday, trying to get ready for the ceremony.
Engraver Dave Bruck had to make the first die in a garage, using tools borrowed from Steve Adams of Green Bay, Wis. Adams was not supposed to be in Grove City at all this week, but because of the snow in February, he rescheduled his visit and luckily brought his equipment along, Bruck said.
Bruck managed to get the first die done on time.
"There was so much stress trying to get the job done," Bruck said.
Now he has to make the other one.
The die is a replica of the actual ticket for the Penguins' last regular season home game April 8. The company needs two of them to work on the 20,000 piece order, engraver Len Youngo said.
About 500 of the original dies already have been reclaimed, with about 3,000 more waiting to be sanded and cleaned, Knecht said. Only one of the original dies broke as a result of the fire.
"There are a lot of people with dirty faces and dirty pants," Knecht said. "They're working hard."
The dies must be sanded and oiled to prevent them from rusting. Employees are working on restoring the dies the company uses most first, but they would like to have them all cleaned up in about eight days, Youngo said.
Knecht spoke passionately about the Grove City tradition that will live on, though the building in which it started is now gone.
Knecht thanked residents and customers from around the world who showed support through phone calls, e-mails and Facebook posts.
"We owe it to the folks here and all around the world to get going again," he said.
