GROVE CITY — The first week of March 2010 for Wendell August Forge was similar to the opening line of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.”

“It was the best of times and it was the worst of times,” said company owner Will Knecht.

That week, the company got its largest order in history. Two days later, its flagship store and headquarters burned to the ground.

However, Knecht said the company, which makes handcrafted items out of metals, went through some other troubles a few years before that.

Knecht spoke last week at Grove City College.

In 2008, the company opened up a new retail store and spent too much money in the process. Then the economy took a downward turn that year.

Knecht and some family members were called to meet with their advisers, who told them to close the company, sell the assets and move on.

“That’s how bad it had gotten,” Knecht said.

However, they chose to “roll up their sleeves” and work to keep the company open. Knecht said that 2009 was a “painful” year of restructuring, but the company came into 2010 strong.

On March 4, 2010, Knecht met with Pittsburgh Penguins representatives to pitch an idea to make commemorative tickets for the final game at the Civic Arena, which would be given to all of the people who attended the final game.

The Penguins decided they wanted to do it, and ordered 18,200 tickets, the largest order in company history, and the company had only four and a half weeks to do it. The company got to work the next day.

On March 6, Knecht was making a delivery at one of the company’s stores when he got a call from an employee telling him the forge was on fire. Knecht started moving more quickly, until another employee called saying the forge was burning down. He rushed over to the forge and quickly realized how serious the fire was.

“There was a large plume of smoke,” Knecht said. “It was burning to the ground.”

He said the day of the fire was surreal, but he said he felt a certain peace.

For the past few years, Knecht said he was not able to visit his family in North Carolina nearly as often as he would have liked, and the company’s financial situation was challenging.

However, he said God told him that he had a plan but he would not reveal all of it to Knecht. He felt the fire was part of the plan.

After a while, a group of about 40 employees started a prayer circle at the scene of the fire. After that, everyone at the company got ready to rebuild.

“It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Knecht said.

The insurance company said the company would be out of business for nine months, which Knecht said would put them out for good. “We would never recover,” Knecht said.

Employees set up a workshop in four days, set up an office in two weeks and set up a flagship store in four weeks.

And, the company delivered the Penguins order on time.

All of the company’s tools were trapped under debris. However, Knecht said a former company craftsman from Wisconsin, who makes only one trip to Grove City per year, just happened to be in Grove City the day of the fire and he brought all of his tools.

The former craftsman was able to craft a die for the Penguins order. Knecht said, if he had not come to Grove City that day and did not have his tools with him, the company would not have been able to deliver the Penguins order on time.

In the rebuilding of the company’s headquarters, Knecht said that every employee had a different role. The new, $8-million, 52,000-square-foot headquarters, located on Route 208 in Springfield Township, opened in October.

Knecht said he has three goals for the company’s future: to become one of the 100 best places to work in the U.S., to become one of the 100 best small brands in the U.S. and to generate $100 million in revenue by the company’s 100th anniversary in 2023.

Near the end of the presentation, Knecht advised students that everyone has a “unique calling,” and they should find their talents and use them.

He also asked students to rebuild the country and its culture. In the future, he said he worries that pastors could be arrested for speaking “biblical truths.”

“Change the culture; don’t let the culture change you,” Knecht said.