OUR HISTORY
Norm Wendell 2013AS A FIRST GRADER IN NEW LEXINGTON OHIO, NORM WENDELL WOULD STOP BY THE LOCAL BLACKSMITH SHOP ON HIS WAY HOME FROM GRADE SCHOOL.
Merle Dixon the local smithy would dress coal mine picks for the local coal companies. The days after school was where Norm got his education. After a year or so observing Merle let Norm stand on a wood crate and peck on the anvil. Norm and Merle became good friends after the many years of working together. The 1550 Case steam engine Merle tinkered with and Norm demonstrating with his forge and anvil is where the friendship became inseparable. This friendship lead to demonstrating at Kenyon College and other venues to which Norm and Merle would travel. After a few years, Merle taught Norm how to build muzzle loading rifles and this became another business in which Norm became involved.
Norm and his family moved to Lancaster Ohio. Norm met another blacksmith in his new town named Romano. Romano worked at the Round House which was a repair station for trains. Norm visited Ramano shop every chance he could. Ramano gave Norm more education in the art of Blacksmithing. Norm learned many techniques and has passed the education on to many other people.
AS A YOUNG MAN, NORM’S FIRST JOB WAS WELL DRILLING IN NORTHERN OHIO. HE WAS ONE OF TWO MEN ON THE DRILLING RIG.
At that time norm weighed 145 pounds and he was there to tend to all the odd jobs as a helper. One of his responsibilities was to keep the fire going in the forge and dress the massive tool bits for drilling. The tool bits had to be heated, reshaped and quenched. The forging required a handler and someone swinging a 14 lb. sledge hammer. Norm made a device to rope his feet down because the hammer would lift his skinny butt off the ground when the hammer struck.
The travel expenses to attend the shows cut into the family’s budget so Norm and Bob decided to devise a plan to help pay for the trips. Since Bob was a machinist and Norm was now a pattern maker at a iron foundry, they developed a tool called the turning hardy. This tool sold very well at the first show. It paid for the trip and afforded a little extra milk money, as Norm put it. The turning hardy is still today the most popular tool in the line of tools we offer. It sold so well that Norm and Bob decided to design another tool. They listened to their fellow blacksmiths and designed tools that were unavailable or too expensive to buy as antiques. The two began making tools to meet the demands of the other blacksmiths. Every year the pair created new patterns for tools that would finance trips to meetings and other blacksmith related events.
NORM AND BOB CONTINUED TO PEDDLE TOOLS OUT OF THE BACK OF A PICK-UP TRUCK FOR 13 YEARS.
IN LATER YEARS NORM MET BOB POLING, THEY ATTENDED BLACKSMITH CONFERENCES LIKE SOFA (SOUTHERN OHIO FORGE AND ANVIL) AT STUDEBAKER FARMS IN OHIO, AND OTHER PLACES IN STATES SUCH AS ILLINOIS, KENTUCKY, VIRGINIA, GEORGIA AND MISSOURI.
WORKING IN THE SHOP AUGUST 2013
IRON MOUNTAIN FORGE FOUNDER, DENNIS BECKLEY WITH NORM WENDELL
CHASING & REPOUSSE
TO ME, METALWORKING NO MATTER THE MEDIUM, IS ABSOLUTELY FASCINTATING. SINCE A YOUNG GIRL, I HAVE BEEN CAPTIVATED WITH COPPER AND TIN VESSELS, ORNAMENTAL GATES & RAILINGS, METAL JEWELRY, FORGED DAMASCUS KNIVES, LARGE METAL SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE. IT GIVES ME A SORT OF ‘PEACE’ TO BE PRESENT IN THESE CREATIONS.
DAWN A NEW ERA WITH
E-COMMERCE: DENNIS SHOWED NORM AN EXCITING MARKET ON EBAY. NORM SHARED HIS DESIGNS TO A WORLD AUDIENCE.
10 years ago (2003), Dennis Beckley suggested Norm offer his tools for sale on the internet to test a larger market. Norms reply was, "I need help turning the computer on, and too old to learn how to use it". Dennis offered to list a few item on his eBay account and they sold the same week. The demand for the products was overwhelming. Norm was amazed how quickly the items sold and how many people were interested in the tools.
Norm had been approached by other companies to sell the business and his fear was the products would be produced outside the US. Dennis offered to buy his inventory and patterns. After giving it some consideration, Norm decided that lifting the heavy tools was becoming much too difficult in his older years, and he liked the idea that his business could live beyond him and remain local. Norm taught Dennis how to build and maintain the existing patterns. He set out to learn everything he could about making new patterns, selecting suppliers and selling on the internet. Iron Mountain Forge LLC was established in 2004 in Ohio. Iron Mountain Forge has since expanded into markets previously unfamiliar. Norm Wendell’s legacy will ‘live on’ in the tools he has created, now sold worldwide.
IN MAY 2019, DENNIS BECKLEY RETIRED TO ECUADOR AND SOLD IRON MOUNTAIN FORGE TO PIEH TOOL FOUNDER, AMY PIEH.
Amy started Pieh Tool in 2003 in Camp Verde Arizona. Her late father, Bill Pieh was the founder and owner of Centaur Forge until he and later her mother passed away (2000-2001). While having the distinct pleasure of working with her mom, she soon earned the position as vice president at Centaur and later she moved on to begin her own company “Pieh Tool Company, Inc.” in Arizona. It was almost a memorial and tribute to her parents.
Pieh Tool currently has two retail stores, one of which focuses on mail order and has hosted their blacksmithing and knife making school since 2003.
Dennis felt Amy was a good fit for the business because of her reputation and knowledge in the industry, Her metalworking background from her time serving in United States Air Force and after; and her love for tool design. Amy served on the ABANA Board of Directors for six years as publications chair and later vice president. She is especially known for chairing and organizing their most successful and pleasurable semi-annual blacksmithing conference in 2016 in Salt Lake City.
MY FIRST KNIFE
FORGED BY FROM A TRACTOR COIL SPRING. IRONWOOD HANDLE
