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Although only three years old,
Kuhlman Ironworks, (a/k/a "Dave's Fabrication Shop")
is on its way to becoming a success story for its owner, Dave
Kuhlman. Welding together exotically-bent steel rods and artistic
shapes cut from sheets of steel, Dave crafts silhouettes, coat
racks, trellises, and plant hangers to sell all over the nation.
Dave and his wife Karen live
on a farmstead west of Wagner. Like many other Charles Mix Electric
members, they rely on agriculture as a source of income. "I
spend about half of my time raising hogs in a custom feed ISO-wean
nursery. I needed something to fill the other half of my time.
Metal work fills in nicely."
With a creative knack for fashioning
iron, he also does custom designs. One such custom project was
underway as Dave cut letters for a 8-foot by 5-foot farm scene
silhouette commemorating the centennial of a farmstead near Spencer,
Nebraska. "Custom or special requests account for about half
of what I do," said Dave. "I usually have a lot of custom
work throughout the winter up till spring."
Dave got the idea after he attended
DakotaFest in Mitchell a few years back. "I watched a fellow
use a computerized cutting bed to cut out figures. I thought that
it looked like something I could do." After doing a little
research, Dave found a used tracer table in Coffeeville, Kansas
for $2,500. He bought it and had it fitted with a plasma cutter.
The plasma cutter, a device that uses an electric arc and compressed
air to cut metal, makes a nice clean cut. After spending half
a day setting up the tracer table in his shop, Dave was ready
to go.
"People are amazed that
I have gotten into this," says Dave. When asked how he learned
to do it, Dave just laughed and said, "It's just like anything
else, you jump in and go. That's how you learn."
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Lugging around 300-lb. sheets
of steel does not seem like something one person could do alone,
but Dave utilizes his Bobcat and several other shop-made devices
to help him out. "My kids like to give me a hand when they
can, but I do most of it myself."
After assembling his creations,
Dave sprays them with either a flat black paint, or dips them
in a 100-gallon tank of glossy black paint. "Painting can
be a pain," says Dave, "but I've gotten a lot of information
from the Sherwin Williams sales reps to help me with the paint."
When asked what he found to be
most difficult part of his business, Dave said he thought it would
have to be the shipping end of things. "The regulations to
ship something these days are unreal. I've actually had to modify
some of my designs to make them shippable through common carriers."
Some of Dave's designs have ended up in California and Texas,
with his first sale going to Kentucky.
Most of Dave's sales have been
somewhat regional. Nearly half of his sales are made by his sister
and brother-in-law, Judy and Marvin Lulf, in Chamberlain. Judy
had marketed Dave's works in a downtown Chamberlain store. They
now sell the ironworks from their home near the river city.
Dave also likes to frequent farm
shows, rodeos or other events where he can show off his work,
having gone to Hay Days in Bassett, Nebraska, and the Cherokee
Rodeo in Cherokee, Iowa to name a few. He has plans to attend
the Comstock, Nebraska Windmill Festival on June 7-9, 2001.
In an effort to get "bigger",
Dave has recently launched a web site at www.kuhlmanironworks.com,
featuring many of his works. Although Dave has not seen a flood
of inquiries from the site, it did spawn a call from the Budweiser
company. Dave did not strike a deal with the company but felt
that his Web site was at least getting noticed. Dave does not
have any unrealistic expectations of his Web site, though, stating,
"I don't expect everyone to use the Internet. Calling me
is still a good way of doing business."
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