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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2017)
4 Wednesday, December 27, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Ponderosa Forge celebrates 30 years By Katy Yoder Correspondent Like iron and steel, Ponderosa Forge has proven it’s tough enough to stand the test of time. Founder Jeff Wester is cel- ebrating 30 years of growth and serving Central Oregon customers. Wester has a sto- ryboard with photographs that show his company’s pro- gression. The images start in 1981 when he moved to Central Oregon. Wester’s love for black- smithing began in high school. He grew up in the coastal town of Tillamook and left home to attend Central Oregon Community College, where he studied engineering for two years. He met Joe Davis, a black- smith and farrier who taught him about working iron and shoeing horses. Joe’s father, Larry Davis, had a shop east of Bend where they’d fire up an old coal forge and trans- form used horseshoes into marketable items. He loved the machine and welding shop and hands- on learning, so he trans- ferred to Oregon Institute of Technology where he contin- ued classes in welding and machining. In 1986 he gradu- ated from OIT with a degree in mechanical engineering. Wester was always an entrepreneur. During college he put his farrier and black- smithing skills to work to pay for school. “I always kept things I’d made in my pick-up, which was also my mobile black- smith shop,” he recalled. Farriers travel from barn to ranch, and each location is different. Some lack even the basic necessities. Wester’s horseshoeing rig included the typical anvil and forge as well as a portable hitching rail. It swung out from his truck so there was always a place to tie up horses. After graduation, Wester found that all the jobs for his major were in aerospace and manufacturing. That meant moving to a big city like Los Angeles or Seattle. “Everybody was going that way,” he said. “But I didn’t want a city job, so I moved to Bend where I already had shoeing clients.” For the next three years, Wester shod horses all day and taught night classes in welding and machining at COCC. His first brick-and-mortar blacksmithing shop was in Tumalo, in a former butcher shop at the old Bend dairy. He rented the shop space and lived there, too. When he had the opportunity to buy his own place, Wester pur- chased property on Crooked Horseshoe in Sisters and had his blacksmith shop in a yurt. In the summer, he and his horseshoeing friends packed up the yurt and took it to the old fairgrounds in Redmond where they shod horses, did blacksmithing and sold items they’d made. But that kind of tempo- rary set-up didn’t last long. In 1989, Wester built a Western- style shop where the yurt had been — but he soon outgrew that, too. When he had the oppor- tunity to purchase land where the current business is located he jumped in with both feet. He built the origi- nal shop in the industrial park in 1991, and has been adding on ever since. The first build- ing was 2,800 square feet; over the years it’s grown to 14,000 square feet. Wester is quick to give credit to a local old-timer who helped many Sisters businesses get their start. Back in the 1980s it was hard to get a bank loan and inter- est rates were high. “There was this old guy, named Joe Fought, who would loan you the money for a new business. He owned a few lots in the industrial park and financed many of the businesses around town. If you had a good idea and business plan, Joe charged 12 percent and sold you the land. I picked the place where the shop is now so I could walk out my back door to the lum- ber yard,” said Wester. “I had a connection with Joe Fought. He took PHOTO PROVIDED Jeff Wester got his start shoeing horses. an interest in my business because he had emigrated from Germany and started work in a blacksmith job in Portland. He ended up build- ing a business into a very large steel fabrication com- pany called Fought Steel. I couldn’t have bought this lot or built the first building if it wasn’t for Joe Fought.” Recently, Wester joined forces with Seattle artist John Fleming, who is known for his highly acclaimed public art installations. Their first collaboration was the Mt. Washington/Simpson round- about art in Bend known as “High Desert Spiral.” Fleming got the bid from Art in Public Places and was looking for a Central Oregon fabrication shop to build his piece. He contracted with Ponderosa Forge to do the work. The two men found they worked well together, and more public art installa- tion projects followed. To date the team has done seven projects. “We just finished one in San Francisco,” said Wester. They’re hopeful about their newest job prospect: “We’re in the running for the Sisters roundabout artwork. BEYOND ORDINARY Hand-forged architectural iron work Hair & Nails Come visit our showroom today. Natural & Artifi cial 541-549-6566 484 W. Washington Ave., Ste. B 541-549-9280 • Sisters Industrial Park www.PonderosaForge.com | CCB# 87640 SNO CAP Happy Holidays! $300 Discount Disc co unt t For the month of December when you start a full comprehensive treatment program! New patients only. Not valid with any other offer. Drive In Homemade Ice Cream & Old-Fashioned Burgers 541-549-6151 & Smile by Brooke e! ac Pl e ac Br e Th 541-382-0410 410 E. Cascade Ave., Sisters CentralOregonBracePlace.com CentralOregonBracePl Place com m See FORGE on page 24 380 W. Cascade Ave.
