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.