Better Than A Travel Guide: Wendell August Forge

Situated in an old barn along Main Street in Exton is Wendell August Forge.

The Forge, opened in May 2008, originates from Grove City, Pa. They have a self-guided tour of the forge in Exton as well as a gift shop. You can also arrange for a fully guided tour if you prefer. The first stop on the tour, and the loudest, is the hammer room. Here, one of their craftsmen uses an air hammer to bang the metal into the die.

All of the dies at Wendell August Forge are hand engraved by artisans at their Grove City location. These engravings are done with hammer and chisel in reverse and can take from one day or up to eight weeks to complete. However, once a die is engraved, it can be used for many products before it has to be re-cut.

After the hammer room, the pieces are colored by placing them over a fire to bake in the black color you see. This color comes off mostly in the polishing step, but it gives dimension to the hammered piece.

The piece is then shined, the edge hammed for a more finished look and prepared for sale at Wendell August Forge.

The Exton location has four full time craftsmen, one of whom, Emily, will be premiering her jewelry line in the store on Sept. 10.

In March 2010, the original Grove City forge had a fire that destroyed the entire forge. The Exton location has a few of the antique pieces from the Grove City location on display that were pulled from the rubble after the fire. There are also other antique pieces on display in the shop.

Our tour guide, Melissa, explained to us that Wendell August’s original design was the dogwood flower – which they still carry today.

However, the die has had to be re-cut a few times. The new die has some fun characters in it too! There are ladybugs hidden in some of the pieces.

In the autumn line you can find an inchworm and a spider in some pieces.

Before you leave the Forge, there is one more room to explore. Some of the retired dies have been set out as well as mallets and metal so you can make your very own Wendell August Forge piece – and very unique as nothing in the showroom is of the same design! We made a bear!