Reviving a lost trade: Advanced Welding & Manufacturing Inc.

He throws on an apron, picks up a utensil, starts a fire and gets to work.

But Johnson’s apron is leather, his utensil is a hammer, and his fire is in a coal-fired forge.

Johnson is a modern-day blacksmith. He and his wife, Mindy, own Advanced Welding & Manufacturing Inc., where they craft ironwork using a coal-fired forge and 250-pound anvil.

The Johnsons are throwbacks in this day of automation and prefabrication.

Tim Johnson’s blacksmith work is completed in what he calls his kitchen.

“Everything is in reach – like a kitchen,” Johnson says, as the Oklahoma-coal fire crackles over his shoulder.

Blacksmiths must work quickly, having less than a minute before an iron piece loses its prime molding temperatures. Johnson’s work space is no larger than 10 square feet.

“This is my stove and this is my sink,” he says, pointing to the flaming forge and the collection of water where he cools the iron pieces. “It is a lot like cooking.”

The work area is full of different types of tools, most of which he’s made. “I can make tools better than I can leaves,” he says with a laugh.

Blacksmithing is just one segment of the Johnsons’ business. Advanced Welding’s five-employee team seemingly takes any job that comes its way, from the ornamental and stainless steel custom design of decorative handrails, gates and door grills to on-site welding repairs via the company’s sophisticated mobile welding truck.

“We’ve welded on airplane parts for Worldwide Aircraft,” Mindy Johnson says of the federally certified aircraft repair station at Springfield-Branson National Airport.

“You just never know what you’re going to see in here.”

Walk-in jobs come from a casual customer who needs a piece welded on his Jeep, for instance, to spot repairs for nearby mechanic shop Marco Automotive.

As a member of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, Johnson has developed a long list of home-builder clients, including Mark Martin, Sam Watts, Kenny Bussell, Bryon Weber, Craig Conklin and Brett Godfrey.

Corporate clients include Jamerson Doors, J.A.G. Architectural Products, Springfield Striping & Sealing, Watts Radiant, Queen City Warehouse, 166 Auto Auction, Battlefield Fire, Springfield Police and Kaleidoscope.

Johnson’s favorite projects are residential handrails. He immediately points to a custom stainless steel handrail job in a Lake Ridge Estates house, handrail and door grills in a Pearson Pointe home and Tom and Susy T. Barr’s handrail that continues on three levels.

“It’s wonderful,” says Susy Barr, whose husband owns Ozark Mailing Service. “It was exactly what I wanted.”

The Johnsons’ handiwork is sprinkled throughout the Barrs’ one-year-old east Springfield home: the terrace railing, the marble sink stand, front door grills and window boxes.

Susy Barr particularly liked the one-on-one discussions with Mindy Johnson during six months of design work. Barr says the Johnsons would produce samples for her review and revise them as suggested.

Forging a business

Johnson’s background is in stainless steel work, where he helped produce steel tankers on factory lines for seven years.

He struck out on his own with Tim’s Portable Welding in 1995. Four years later, Johnson changed the name to Advanced Welding “to get higher placement in the phone book,” says Mindy Johnson. That same year, the couple secured an $80,000 Small Business Administration loan through Liberty Bank and opened in the current shop.

Tim Johnson said it took three years of “really good tax returns before a bank would even touch me.” In those three years leading up to 1999, revenues steadily increased above the $100,000 mark.

The company is on pace to reach $500,000 this year.

The next step is greater marketing efforts via a new Web site, www.advwelding.com, and brochure, both designed by Just Ad Humor’s Aaron Wahlquist.

“Our biggest obstacle is finding people, craftsmen,” Johnson says.

Johnson admits even he was unsure about adding the blacksmith work to his stainless steel arsenal.

“Why would you want to beat on something with a hammer and get it hot?” he used to ask.

He now knows. It’s for the love of the trade.

“I’ll come in for several hours on a Sunday and hammer something out just for fun,” Johnson says. “It’s my retreat.”

Advanced Welding & Manufacturing Inc.

Owners: Tim and Mindy Johnson

Founded: 1999

Address: 4236 S. Hillcrest Ave., Springfield, MO 65810

Phone: (417) 886-8032

Fax: (417) 882-2542

Web site: www.advwelding.com

Services: Ornamental iron, steel, aluminum design and repair

2005 revenues: nearly $500,000

Employees: 5[[In-content Ad]]