We recently connected with Nathan Brandt and have shared our conversation below.

Nathan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

My business partner and I were blacksmiths, making railings, gates, ornamental work for homes and businesses and we built a machine to aid us in that work. When we realized that no-one had done anything to make that machine more accessible to people just getting started in the craft we decided we had to do it! When we asked around for the ” how” – “experts” told us left and right that it could not be done, it just wouldn’t work. So, with a religious stubbornness we persevered and just did it.

The first machine we built, indeed did not work! The information we gained in that first press build, from junkyard scrap iron and parts scrounged from other equipment, was exactly what we needed to so overcome the obstacle. If we had just trusted the advice of those around us we would have given up or even worse, given in and built the machine exactly like everyone else was!

The second machine we built performed wonderfully. Compact, quiet and plugged into a standard household 120V outlet. Once that hurdle was cleared we continued to iterate and perfect the machine. We didn’t like the way other press’s tooling mounted to the machine. It was inconsistent and moved around while you worked. In response, we designed a totally propriety method of attaching the tooling to the press and again flipped the whole concept of what a small, hobbyist style machine could do. Now we had a small, affordable machine that could be put in anyone’s shop and had reliable and repeatable tooling. The little power unit we had designed based on simple hydraulic log splitters and the parts were readily available and reliable. All the basic concepts we had hoped to hit were falling into place!

Andy and I were blacksmiths, that has already been covered. We were not businessmen, we were not fabricators or machinists. We were in NO WAY qualified by anyone to be taking on this work. Looking back though, I think that’s why we were successful! If we were trained experts we would have known all the ways in which our design would not have worked, that the market was too small to support the growth of a little business, we didn’t even know how to build the things at all! We tried anyway without understanding fully the scope of the problem. Nibbling away at it, little by little we grew in understanding and our ability to problem solve deepened.

After the first year we had built roughly a dozen machines and realized we needed more room. That the opportunity here was much larger than we initially thought and so we purchased our first small industrial shop. An unloved and damp, 1100 square foot garage on the wrong side of the tracks in an ex-industrial area. We had our first few failures of the welds on our early machines and I took it upon myself to figure it out. Reading every text book, forum conversation and watching hours and hours of welding instruction on Youtube. I realized we had gone about our design totally wrong and we began on the next iteration of our small shop hydraulic press. Once again, the process of doing is what informed our next improvement. Only by doing it wrong, we discovered how to do it right, and in the process learned a deep lesson that is absolutely unforgettable. Cementing a new level of understanding in our process of design and building. None of which was achievable with anything but DOING. I have hired dozens of “certified” welders that knew nothing of welding! It is in the doing, that you find the full truth of the process – there is no alternative.

As someone that has spent my entire life creating; painted, sculpting and building – I have found that being a business owner is the greatest creative expression of my life. Falling in love with problem solving, I am constantly being stretched and pushed to build better machines, improve the processes we use to solve the problems of our team and our customers. It feels like an evergreen garden, constantly finding new blossoms of problems just waiting to be solved.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Coal Iron Works is a small business in Anderson, IN – an ex-industrial empire city that is an incredible breeding ground for small businesses looking to start with minimal overhead. We now provide the highest-quality and most customer centered forging equipment in the industry, from induction heaters to hydraulic forging presses in all sizes styles and shapes, including complex custom builds for small businesses around the US, that can’t afford the massive corporate equipment demanding 6-figures just to look at your job! We build incredible relationships with our customers and our returning customer rate is insanely high. Shopify recently reached out to see how we’ve managed such an incredible rate of return!

Those relationships are something I’m incredibly proud of: both between Coal and its wide customer base as well as between the family we’ve built in the shop. Everyone is proud of what they make, and excited to be empowering men and women all over the world to bring their visions to reality with our equipment.

After a lengthy and difficult illness my business partner Andy Davis, passed away. At his memorial service people from all over the country chimed in to share a story and the primary topic was what Andy had taught them. I felt that it was an opportunity to open a school in his honor to share what he had shared so freely. The Coal School of Iron is the result, a world class forging school that gives everyone walking through it’s doors an opportunity to forge hands on, whether for the first time or as continued training for their industrial employment. Another way for us to leverage our incredible community of makers and shakers.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

After several years of being in a constant state of growth, our credit and personal bandwidth was totally maxed out. We had just purchased and renovated a massive new manufacturing facility and meanwhile Andy had just undergone the first of several very intense surgeries. This was an extremely difficult time and I remember laying on the floor of that shop, at 2AM, crying in my welding mask as I was forced to try and get more equipment out just to keep the lights on. During that period Andy had maxed out his insurance and needed to find a way to continue treatment. We approached our local steel supplier, a small mom and pop shop that we had worked with for years, and asked if they wanted to buy the building we had so lovingly just renovated. It was simply too much for us to manage, and the overhead was squeezing us from all sides. Their response was; “What if we just bought Coal?”. We went back and forth, of course – but felt it was the best option for the company and for us personally, especially since it provided the entirely necessary health insurance we had been unable to source ourselves!

Selling the business was only possible because we already had such a close working relationship with the buyers. We trusted them and they trusted us, so much so that they allowed us to continue running the business entirely as we saw fit. This took the blinders of scarcity off, and soon the business was healthy and thriving. New equipment, better pay, better inventory management. Not only did they have the financial ability to back us fully, but they lended their expertise and advise. I dislike expertise in design and building, I think its a burden to creativity – but hard won wisdom from seven decades in business is a whole different matter, and Andy and I were floundering without it.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Henry Ford’s “Today and Tomorrow” and “My Life and Work” are a constant favorite. Realizing the scope of what’s possible with nothing but and idea and great tenacity is the example we followed to a T. As well, I revel in the details given of their process during the design and implementation of the car and factories. It is truly Art to be beholden. “Competing Against Luck” is another favorite that helped me thing about the why behind the way we approach our market and customers. “BUILD” is an incredible book and became the basis of how we now design our products. You are not just designing a piece of hardware, you are creating an entire customer experience and it needs to be designed with the same care as the product itself!

Those are a few favorites but there are many more in my library. I am constantly devouring books about design, lean manufacturing and farming. I think farming has an entirely different ethos behind it being the most vital industry imaginable ( did you eat today?). There is a deep respect for the land and animals as well as the humanness of the farmer, that should be conveyed in every industry we encounter.

Contact Info:

• Website: coaliron.com
• Instagram: @coalironworks
• Facebook: @coalironworks
• Twitter: @coalironworks
• Youtube: Coal Iron Works

Image Credits
@carbonpeaks instagram for blue 25TonFlag picture @bunkerhillblades instagram for blue 12TonFlag picture All others are ours!