儿子, Valerius is hard at work forging a soon-to-be masterpiece for a client.

Meet the Kochanowskis: A family of Polish American blacksmiths with a multi-generational legacy in 威斯康辛州. Boleslaw, a third-generation metalworker and the patriarch of the family, runs the “Boleslaw Kochanowski” blacksmithing shop with his wife Anna and three of their children, 儿子文森特, 8月, 瓦列留厄斯一家,. They specialize in creating architectural fine metals and 艺术 sculptures made primarily from steel and iron — a craft that requires lots of time, 耐心, 和可口可乐.  

Boleslaw’s talent for blacksmithing began while working on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific 铁路road (often referred to as the Milwaukee Road), alongside his father. There, he strengthened his metalwork trade and learned mechanical and technical drafting.

然而, Boleslaw’s passion for blacksmithing was manufactured long before his work on the Milwaukee Road by his family’s legacy. Boleslaw's father was a blacksmith in Poland who apprenticed under Boleslaw's great uncle; He later became the head blacksmith for the Chicago Transit Authority. 

These hummingbird sections are p艺术 of a much larger exterior project of rails.

Looking to accelerate his craft, Boleslaw opened his own business with the help of his father in 1980. He moved to Portage County, 威斯康辛州, finding an overwhelming population of Polish Americans, referred to as America Polonia by Boleslaw. For six years, Boleslaw worked in the structural steel business. In 1986, in honor of his dad, great uncle and their history and skillset in blacksmithing, Boleslaw transitioned to a more 艺术istic side of the trade – architectural ironwork, 家居装饰, and functional and fine 艺术 — and continues to carry on his family’s historic tradition of craftsmanship, with a flair of creativity today.

Boleslaw still draws on his Milwaukee Road days by drafting all his projects to show his clientele before he and his sons transform the ideas from paper to reality with a hammer, 铁砧, 并建立.

“It’s the medium that we use in forging … it shows the hand work — just like 艺术ists with a pencil drawing, a hand drawing is better than a photograph because it brings out the character,Boleslaw说.

To shape the metal into a piece of 艺术, a blacksmith must first heat the forge to extreme temperatures with an energy source. For Boleslaw, that energy source is coke. Coke is a type of fuel made from coal and is not easy for a blacksmith to come by. The Kochanowski family was receiving their coke fines all the way from Gary, Indiana — a nine-hour roundtrip drive. The lengthy travel time offset the business value of the coke. 

儿子, Vincent Kochanowski is pictured above holding his coke fines that are used to create Boleslaw Kochanowski projects. 

Boleslaw’s son Vincent Kochanowski, and Timothy Stew艺术, an industrial engineer at Waupaca铸造’s Plant 1 location in Waupaca, 威斯康辛州, had previously developed a relationship at a school function that both families were attending. They also realized that they both went to the same church and would casually keep in touch after services. The conversations, ranging from occupations to hobbies and pastimes, soon led to coke fines. Stew艺术 shared with Vincent that Waupaca铸造 uses coke to cast ductile iron and gray iron castings and that the leftover coke fines could be of use to the Kochanowski family and their business.

The coke that Waupaca铸造 procures is trucked to the foundry in varying sizes. Upon arrival, the larger, usable foundry coke is sifted and separated from the smaller coke fines. For decades, the unused, smaller coke fines were returned to the supplier. Stew艺术 learned, however, that the size of the coke fines is perfect for a blacksmith’s forge.

The Kochanowski family now buys the unused coke fines, as needed to mitigate its supply disruption. In a time of increased energy and fuel costs, Waupaca铸造 was able to help out a small business by saving time and resources. 整体, the p艺术nership transforms what would be unusable to Waupaca铸造 into an enabler of 艺术 for the Kochanowski business.