At Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works, the only thing new is the owner
BUCYRUS – Less than two years ago, James Patrick, 36, came to Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works because he’d heard the owner might have a blacksmithing hammer for sale.
“I really fell in love with this place as soon as I stepped in here,” he said.
Now, he’s the owner of the 142-year-old business.
The interior of the two-story wooden-frame building at 119 S. Walnut St. looks like a time capsule or a museum, not a workplace. It’s heated with wood-burning and gas stoves; the knob-and-tube wiring was installed in 1912. Graffiti on one wall is dated 1909. Many of the tools used to make the copper kettles look as though they’ve been there forever — though some have only been there since the 1930s, purchased when the Star Kettle Company in Canton went out of business. Even an anvil is worn from constant use.
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Conversation led to ownership of company
When he met Steve Schifer, who owned the kettle works at the time, Patrick had recently moved back to the area after spending about seven years working as a commercial diver and underwater welder along the Gulf of Mexico, and was launching a blacksmithing business.
Schifer didn’t have a hammer for sale, but the two started talking.
That eventually led to a job doing some welding and helping out — “and it progressed,” Patrick said.
“And then the middle of last year, we came back from the COVID break, and Steve offered me the company,” he said. “He comes in and helps out quite a bit.”
Patrick officially became the business’ owner on Jan. 1. The company, founded in 1879, had been owned by members of the Daniel Picking family for generations. Schifer, who had been with the business since 1976, took over when the last member of the family, Helen Picking Neff, died in 2015.
Business has rich history
The business is a Bucyrus landmark. Each year, the Bratwurst Festival queen is awarded a small copper kettle made by the company. Two local high school football teams battle each year for the Copper Kettle. Even the Christmas ornaments being sold by the city’s bicentennial commission are copper, not brass, in recognition of the company’s role in the community.
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Many residents toured the factory as schoolchildren, as Patrick did — but many have never seen it at all.
Patrick’s goal is to change that and find new ways for the company to thrive, while at the same time preserving the building’s unique history.
“Seemed like I fit pretty good here, and I like history,” he said. “I’m on the board over at Lyme Village (Historic Lyme Village in Bellevue) and I help them out a lot, too. I just want to see it keep going. And then me and Steve, I think we have a lot in common, as far as for this place. So it worked out pretty good.”
Patrick has been carefully cleaning out forgotten corners of the building and making plans for the future.
Historic items from the building
A stash of items from the Picking family went to the historical society. Ledgers found upstairs, dating back to 1853, have been moved downstairs to the massive antique safe that dominates the business office.
Even the safe has a story — it was moved from another business in town before the building was even constructed. In 1873, workers started with a concrete slab on the empty lot, then laid tracks between there and the bank where the safe was, Patrick said. A team of mules was used to pull the safe to its new location, then the copper kettle factory was built around it. A section of track is still visible under the safe.
The business office is filled with elephants — knickknacks of all sizes, plus a wall filled with photos — collected by Robert Picking — Helen Picking Neff’s father.
Then there are 35 dusty old kettles — roughly the size used to make apple butter — that were found stacked in another upstairs corner. Patrick explained Robert Picking used to go to auctions and buy the old kettles so people would have to buy new ones from his business.
Until the 1930s, the building extended all the way to the alley that runs behind it. Patrick said he’d like to rebuild that section and create a welding/fabricating shop, with more blacksmithing. The new addition also would have a gift shop at the back.
“I keep getting a lot of emails and phone calls about maybe doing classes on blacksmithing and copper-smithing, and that would be a place I could do that safely without interrupting the progress in here,” he said. “Because I don’t want to change anything at all as far as this building.”
Modern equipment also used with copper kettles
While most of the work on the copper kettles is done by hand — and many of the machines used were installed in the early part of the last century — some modern equipment is used, too.
Patrick pointed out two 80-gallon steam kettles that had been brought in for repairs. They were being patched using TIG welding.
“If we did it the traditional way, these would have been scrapped,” he said. “This is a real, working place, too; it’s not just a museum.”
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Since Patrick took over, Tay Brown, who operates TB Marketing Solutions in Norwalk, has been handling social media.
“She seems to be doing pretty good with it — it brings in a lot of tours,” said James Patrick’s father, Russ. “We actually get sales over the phone.”
Tours have been “picking up quite a bit,” James Patrick said. At the end of April, a group of 50 Amish students are scheduled to tour the business.
“This is pretty much all new to me, so I’m just taking it in as it comes,” he said.
They’ve also been trying to promote repairs and custom work on social media.
“That stuff’s been coming in, also,” Patrick said, including a lot of work that’s shipped in from out of state.
Traditional business continues to thrive
The traditional business of making apple butter and candy kettles, timpani shells, wastepaper baskets and more continues to thrive, too, he said.
One of the problems the business faces is keeping enough items in stock to meet demand.
“We don’t have a lot of inventory; it seems like as soon as we have inventory, we have a tour and people buy us out, so we’re back to square one again — which isn’t a bad problem at all,” Patrick said.
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They also sell reconditioned antiques, such as weather vanes and charger plates.
Right now, the business only accepts cash or check; Patrick said he plans to be able to accept credit cards soon.
Future plans for Copper Kettle Works
Patrick wants to get back to having six employees, as the company did under Picking Neff. Currently, he employs three people full-time.
There’s also Anna Hoffman, a homeschool student from Bucyrus who helps out with tours and is learning the trade. Russ Patrick helps out his son, too.
James Patrick said he’d like to work more with the historical society, to incorporate tours into its events, “but we’ve got COVID and things going on, so you have to be responsible about it, too.”
Patrick, a Colonel Crawford graduate, went to Pioneer Career and Technology center to study diesel mechanics, and after graduation got a job at the county landfill.
“I thought that was going to be the rest of my life; I bought a house in New Washington and thought that was it,” he said. “A couple years went by and I got tired of working in the garbage, and I thought, man, there’s got to be more to life than this. … I felt like I was just ready for something else.”
His next job was at Transco Railway Products, where he improved on welding skills he’d learned at Pioneer.
He got laid off around 2007, when “the economy around here wasn’t the greatest.” He looked into underwater welding and dive school, “and five months later, I was in dive school. It kind of just snowballed real fast.”
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He ended up living near the Gulf of Mexico for about seven years before returning to Crawford County.
For now, he works at Timken from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., then is at the kettle works from 7:30 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m.
“I take naps here and there,” he said.
He’s hoping to eventually leave Timken and focus on the kettle works.
“I’m still learning; I feel like I’m way behind the curve. … a lot of it’s improvising and trying to be thoughtful,” he said.
Patrick’s main goal is to keep the business going, the same as it’s always been — while making the changes required to meet modern demands.
“I want to bring this back to life,” he said.
419-521-7263
Learn more
To arrange a tour, call 419-562-6891; or for information, visit bucyruscopperkettle.com.
People can order items by stopping in at 119 S. Walnut St., or emailing [email protected]. Email is preferable for more complicated special orders.
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