Small-scale metal sculptures appeal to large geographic market

Based on a pipe wrench, this dragster is an old-school design, one in which the driver sits behind the engine. Just 1 percent or so of Rock Creek Metal Craft’s sales are unique, one-of-a-kind items like this one.

To get started in making a living making metal sculptures, you don’t need much more than some scrap metal and some old, cast-off objects—say, a few spark plugs, a couple handfuls of fasteners, and maybe a beat-up tool or two—some fabricating equipment, and a little ingenuity. Generate a few ideas, make a few parts, do a little welding, and presto! You have a sculpture.

In the case of Rock Creek Metal Craft, Hansen, Idaho, the founder had all that and a lot of ingenuity. A mechanical engineer who retired from Boeing Corp., Jack Nuckols opened a small machining and welding shop in 1969. In addition to doing job shop work, he was the sort of craftsman who, quite literally, could turn trash into treasure.

“He’d get a hold of some scrap and put together a steam engine or a Stirling engine, and it would run for years without a problem,” said Rob Nuckols, Jack’s son and owner of Rock Creek Metal Craft. “I doubt you could find a finer engineer on the west side of the Mississippi, or on the east side, for that matter.”

The elder Nuckols tried his hand at fabricating small sculptures, starting with a mouse on skis and a few other such items. His wife, Rae, sold the items at a local gift shop, and before long they realized they were onto something good.

“Within five years, they were selling these items in all 50 states,” Nuckols said. While the company always has done some retail sales, the bulk of the revenue comes from wholesale arrangements with gift shops and other retailers.

The Business of Running a Fabrication Business

While the elder Nuckols enjoyed the creative aspect and developed many, many designs—the website lists more than 500 items—he balanced that with an extremely disciplined approach to running the business.

“If you look at two of the figures we make, such as fisherman and a banjo player, you’ll see that the legs are the same,” Rob said. They’re not just similar; they’re the same. As the business grew, the company decreased its reliance on scrap pieces and leftovers—other than for making occasional one-of-a-kind items—and transitioned to using new materials.

“Dad made benders, tooling, and jigs and developed specific instructions for making each component,” Nuckols said. That might sound overzealous, but even then, a U.S. craftsman who wanted to make a nice living had to rely on a few mass production techniques to compete against imports from low-wage countries.

And a nice living it is.

“The business took in about $500,000 annually 15 years ago,” Nuckols said. No business is bulletproof, but Rock Creek has fared pretty well even as the internet has made the industry more competitive, and a setback in a key market didn’t help. Sales in New Orleans, once a lucrative outlet for Rock Creek’s musical figures, took a hit in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and that market still hasn’t fully rebounded for Rock Creek.

Still, it’s a robust business, founded on a strong foundation that Rob’s parents built before they passed. Orders are steady; welders continue to drop in weekly, delivering finished sculptures and picking up new orders; and while Nuckols considers selling the business, he continues to work the phone, calling gift shops near and far—including those in southern Louisiana—to see if they’re interested in any of 526 unique figurines fashioned from small amounts of metal, common hardware items, and ingenuity.

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