Hammering out the Details

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“You can pick a piece of metal up off the floor and, in minutes, have something useful and beautiful.”
– Todd Kinnikin

Todd Kinnikin, the president and self-proclaimed ringmaster of Eureka Forge, has taken what was once a one-man artisan studio to a company of 14 talented artisans who possess a myriad of skills from mechanical engineering and welding to sculpting.  As the protégé son of an artist mother and engineer father, and the grandson of a blacksmith, Todd turned his hobby of making Damascus knives into one of the best forging companies with clients throughout Missouri, the United States and the world. When Todd retired from the construction business in 1992 and began his career in
metallurgy, he asked his good friend Rodney Roots to assist him with a two-week project.

“If I have a knack, it is hiring people better than I am,” says Todd.

Today, Rodney is the workshop's Forgemaster. Collaborative team efforts and Todd's expectation of hard work and excellence puts Eureka Forge at the forefront of creating some of the most beautiful metalwork in North America.

The company's outstanding international reputation as a leading producer of intricate door-locking mechanisms and custom metalwork earned it the Mitch Heitler Award for Excellence – the industry's highest honor – in 2006, 2007 and 2009. From balustrades, fences and gates, to furnishings, décor and sculptures, their work appears worldwide in custom homes, botanical gardens, museums and restaurants.

Todd, a proud father, reports that the legacy continues with his son Michael, a mechanical engineer. The engineering of a project is so important, and Todd explains, “This business is very mathematical. We use a lot of complicated geometry because you need to know what size steel to use and how to support the structure.” 

On the table sitting in front of him is a beautifully sculpted bronze piece of art – a rose, complete with a flowing stem and amazingly detailed leaves. “I could not draw that,” Todd says, pointing to the rose. “That's why I make it out of steel.”

MAN OF STEEL Todd Kinnikin, president of Eureka Forge, fondly refers to his profession of working with steel as a “blast.” For more information, visit www.eurekaforge.com.