Battle Hill trio forging a future

FALLS VILLAGE — Give these guys a pile of scrap metal and the tools to heat it, pound it, cut it and shape it, and they couldn’t be happier.

At Battle Hill Forge in Falls Village, Israel Fitch, Willy Blass and Jeff Vanam are well on their way to combining talent and artistic interest with making a living. It can be a rare confluence, but it does happen sometimes in these parts. And these men may have just what it takes.

They are inventive, and are young enough to believe anything is possible. They have shared interests in things like medieval metal working, swords and the tricking out of Blass’s Flexible Flyer. They are old enough to understand the varied aspects of a successful business. They have a business unlike any other around.

The trio has been using the third floor of the former Cherry Nubbins gift shop on Route 7, in what is known as the Battle Hill section of Falls Village. This past summer, they took over the entire building.

"It’s a work-in-progress," said Fitch, a Cornwall resident. "We haven’t done much advertising yet. But we have gotten some attention from the sculptures out in the yard."

What passes for a preliminary version of a sign is a metal sculpture mounted on the porch overhang. At night, a blue light sets it aglow.

The guys are looking forward, with excitement and a little angst, to a push to attract business off the street this summer. Plans include setting up the portable, propane-powered forge out front, a sure invitation for tourists and locals to pull off the highway. It will be like the shows they have done around the area, when they bring the anvil and forge and Blass pounds out customers’ initials upon request.

"It’s nice to have it inside during the winter. It’s always warm in here," Blass said. "But I’m really glad it’s portable so we’re not stuck in here in the summer."

Vanam, originally from Cornwall, is into casting and welding. Making tiny hands from cast metal currently has his attention.

"I spent a lot of time looking at my own hand," he offered as an explanation.

A clanking noise on the porch is evidence that a bunch of the hands are being polished in a tumbler. The latter machine was made by Blass, of the Falls Village Blass family, from "found parts," including a leaf-blower motor and skateboard wheels.

"Most of what we do is custom work that we get by word-of-mouth," Fitch said. "We also do a lot of repairs. If it’s made out of metal and needs repair, we can handle it. We also do a lot of knife sharpening and metal frame work for sculptors."

Among the items in the shop at the moment is a pewter vase with a dented base, a decorative fireplace insert cover that will include blackened steel and copper, knives and armor, a sword fashioned from a truck leaf-spring and one lantern that looked, frankly, a little scary.

A curtain rod of Fitch’s design has ingenious, sliding mounts — because old homes were not built to standard stud widths.

The men are proud of an ability to combine function with unique design, like the arching metal handrail they concocted for a client with a bad knee, or the wicker-design they made for Fitch’s sister. She loved her unique wicker border fencing, but when the wicker started to weather, Fitch copied the design in metal.