Twisted Willow Fabrication and Laser Engraving

This post is directed at area companies, professionals, artists, the do-it-yourselfers, and even our competition. Twisted Willow Fabrication believes there's plenty of room for all of us. We do full builds, but we also process parts for jobs we're not working on. Like our website says, we've invested in professional equipment so you don't have to. And don't worry if you don't use CAD software and can't send us a file. We can do that for you too.

Twisted Willow Fabrication gets three kinds of calls for jobs concerning homes. The first kind is from the contractors or estimator. These calls very often are for outside structural supports that have aesthetic value. The second type is from the contractor or homeowner doing upgrades to an existing home. These are the most common calls and involve every project under the sun. The third is from the home restorer, and they are the subject of this post. We refer to home restore...rs as keepers of history. Like anyone involved with antiques, keeping original equipment and hardware is important. Besides a few modern conveniences, home restorers try to keep their historic homes true to the original design. The home and hardware can often be dated back to the mid 1800's and has a story to tell. We get calls to do repairs to the original hardware of historic homes. We recently got a call about a sliding door bracket and wheel that were installed on a house pre Civil War. The homeowners wanted to keep this original hardware, but the bore of the bracket and wheel were worn out preventing the door from sliding. We used our mill and lathe to resize both bores and then made brass bushings to bring them back to life. Since the top of the bracket and wheel were hidden, a new bolt and lock nut were used as an axle. This will make it easy to maintain in the future. The top of this bracket was damaged at some point in its history. Again, since it is hidden it was left alone. It has its own story to tell.

Twisted Willow Fabrication is a custom metal fabrication and laser engraving business serving commercial and non-commercial customers. We work with all sorts of metals to bring you exactly what you're looking for. This week we want to show you some work we've done with copper. If you call us and ask about copper, we get excited. We love copper. And we stock copper sheet in a few different thicknesses. Copper responds well to a number of different processes and finishes. But m...ost importantly for the Twisted Willow customer, you can get exactly what you're looking for instead of what is available to you online. Our photos show you a few copper jobs we've done recently. The first is a copper tag we did to be placed on a special wedding gift. The customer required a specific size and the use of their artwork. They chose to leave the artwork raised and the surrounding area engraved. The copper tag was processed and our fiber laser finished the job. The other two photos are of a special gift. The loss of a family member, an 18 year old cat. A paw print was done at the vet's office. We took the paw print and put it on copper with a bluish-green patina. Everything including the patina was done at Twisted Willow Fabrication.

It happens all the time. A customer drops in to pick up an order from the fabrication shop. He's in a hurry because he's waited until the last minute to shop for a birthday or anniversary gift (it's always the guy who waits until the last minute). We are a custom metal fabrication shop, but we also have a "Laser Lab". We stock products for you to personalize for yourself, a loved one or special occasion. Our professional fiber and CO2 lasers can engrave, mark and process prac...tically anything. We have a lot of gift ideas and the product to back it up. Tumblers, glassware, cutting boards, slate, picture frames, keychains. These are just a few of the items we have for customization. And of course the metal shop can be combined with the laser lab for a truly unique gift. Father's day is coming up. Remember, we're not just metal. We have a few suggestions for you. Everything is in stock and ready to be personalized.

We get a lot of calls this time of year from campers. Campers are fun to work with. They know exactly what they need. Space is of a premium on their trailers or motor homes. They're usually looking for outside storage at the rear of the vehicle. Campers can get very creative when solving their storage needs and often show up with their own drawings. This customer found a tote the size he needed and wanted to mount it to the trailer bumper, but we couldn't bolt through the bumper because it was also a place to store a hose. We fabricated a pan with built in tie downs and drains for the tote. We then fabricated a bumper mount that clamped to the frame using carriage bolts. A strong carrier with quick mounting.