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Meredith Gorfein
i Rappahannock News Writer
Rick Nawrocki can repair a bulldozer bucket and fabricate an ornamental gate from a design on a customer’s dish towel. All in a day’s work. In the case of the “dish towel” gate, more than a day.
Rick’s Custom Welding, located on US 211 just outside the town of Washington, turns out anywhere from 100 to 150 feet of iron railing every month, as well as intricate arbors, gates, fire escapes and kettles. All of his work is custom designed for and with the client and then built and installed by Mr. Nawrocki himself.
Mr. Nawrocki has been, in his current location in Washington since January, 2000, but he has been welding since he was a teenager. He took agricultural mechanics in high school in Pennsylvania, and one of his courses was in welding. At the time he thought welding would simply be useful for repairing farm equipment. He bought his first welder — a “Buzz box” which he still owns — while still in high school. He and his dad set it up in the barn, the equipment began arriving, and Mr. Nawrocki has been welding ever since.
The early years were spent doing equipment repairs, and he still does some of that work. He feels he has to take care of his local customers, but he is enjoying the ornamental iron work more, both the actual welding and the creative process that begins with just a rough idea from the customer.
One of the first of his nonequipment repair projects was the fabrication of 330 feet of
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