Meet the Team
Ore Dog Productions was formed when blacksmiths Lee Sauder, Stephen Mankowski, Shel Browder, and Ken Koons documented the iron smelting process on video in 2000. Our enjoyment of working together developed into a partnership; Lee’s ore-sniffing dog, Shadow, was the inspiration for the production company name.
Biographies
Shadow Bug Sauder the Ore Dog discovered her passion for iron-bearing rocks at a young age. Though now a bit grey in the muzzle, she still brings home several rocks a week, especially when the squirrels aren’t out.
Lee Sauder began blacksmithing in 1973 at the age of 12, when he began his apprenticeship to Larry Mann. After a two-year flirtation with higher education, Lee’s journeyman years included stints with O.K. Barnes of Camden, Maine; Chris Axelson of Carmel, California; and Vaclav Jaros of Prague (then Czechoslovakia.) He returned home to Lexington, VA, to take over Woods Creek Forge from Larry Mann in 1984. He has continued in the blacksmithing business to this day, forging sculpture, custom furniture, and architectural iron. He is best known in the blacksmithing community for his research into ancient ironsmelting techniques. In 2009, Lee moved his forge to his home near Lexington, and renamed his business Germinal Ironworks. When not researching, working in his forge, or playing the harmonica, he travels the world teaching.
Stephen Mankowski started blacksmithing in the summer of 1981 with Jeff Jubenville at the Genesee Country Museum in Mumford, NY, and worked with Paul Spaulding at the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY, from 1986 to 1988. Stephen earned his blacksmith journeyman papers at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation under Peter Ross in 1994. He presently works in his own shop, Pine tree Forge. He has demonstrated blacksmithing around the country and enjoys sharing his traditional methods with others.
Shelton Browder began traditional blacksmithing in 1980 after realizing that not everyone is capable of a desk-bound career. He began teaching himself to do traditional forge work in 1980, moved to New Bern, NC, in 1985 and established a blacksmith program at Tryon Palace, an 18th century historic site. In 1993, he began work in the public blacksmith shop at Colonial Williamsburg where he earned his journeyman papers under Master Blacksmith Peter Ross. After retiring in 2011, Shel began his own business, reproducing a variety of 17th and 18th century iron objects for individuals and museums. He teaches and demonstrates several times a year in various parts of the U.S.
Ken Koons was a photojournalist for 37 years. He is a videographer, luthier, carpenter, blacksmith, and builder of his log home and the wooden furniture it contains. He is also a professional musician, performing traditional Celtic and Nordic music in the mid-Atlantic area. He has worked wood since childhood, with iron since the early 1990s, and practices traditional hand-tool methods.