Tough-T Manufacturing

March 5, 1980 - Tough-T Manufacturing, Glenfield, has added a new method in making steel parts - drop forging - and as far as can be determined, the business is the only one in North Dakota with that type of sophisticated equipment.

Drop forging is a method of molding steel parts out of bars heated to a temperature of 1,700 degrees. The hot bars are placed in a die (mold) and the repeated ram of a hammer, weighing 2,000 pounds, squeezes the steel into shape.

"Because it's hot, it forms like Play-Doh," Jerry Tufte, owner of Tough-T Manufacturing. The hammer, pulled by gravity, drops down on the steel three times at one-second intervals. Because the steel is so hot and is "squeezed" into shape, the product is stronger than parts made by standard presses.

The firm uses 200 gallons of propane in one and a half days to heat the furnace which in turn heats the bars for molding. The building's furnace is not used and Tufte is looking for ways of converting the energy or making it more efficient.

Tufte is purchasing the drop forge equipment from Brad Osmondson of Osmondson Forge of Iowa. Three generations of family have been involved in that business and representatives will be working with Tough-T Manufacturing for three years for instructional purposes.

That same equipment, now located in Glenfield, has made many of the parts used in tire-change equipment at service stations throughout the country.

"Some things you cannot make with a press," Tufte said. "There's not enough power. Drop forging is better than a cast because it makes the part denser so it's stronger. Forging is the oldest industry in the world."

The weight of the drop forge equipment is 60,000 pounds; the base alone weighs 38,500 pounds. The equipment was brought up to Carrington on four trucks and put into place with the use of a Caterpillar. Sheyenne Tool and Manufacturing of Cooperstown makes the dies. The drop forge equipment was put into operation in mid February.

Tough-T Manufacturing, which employs nine men full-time and up to 13 full and part-time during the summer, manufactures its own three-point hitch and row crop cultivator as well as making parts for Melroe in Gwinner and Bismarck and parts for Posi Lock bearing puller, manufactured at McHenry. In addition, it makes parts for Grouser Products in Fargo.

"We do other work for people in the area - farm repair," Tufte said. "That's how we got into it."

Tough-T Manufacturing, first called E & J Manufacturing, was started as a farm repair business by Tufte and his brother, Elton. Last April, Elton went back to work for Butler Machinery in Grand Forks.

The three-point hitch was first made three years ago and this year will be featured at the North Dakota Winter Show. Tufte worked for Melroe in Cooperstown a few years ago, and always interested in having his own shop, began doing farm repair work and making parts for Melroe in the evenings in a 25' by 30' shop on his father's farm near McHenry.

At that time, the only press he had was an OBI (open back inclining). When the shop was moved to Glenfield and the present building completed in 1976, 300 ton and 500 ton presses were added.

The 500-ton hydraulic press was once used by Hughes Aircraft. Tufte inverted that press "because the cylinder was in the bottom and we needed it on top," he said.

Carrington House Moving used two wench trucks in moving the 500-ton press.

Tough-T Manufacturing also produces bale feeders and sells several implement items as well, including gravity boxes, snow blowers and Wishek discs.

Tufte has always had his heart set on this type of business and quickly mentions that the community was instrumental in helping him get started. He has worked for Steinman Manufacturing in Carrington, Melroe in Cooperstown and attended welding school at Hanson Mechanical Trade School in Fargo. He later taught there for a year.

And business is growing. In 1977, Tough-T manufactured $49,000 in parts and equipment; $140,000 in 1978, and by 1979, had increased its production to $252,000. Profit is quickly reinvested back into equipment, Tufte said.

Overall, including production, sales and repair, the business has increased 65 percent.

The son of Oscar and Myrtle Tufte of McHenry, Jerry and his wife, Cindy have two children, Missy, seven; and Wade, 1 1/2.

Source:  Glenfield History 1886 €“ 1987 Page 104