-Messenger photo by John McBride
Lucas Walsh opened Walsh Engraving in Fort Dodge in February of this year. The Manson-Northwest Webster High School graduate offers engraving on just about anything. His shop is located at 1603 Third Ave. S.
When Lucas Walsh was looking for high school classes to fill out his schedule, he thought a laser class seemed interesting, so he added it to his schedule.
Now more than four years later, that interest has gone from a hobby to his own business in Fort Dodge.
Walsh, who graduated from Manson Northwest Webster High School in 2020, opened Walsh Engraving in Fort Dodge in February, but he’s actually been churning out orders for more than two years.. His business is located at 1603 Third Ave. S.
“It all started when I was looking for classes to take to fill up some empty spots and I saw laser was a class,” Walsh said. “I had never heard of that, but it sounded interesting. I had a great teacher, Brian Nelson. I took it one year and when I was filling out the next trimester schedule, he said if I had two open spots I should take it back-to-back. So I did and he made me fall in love with it.”
Manson Northwest Webster offers both laser manufacturing and advanced laser classes.
-Messenger photo by John McBride
Lucas Walsh removes a tumbler from his engraving machine at his shop. His machine can engrave just about anything a customer wants, from tumblers and water bottles to cake pans or cutting boards.
Walsh bought the engraving machinery in 2021 and worked out of his house. He did orders in the small shop he had and began taking on more projects while he was looking to open a storefront.
“As soon as I got started, I knew I would need to get to Fort Dodge and open a building,” he said. “I knew business would pick up getting a brick and mortar building, Business has picked up a lot.”
Walsh said part of the desire to open his shop was the fact there really isn’t any other business offering engraving in Fort Dodge. He wanted to be able to give customers that option.
“A lot of my business comes from people who were ordering things online because there wasn’t anything available locally,” he said. “When I started out, I realized there was a need in this area.”
Out of his home shop, he started by doing just one-off items, engraving cutting boards, cake pans and other projects for individuals. Now he’s able to produce a hundred tumblers or a hundred cutting boards if that’s what customers want. He has done a lot of projects for other businesses since opening his shop in Fort Dodge.
“We have places that want to give their employees tumblers or cutting boards or something else. We can offer just about anything they want,” he said.
Walsh uses a 105-watt CO2 laser that he purchased from a business in Florida. He can do anything but cut metal. He can do projects as big as a 3/4-inch cut wood all the way to fine engraving on leather.
He can do the design work for metal, but he sends it to another company to be produced.
He also does engraved patches for hats, book bags and other clothing. Customers can scroll through his Facebook page and see the projects he’s completed.
Currently, customers can contact him via phone call, text or Facebook messages. He has plans to launch a website. His phone number is 515-408-5109.
Walsh had some words of encouragement for anyone thinking about starting a business, especially if that business is coming from a passion like his did.
“I would definitely say don’t be scared. I just basically jumped right into it despite being told not to by my parents,” he said. “They definitely are very supportive now. When I was just starting out and broke, my parents advised me against it. They said it was an expensive hobby, but I said no, I am going to make a business out of it.”
Walsh said he’s been self-taught while perfecting his craft. He credited Nelson several times for giving him the training and skills to succeed.
As for the future, Walsh is just working right now to keep up with the plethora of orders he’s receiving. He’s hoping to buy additional equipment that will help him expand his offerings, but he’s content with where his business stands.
He has one employee, Hunter Olson, who helps him with all of the businesses’ orders.
“Eventually I would like to buy a fiber laser, which is a little different from this one,” he said. “That is definitely a step I want to take. Right now, I just want to stay caught up and keep people happy.”