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Morrisville, Vermont - October 23, 2009

Sparks are flying at Custom Metal Fabricators in Morrisville.

The company that makes anything from spiral staircases to designer handrails is now producing log splitters.

"It was just a matter of time before we found something to help us when it was slow," said Shane Earle of Custom Metal Fabricators.

We first visited the shop in April 2008. Vermont economists had just declared the state in a recession. Custom Metal Fabricators said then they would just keep their heads down and work to get through the rough times.

"You just have to be careful to keep your pencil as sharp as you can, and make it as reasonable as possible for people," Dave Vilord said in April.

Eighteen months later, the log splitters are the company's way of broadening its market beyond architectural details.

"We found a hole in our workload and we just knew we had to do something to fill in that, or we were going to downsize. And we didn't want to. We wanted to keep everyone working. Everyone has families," Vilord said.

Those log splitters cost between $2,300 and $3,500. The strong hydraulic machines are designed to the customer's specifications. Small Vermont companies willing to be chameleons, willing to change directions and adapt to new conditions, tend to be the ones who make it.

"We didn't have a choice," Vilord said. "As a small business, you have everything on the line."

Custom Metal Fabricators hopes the darkest days of the economy are behind us and the company is glad the recession prompted it to discover a new Made in Vermont product line.

"Vermonters aren't afraid to work," Vilord said.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont