“My dad was a ceramics professor at Michigan State. I used to go with him every weekend. I threw pots, but I liked to hang out in the sculpture lab. I was about 12 years old when I decided I wanted to play with metal, and I’ve never done anything else.

Nels began working with iron at 19, held several jobs at several companies, and started Bach Steel in 1997. Although “pretty much self-taught,” he does have an associate’s degree from Lansing Community College.

Nels Raynor has sold work in Wyoming, Idaho and Texas, but the vast majority stays in Michigan, and most of that in mid-Michigan, including a fancy cable rail system for the new Christman building downtown, and several exclusive homes in the area. Bach Steel also recently completed the biggest steel truss bridge that’s ever been refabricated, located part way between Lansing and Grand Rapids.

Nels Raynor does all the ornamental work himself, and currently has a staff of men who work for him; depending on the work load. Of the ornamental work, he said, “Really, it’s a hard thing to do. I do it more out of love of what I do than the money. I can’t pay my bills by the love of it, but if you were to do it just because you wanted to make money at it, you’d have to be a whiz at it.”

Bach Ornamental and Structural Steel has a great reputation for the quality of the work that we do and that’s the number one thing. I won’t sacrifice. And I don’t care if I have to lose money on the job. [I’ll ask myself] would I put that in my house? If not, I’ll tear it apart. I’m pretty picky.”

Bach Ornamental and Structural Steel
Nels Raynor, Owner