Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Daryl Henton, Duck Creek Custom Metal
Jan. 3, 2024
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
The Dodge City Classic Car Show is coming to an end. It’s time for the prizes to be presented to the winning entries. The classic show winners are receiving unique, hand-crafted trophies.
Who produced them? A remarkable craftsman in rural Kansas.
Daryl Henton is the founder of Duck Creek Custom Metal, the business that created these beautiful, unique trophies. Henton’s grandfather and great-uncle had a long-time plumbing business in Manhattan where his dad grew up.
At right: Daryl Henton, Duck Creek Custom Metal | Download this photo
Henton’s father later worked for several cooperatives around the Midwest until he was located at Dodge City. When the time came to move again, his father said no and decided to stay put. His father worked in construction and then established his own plumbing business in Dodge City where Daryl was born.
Daryl Henton grew up in Dodge City and attended K-State before coming back home. He joined his father’s plumbing company.
“I took a temporary job with my dad’s business,” he said. “Thirty years later, I still have it.”
Henton Plumbing Service in Dodge City was recently voted the best area plumber in the local newspaper’s Best of the Best reader’s choice awards.
Henton enjoyed designing and building things with metal. In 2010, he and his wife moved outside of Dodge City to a home with a really nice shop. In 2011, he bought a CNC torch, which enabled him to create more intricate products. He started making parts to rebuild jeeps, but people started asking him for more artistic designs.
Henton’s wife is a quilter. “I noticed she would sew pieces of fabric together to make something new,” Daryl said. “I wondered if I could do the same kind of thing with pieces of scrap metal.”
Henton had scrap metal left over from other projects. Instead of selling it as used iron, he welded those pieces back together.
“I found an original picture of a horse and rider on a hill,” he said. He welded pieces of scrap metal together and created a large metal silhouette with that design. The structure was massive. The rider was 10 feet tall and the horse was 12 1/2 feet tall. All told, the structure weighed 760 pounds.
Soon, people were asking if he could make special designs for them. Because the Hentons live on Duck Creek Road, he named his enterprise Duck Creek Custom Metal.
Today, Duck Creek Custom Metal offers CNC plasma cutting, computer-aided design drawing, and welding. “I enjoy building stuff for people,” Henton said. He built the equipment for an 18 hole disc golf course in his community.
He does such projects as signs, trophies, entryways and fences. He has designed and produced trophies for the Dodge City Classic Car show, the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees, and an off-road motorcycle race from Garden City to Dodge.
“They seem to like (the awards) so much that they keep coming back,” Henton said.
After a Catbacker auction in Dodge City, one of Henton’s friends asked if he could make a Powercat design, so Daryl got a permit to do so. Besides Powercats, he makes signs with wildlife, faith-based themes, and much more.
One project was built for a customer who spends summers in Kansas but winters in Florida. That customer asked for a metal sign with two images flanking their family name: One image was a palm tree, and the other a tornado. That sounds a little bit like those “house-divided” car tags.
“I enjoy the creative side,” Henton said. “We have more than 700 electronic files of different designs, and I’ve made a lot of them.” He also enjoys custom projects.
Duck Creek Custom Metal is based in Henton’s shop, located on their place near the unincorporated rural community of Wright, Kansas, population 145 people. Now, that’s rural.
It’s time to leave the Dodge City Classic Car Show where the winners were presented customized, handcrafted trophies designed and built by this rural Kansas craftsman. We commend Daryl Henton for making a difference with his skill and craftsmanship.
I think this is classic.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
At a glance
Daryl Henton enjoys working with metal in his shop. His business, Duck Creek Custom Metal, offers CNC plasma cutting, computer-aided design drawing, and welding services. In addition to custom design work, he has more than 700 electronic files of designs he can produce.
Website
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Written by
Ron Wilson
rwilson@ksu.edu
785-532-7690
Ron Wilson | Download this photo
