Tom was doing a little window shopping a few years back in Taos New Mexico. As he surveyed some of the shops and art galleries he noticed a theme of “metal art”. Of course, when he returned home he began to think how he could duplicate some of the tables and art work he saw. [...]

Tom often gets requests to build custom metal handrails from both residential builders and commercial companies. His various projects will be posted to this site as they are completed. I thought it might be handy to review a few steps to consider as you begin a handrail fabrication project.
Tom’s years spent as a building inspector [...]

Tom builds this unique spinning pot rack using a Shop Outfitters ring roller.

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Today Tom was busy working on a welding job at the University of Wyoming.  UW has experienced an explosion of construction growth in the past year.  Much of the building has to do with the state surplus that Wyoming enjoys from it’s mineral money.  The legislature has seen fit to allow for many upgrades and [...]

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Interesting jobs are always coming into the shop.  Summertime is a busy time around here as local ranchers and land owners are geared up to do those outside projects before the snow falls again.Â
A project that came in this week entails building brackets for a rough on timber footbridge.  The brackets are custom built for a local [...]

The twenty four foot portable toilet trailer that Tom is building for Honeywagon Sanitation has one last step.   Creating a good system for attaching the portable toilets insures the security, safety and ease when mounting the portable toilets for travel.  It also secures the investment a sanitation company has made in purchasing portable toilets.Â
A [...]

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This is the first article in our new section “Tom’s World”. When Tom quit his conventional job at the City of Laramie several years ago, his day changed dramatically. Many times we get the question: “What do you do?”. We will try and do a daily update in this section of our website.
Today Tom and [...]

Cutting Aluminum can be accomplished with normal wood working equipment. The cutting speeds of wood working equipment are a bit fast for cutting aluminum, so cutting lubricants are helpful. The diameter of cutting blades can be decreased in diameter on many wood working machines to decrease the cutting speed. When using a 10″ [...]

he 20/20 Compact Bender is a versatile metal bending tool. The compact bender is designed to bend round, square, and flat strap hot rolled steel.

Most of the time soapstone is used to mark steel for cutting and fabricating.  Soapstone is a natural element that can be easily found at hardware and welding supply stores.
A good alternative for marking steel can be found at any local discount store.  The silver metallic  sharpie works wonders on a piece of steel.  Several [...]

Welding
Wonder how to help insure a good weld?  Follow these tips to produce consistency.
1.  Weld joints should be clean.
2. Weld joints should be fit properly.
3.  Always use correct welding process for the job.
4.  Adjust welding equipment to match metal being joined.
5.  Whenever possible, position yourself in good welding position.
6.  Whenever possible position yourself in good [...]