Jay Lockett of Kansas City-based Jay Fabwerks joins us to talk about how he made the jump from a hobby welder working on cars to creating a metal fabrication business that serves everything from working on custom railings to structural fab projects, and how he did it in a non-traditional way without formal welding education.

Jay also chats about embracing an entrepreneurial mindset, hiring workers, his love of cars, dropping a V8 engine into an BMW 3 Series, how he almost chose a career as chef, his thoughts on welding schools, designing and building rose and crypto art, the importance of mental health and nutrition in the trades, the most difficult project he ever worked on, making orange juice cake, and more.

Email us at podcast@fmamfg.org with any comments, questions, or suggestions.

Jason and Miranda Chiasson, owners of Chiasson Smoke based in Blue River, Wis., discuss their journey developing their metal fabrication business. They share how they went from creating custom spurs to expanding a product mix focused on rocket stoves, grills, smokers, fire pits, custom signs, and more.

They share the growing pains of running a small business on their family homestead, the role social media and digital marketing has played in their success, and their focus on efficiency and continuous improvement. They also talk about their experience working together as a husband and wife team, work-life balance, upgrading their shop's machines, and their plans for the future.

Jason and Miranda also talk about their previous lives working on a ranch, Miranda's father inventing the Chopper Spotter, making a proper gumbo, and Wisconsin fish fry.

Email us at podcast@fmamfg.org with any comments, questions, or suggestions.

Adam Fullerton is a Toronto-based metal fabricator who specializes in creating railings, doors, and other accent pieces for commercial and residential settings. The wanderlust tradesman talks about his career working in different trades (like car restoration and masonry) around the world, from England to Australia to Canada, and how it all led to him starting his own small business, Fullerton Metal Fab.

Fullerton also talks about experience in upcycling found objects and scrap metal into furniture and lighting fixtures. He also speaks about his plans to moving his shop to a larger space, acquire more equipment to enhance his capabilities, the process of hiring employees and focusing his marketing efforts on Instagram.

This is the fourth of four episodes recorded at FABTECH Canada in Toronto. Email us at podcast@fmamfg.org with any comments, questions, or suggestions.