Reliving the past turns into a present-day gift

Metal fabricating might be a little easier than herding cats, but not by much. What does it say that some job shops carve out time during the day just to handle difficult projects and hot jobs that tend to be a routine part of every day?

Of course, internet-enabled devices tether a metal fabricator to the chaos. When customers have a problem, they don’t necessarily want to wait until regular business hours to have it addressed. Sometimes a second or third shift at a shop needs the guidance of a manager or lead who is supposedly off the clock. Even automated machinery sends emails or text messages to notify recipients of unexpected downtimes. It’s nonstop.

So when you hear about someone living life like it was 20, 30, or even 40 years ago, you get nostalgic. It helps you remember the days when a mobile phone was primarily a Fisher-Price toy with a rotary dial, a happy face, wheels, and a string so a toddler could pull it around.

I was chatting with a metal fabricator in November for a story that will appear in The Fabricator in early 2026, and he told me about an upcoming hunting trip he was going to take with his oldest son, a soon-to-be engineering graduate. It was going to be a great opportunity for them to spend some time together—both during the trip and before they left.

The metal fabricator suggested to his son that they work on an engineering project. In this case, it would be a cart to be pulled behind the ATVs used to access the back country where the elk hunt would take place.

The son suggested that he could get started designing the cart using 3D CAD, but his dad had another suggestion. They were going to do it like the days before advanced computing.

“So we went to the dumpster,” the fabricator said. “He’s like, ‘What are we doing out here?’ I said, ‘We’re picking materials.’”

They took the scrap they could use and designed the cart on paper. Then they used tools in the shop to fabricate and assemble the different parts. The fabricator said his son was in awe of what they accomplished.

“It’s a skill, but you have to practice it,” he said. “You have to encourage that sort of stuff.”

For the fabricator, the project captured a moment from his own past. There was a machine shop in the back of the family farm where his father fabricated specialty machinery. Even though it was never a large-scale operation, that shop turned out quite a few machines each year.

“At a really young age, I would just go out the back door to see what Dad was into, and he would teach me how to fabricate things, using stuff like welding torches. By the time I was 14, I could probably do more than a lot of grown men,” he said.

I finished the interview with that successful metal fabricating company owner and smiled about the heartwarming story he had just shared. His son got some quality time with the old man, and the dad was able to share some important skills with his son and provide him a glimpse into his own childhood. That’s the best reason in the world to show up at the shop on a Saturday.

I hope you find your own special moments over this holiday season. Slow down, take a breath, and enjoy the time with family and friends.