Episode 238: Life Size Sculptures with Rob Jung

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A full-size figure weeping in steel doesn’t just look heavy—it carries a story. In today's episode with Rob Jung, we explore art as a trade with measuring off real bodies, building internal cages, calculating growth from texture layers, and learning the hard way how underquoting can turn weeks into miles of weld. Rob shares the importance of community and how he set up the Rob Jung Youth Welding Program, right across from a high school that cut its shop. With a handful of donated machines, electrodes, helmets, and shielding gas, he opens his doors to youth to learn fundamentals, safety, and pride in what you can create with welding.

To learn more about how you can help support the Rob Jung Youth Welding Program, contact here: https://www.robjungsmetalart.com/contact/

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Transcript

Sponsor Message & Opening

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Wat. Let's flip up the lid and spark some conversation. Attention welders in Canada. Looking for top quality welding supplies? Look no further than Canada Welding Supply. With a vast selection of premium equipment, safety gear, and consumables, CWS has got you covered. They offer fast and reliable shipping across the country. And here's the best part. Podcast listeners get 10% off any pair of welding gloves. Use code CWB10 at checkout when placing your next order. Visit Canada Weldingsupply.ca now. Canada Welding Supply, your trusted welding supplier. Happy welding. Welcome to another episode of the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hua, and tonight I am joined by Rob Young. How are you doing, Rob? Good. Yeah, I uh I did my homework. I talked to James. Because a lot of people would call you Jung, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Happens a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, get a lot of Chinese junk mail and stuff. So where's where's your family from then?

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Where's that last name from?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Uh it's Swedish.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Swedish? Yeah. Oh, cool. So Rob, um what's what's the first thing that sparked your interest in welding? How like when did that start? When did you start welding?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

I never really had an interest in welding. The family, um, my grandpa started a welding shop after World War II. And uh that was the family business, jobs and welding in Melfort. And then uh my dad joined him. That was my mom's dad. My dad joined him in 1971, I believe. And then uh I kind of grew up with the welding, welding shop background or whatever, and then uh and then I started working after schools and and uh then after I graduated I didn't become a welder. I uh I went to work at the local meat shop and did that for eight years and then always had extra jobs. So I'd work there and then after work I'd go work at the shop, the family shop, and uh kind of did that for eight years and then uh then I decided to become a welder because there's money in that.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Yeah, so you went from from butchering to welding.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

And it and it was the money that drew you to it. So was there like a yeah, was there a lot of industry around Melfort at that time?

Production Line Lessons At Bourgault

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, there's uh a lot of hopper cones, um, Borgo Industries in St. Brue. Uh after I took the welding course in 1998, I believe. Uh I went to work at Borgo for eight years.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Production Yeah, I work with a guy right now who who started out at Borgo as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, I I liked it there. It it helped me a lot. I learned to work fast, I learned to learn work clean, perfect welds, because you were paid bonus back then, and the harder you work and the cleaner you work, the faster and more money you made. So well, that's a good incentive, right? So yeah. So I I worked uh worked at Burgo and then when I was done there, then I went to work for the family shop till nights and weekends and did that. I did a little bit of uh I built up uh seismic drill stem for a while too for extra cash. Didn't really like welding, but it welding like me.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Oh, great. Another welder who hates welding. So you said you took a course. Um, where was that course from? And was it a level one course?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Uh pre-employment welding in Melford. They had it there for a few years. Uh Blaine Odison was my teacher. He was he's at SIAST, I believe. Or I think he just I think he retired.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

And it's now Sass called Sass Poly. Yeah.

unknown 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

So did did you um carry on with that? So you took your pre-employment. Did you do any kind of apprenticeship underneath Borgo or underneath uh your folks? No, I didn't at all.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

It didn't wouldn't have changed my pay. Nobody's gonna pay my dad wasn't gonna pay anymore. Uh I worked I worked at Borgo for eight years and then uh my uncle went on his own welding um in a nearby town, and uh so I went to work for my dad to help him get to retirement, which was about five years ago.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Did you end up taking over your dad's shop?

From Side Gigs To Metal Art

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Nope. I uh I looked at doing that by the time I would have paid off the loan to buy I'm out, I'd be retiring, so it didn't really and and my shoulders started to hurt already, and my back hurts, and a lot of heavy lifting, and uh I just decided well I I started doing art about 12 years ago, and then I just decided to just go for it and uh do art full-time.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. So 12 years ago you started making metal art professionally, or are you just kind of I'm gonna start dabbling, or were you dabbling before that?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Uh I just started seeing stuff on the internet then, and I thought, well, I could I could do that stuff. So I started making things and uh and then people wanted it and I sold it, and it just kind of grew from there.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

That is crazy. I mean, that's the internet has has worked in magical ways for a lot of people. So you just overnight I'm gonna try to make that thing that I saw on the internet and see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, well, something something similar. I started it was mostly fish at the beginning and uh hot dog sticks. Yeah. And uh it grew from there. Yeah, I mean the little stuff sells, right? Yeah. I was I was actually doing hot dog sticks, I was doing so many of them, and they weren't the very nice hot dog sticks. You probably know what I'm talking about. Yeah, we could the guy and the girl, and you know, one sticks out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then uh I actually had to hire my nephew to uh to work for me back then. He was in grade 12 and he made extra cash for uh making these sticks for to help with his grad.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Wow, so it was that crazy.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Yeah, yeah. Probably a thousand or more.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Oh that's that's kind of insane. Um so when did you kind of progress to doing bigger stuff?

Weeping Willow: Emotion In Steel

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Well, back then, uh about twelve years ago, what it was I needed some extra cash. Um stepdaughter got into drugs and we had to get her off the streets and uh put her in rehab in Calgary. So we had to uh come up with extra money, extra ways, because we had to have an apartment in Calgary, and we got her through that. So what I did was I got up early, made art, went to work, and then uh made art after work and sold it and to help pay for this. So that's kind of where that started. Then uh one day a local uh community group asked me to create something for uh the Melfert Cemetery. They were they were building a meditation garden, and I decided to make uh a full-size figure, which became the weeping willow, I called it, and uh after that everything really took off.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Yeah, that is an amazing piece. Um I mean, just just to see it, uh it's like it's super powerful. Like it people talk about art bringing them up emotion, and that even like the whole series, like and I was able to see your work in person, and it's it's pretty powerful stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Yep, that's uh kind of what helped me become an artist. I'm not just making stuff that's nice to look at. I tried to throw some emotion in there in what you see, and that really uh connects with people and that helps helps sell things.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

I noticed too when you post like and I read all your captions, right? But you explain the piece and you explain the reason why you made it and and what all went into it and why. And I I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah, I tried to throw in progress right from start to finish. People can see how it's built and the time that goes into it. Um even even I people ask me how long something's gonna take to make and how much it'll cost. I really don't know until I make it. Because you just you get thrown into corners and you don't know how you're gonna make it, and you got a plan ahead, and it's just it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah, the art world is a little different than you know, I'm gonna quote on making you a table.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:10

I know exactly the amount of material, I have a good idea the amount of time and filler I'm gonna use. Here's your price. But I guess in the art world you have to trust when you commission something, you have to trust the artist.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when you uh start making well, you think like for instance, the one I made there was leaves on his wings. Um, I thought maybe a couple hundred would do. I ended up with uh three thousand. Oh my god, it took two weeks, two weeks, ten hour days to make all these leaves, de-colored leaves.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah, I severely underquoted on this one. Yeah. So whenever you do something like that, you know where you're working ten hours a day making one part, does that ever get monotonous to you?

SPEAKER_01 9:59

It does, yeah. When you start out, you work eight hour days, and then when you see the end coming near, you uh yeah, you you work ten hours a day without a break, without lunch, without anything, because you want to see the end.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah, please, please be done. Yeah. Yeah, that's something I've never tackled as a large piece. I had an opportunity once to do a big kind of mural, like a four by four mural in somebody's office, and uh it never came through, but the thing scared me so much. Like they they love my roses, they love my lilies, but they want this, they want this, and they'd like it to look like this. And like, how am I gonna how am I gonna bring them the vision that they want, but I want it to be me, I want it to be my style.

Pricing, Process, And Scope Creep

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yeah, that's that's the thing is uh without them seeing what you can do, stuff that you've done in the past, they're just basing it on what they see, and you got to try to figure out what they want. But the best thing to do if you want something that's good is to let the artist do what they feel and let it come through that way. And usually it turns out that it's it's exactly what they want in the end. But uh yeah, if you try to make something exactly how somebody else wants it, it's not gonna happen. Lots of time, lots of times that stuff's impossible.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, yeah. A lot of people have great ideas, but making it work's a different challenge altogether.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Have you ever had to deal with that? Do you do much commission work?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I do mostly commission work right now. Once I bought this building, I can't just make stuff and not get paid for a couple months. So I do commissions, usually take deposits or whatever on on the larger items. Um, it's it's been good. It's crazy. Some people will okay. I say, okay, just I need this little bit of a deposit, and then they give me the full payment. Oh my like thirty thousand dollars. I'm like, no, just wait. Yeah. Who are these people? I haven't even made it yet. I can't make it for six months. And and they just those are good customers.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Those are very good customers. They got total faith, total faith and cash in the in their pocket. Yeah, that's awesome. So, like, talk talk to me about your weeping willow series. We touched on it a little bit. Uh, you started out with the memorial, the uh the I guess the the prayer garden or the meditation garden. Yeah how many how many do you have in that series?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Seven sculptures. Um two of them are smaller, six large ones, two that are around two feet tall, and then I have one that is eight inches, eight inches high that I just made a short while ago. Yeah, and then I've got and then I've got bench memorial benches that uh follow in the same same uh texture and stuff, and fit along with that series. And I've got uh me and my son made uh a 12-foot weeping willow family tree. That's yeah, it's at uh bistro and melter out on their deck.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Cool. So basically that's your style, that's what primarily you're known for, is that series.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yep, yeah. I do that bark texture with the the 12 beads that uh everybody thinks is just nuts because that's a million hours. And it's the only way to really do it though, right? Yeah. Yeah, and uh that that kind of set me off. Uh people see that anywhere and they know that I did it, I guess, because nobody else in the world is has really done that yet.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Yeah, definitely, and not doing it on the scale that you are, and I was able I was able to see your your sculpture, and you not only take that off the bench, but you also do it on the sculpture, create texture in the skin, texture in the hair. Yeah. So basically, there's only one way to do it, and that's just to do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah. That's uh the one that you saw had uh over 80 strands of 316 rod for hair, all bent and shaped, and then had uh four welds on each strand. So that's like miles of weld.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Yeah, literally miles of weld. Have you I thought it wasn't gonna take that long, and then yep, there we go, another week. I guess it's maybe a good thing you're not quoting tables, hey? Yeah, I was never quoting.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, have you ever weighed any of your sculptures? Yeah, they uh actually weigh pretty much the same as a person that size. No way. So the one that you saw sitting on the bench, she was if standing would have been five foot six, I believe. And uh before I put the hair on, she was 102 pounds. Wow. And I put the hair on, I think there's another 20 pounds there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

So for the people that haven't seen your posts, um, how do you go about making one of these sculptures? How do you make a human body?

Scale, Weight, And Building The Form

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, I uh just wing it. I do every I do I can't uh do what other artists do and just uh create out of their mind. I take actual measurements off of real people and uh and I've got a a mannequin now that I bought to uh to create this the I created the eight-inch one using this mannequin. I took the measurements and I take uh you scaled it down. I scaled it down. But also when I do those, there's a cage framework inside, and then there's uh 16 gauge metal wrapped around that in pieces and welded, and then there's a texture. So I gotta create a formula to get the very inside measurement of that cage so that I don't end up with everything being an extra three-quarters of an inch wider than it needs to be. If that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Oh, it makes a lot of sense, yeah. You gotta figure out you know how much this thing's thing's gonna grow as you work on it. Yeah, I gotta add in and you've got to uh uh figure in all them pieces and yeah, because in the end it could end up looking like just uh a big tree trunk instead of a beautiful leg, right? Incredible Hulk. Which might not be so bad. Yeah. So I I keep saying that I saw your art, so I got to meet you face to face personally at um the Skills Canada competition here in Regina. How did all that come about? I think you.

unknown 16:42

Ha!

SPEAKER_02 16:42

No, I wasn't doing it to toot my own horn. Oh, so so you you I may have facilitated a few things, but um um I think Lincoln reached out to you, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, Lincoln reached out and uh asked if I would display artwork at their uh at their booth at the Skills Canada Nationals in Regina. And uh I explained to them that I I don't just use Lincoln welders and I use Lincoln Miller everything, and uh they and I used actually the Miller welder to create the weeping willow that was gonna be on display, and they didn't care. They just wanted uh they just wanted something to represent welding, a different side of welding, what you could do, what you could accomplish. It didn't matter what was used to create it, and and I thought that was really good.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Yeah. Had you ever done something like that before? Like, do you do um art shows? Do you do fairs? Do you do this kind of stuff? I do none at all.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So that was my very first showing, and uh probably the biggest one I'll ever go to.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Just wait, maybe I'll facilitate some more stuff for you. Um, so so what?

SPEAKER_01 18:00

And to go on a live interview, that was that was good too.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, that's tough to be put on the spot. Um it was really good. Went well. Yeah. Oh, I think everyone, everyone that I spoke to that met you uh all had like positive reviews and like a lot of people were inspired, which is what you want, right?

Skills Canada Showcase And Community

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yeah, that's that's good. Yeah, it was it was really cool because uh there there was some guys there. There's one guy from Northwest Territory, um Travis Friesen, who's a teacher. Yep. I met him on Instagram at the beginning of Instagram when they invented it. And I I chatted to him in the past, and all of a sudden he comes walking up to me. He's right there. Wow, that was great.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Yeah, that's crazy. So, what made you decide to attend? What made you make that leap of faith?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

It was just too good of an opportunity. I wasn't asked to promote anything, I was just asked to promote welding to kids. So that's that's that's why I did it.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah, that's that's from the heart.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

That's uh I had never been to anything like like that before, and it was it was incredible, it was huge.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah, that's that's kind of where I'm going with this. Like, what was your impression of of Skills Nationals?

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I didn't even get to see it all. Every time I turned around the corner, there was something new going on.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Yeah, it's it's so much, so much, right? Every trade, almost every trade that you can imagine is in there.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah. And then all these students and stuff, and then people that have people that have followed me on Instagram and stuff that came to talk to me, and I didn't even didn't even know. It was it was really good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

So you didn't get to get the full experience because you were kind of busy, you know, promoting, and you're right there, right beside the Lincoln booth, which Lincoln had, I can't remember, it was I think f five booths, maybe three booths set up for people to try hands on welding demos.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, I think it was three.

unknown 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah. Yeah. That was that was really good. And I got to uh bring my dad and my son along. And that was really good because my son got my son never took a welding course or anything. He took it in took a grade eleven in school. And then he worked for me doing art for a summer and then he went to he went to work welding. And then uh to come to the Skills Skills competition there and uh help all these kids go try a trade in the booths. That was that was something incredible.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Yeah. Where's uh where's your son working? Is he still welding now? Yeah, he's at Burgo. He's welding your cedar tanks. Oh yeah, following in in dad's footsteps. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Making money.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Yeah. So in the art game, and and we're gonna touch on what you're doing now, but like in the art game, is it is it pretty stressful? Like you're you're making money here and there. Like, how how does that work? How how do you keep the doors open? How do you keep the lights on?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Uh social media. Yeah. But my follow- I built up following, first of all, years back. I made uh wood stoves for ice shacks, I made rocket stoves, um, ATV, land anchors, I made trailers for hunting, I made all kinds of stuff like that, and I built a following in uh the outdoors. Um and then I kind of piggybacked art on top of that. I do a lot of fish and deer and stuff, cutouts and and different things with the outdoors. So I kind of piggybacked my art on that, and then I started adding more more followers. Lots of my follow original followers followed me because of my outdoor stuff, and then after that I built on the art, kind of joined it all together. So I built up a big following. So generally I do commissions now, but if I'm in the past, if I just make something and post it, then people want to buy it, and I make a bunch of them, and then I move on to something else.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

So you've got enough of you've got enough of a following and enough people that support you or spread the word about you that you have you know a good a good I guess potential income.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, I have a steady income just by creating stuff. I I make something and it sells. And I can ship I ship worldwide and I've shipped to Australia, Spain, Sweden, England, Ireland, all the states. It's been really good.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Worldwide. That's pretty amazing to have to have that kind of reach. Um so you have obviously have a website.

Social Media Growth And Throttling

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Rob Young's Metal Art on on the on the website, but uh I don't sell from there. I just uh it's just a portfolio of what I do. So if people want to order from me, it's just uh message on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, uh, LinkedIn. But uh I do it more I do it more informally. Um people like to talk to the artist, they like to know the artist a bit rather than just order something just like a store, I guess. It seems to work for me.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Yeah, I was gonna ask you if you get much much sales from a website or if it's more you know hands-on or if it's more face-to-face, which it is for you.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, more personal.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yeah, I'm not on TikTok, so I gotta ask you what's it like being on TikTok, being a gentleman of slightly older stature? I'm only 53.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Um Do you do a bunch like do you do a bunch of dancing on there? Or no, no. I uh I just started posting old videos that I had on my phone, and some of them went viral. I had uh one go 1.4 million views. Holy. And yeah, I just shot up. I got most of my I got a bigger following on TikTok than I do on anything else, and I just I just post videos of stuff I make.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Uh well today's the day I'm gonna start a TikTok, everyone. So how many followers are you at on TikTok?

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Uh uh 17,000, I think. You're doing good. You're doing alright. Yeah, it's it's like everything else. Uh you get all them followers and stuff, and then they uh and then they throttle you so that you don't get views anymore hardly, and then they'll offer you, you can pay to get viewed and all that stuff. It's I'm it's a game.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah, I'm really glad you touched on that because uh that's definitely happening as as much as they don't want you to know that's definitely happening, right? Like they'll they'll dangle the carrot, so to speak, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yeah, I've had uh other artists talk to me or reach out to me and say, like, what's going on? Like, how does this happen to you? And I say, Yeah, it is. Um I don't pay for post posting, I uh I will not, but I work this, I work it. I post every day, and now I'm posting some of the same stuff on my personal page as my business page. Because right now, my business page, they're holding it back on stuff getting seen. People are reaching out to me and saying they can't see my stuff on their feed, they have to actually search for it, but they can see it on my personal right now.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Yeah, it's so weird because I I go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

I'm uh I'm on the professional page or whatever thing, so they're paying me. So I'm getting uh uh average of$170 a month from from my posts on Facebook, but it started out my business page was making more money, and now now it's hardly making anything, hardly getting the views, but my personal is up. So I'm kind of working on both. It's a game.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

I mean, that's a smart way to do it, but I've I've noticed it and I've also talked to a bunch of people. It's all like I used to I used to post something and everyone would see it. I'd get a thousand likes, I'd get so many shares, blah blah blah, and like, okay, here's a hundred followers, just like that. Yeah, and now like I post something that I'm really proud of or something that I like helps people, like a welding trick or something. I can't even get like a thousand likes. And you know, I got a pretty good following, but like what is actually going on? Because like I try to make quality stuff, I try to make quality products, quality videos, and I'm getting throttled.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

That's that's what I uh that's how I found you years back. Yeah. I was like, hey, this guy's got lots of followers. How the hell did he do that? He's from Saskatchewan.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Yeah, honestly, it's um it's it must be like the the silly stuff that sells. Like I'll I'll post something I I don't want to say dumb, but I'll post something dumb and like okay, we're going viral with this, and then I'll post something educational and we're not going anywhere. Yeah, but it's it seems like in the last year, um, I've I've gone nowhere. My stuff has progressed so much, I've progressed so much as a person, as a fabricator, as everything, and I'm losing followers.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, it's strange. Yeah, but you know what? Definite manipulation because all of a sudden they'll say, for this much, you can reach this many people.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

I was just gonna say it, like the at the times I'm doing my worst, I get the hey, would you like to join this group for this amount of stuff? Do you want that little blue check? Do you want to do this? Do you want to do that at the at the worst time, right? So they're trying to get you.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah. I'm uh I'm getting paid on Facebook, so I do have the blue check. And the blue check does help. I don't I used to get uh clones of my page all the time when I do a giveaway or something. I do a lot of giveaways, and they would they would uh clone my page and uh try to scam all the people on the that comment on my posts. Since I've got that blue check, not one ever. I don't have scammers coming on my page at all or nothing. Okay.

Launching The Youth Welding Program

SPEAKER_02 28:18

All right, so I'm getting on TikTok. I'm getting the blue check. I'm learning a lot from Rob here tonight. So, Rob, we're gonna take a small break here. We're gonna hear from our podcast sponsors, so uh hang tight, and we'll be right back. JosephGases.ca, your one-stop welder superstore. Whether you run a welding shop or are just starting your welding journey, JosephGas, the Welder Superstore, is the best place for everything related to welding. Come to the site and browser topics of welders, helmets, and welding supplies specific to your industry. Even filter out the items eligible for manufacturers' cash rebates. Our intuitive search tool puts everything at your fingertips. And checkout is a breeze. Pay securely with your credit card. If you are ready to streamline your welding supply shopping experience, visit josephegases.ca. That's Joseph with an F, as in family. Start filling your cart with welder confidence. And we are back with Rob Young, talented metal artist, former professional welder. And uh what's what's the next adventure you're on? Um please introduce the Rob Young Youth Welding Program for us.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Okay. Rob Young Youth Welding Program.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Nailed it. So how did the idea for this welding program come about?

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Well, um, let's see, how did it come about? I bought uh I'm I moved from Melfort to Hudson Bay. I bought an auto body shop. It's across from the school. And uh I did that a year and a half ago to expand my metal art business. And uh that would have been in June. In August, um this guy came into the shop just to check out what I was doing because he's interested in welding and stuff. Uh Derek Lee, he happened to be part of the the CWE group, which I had no idea about. Never heard of.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

That that's fair. Unless somebody shows up knocking on your door, how are you gonna hear about us, right?

Filling The School Shop Gap

SPEAKER_01 30:27

But it talked to him for uh probably a good hour and then he left. And then uh I think it was maybe October. Uh they were at this the the CWB group, and he was at the high school here doing a safety presentation, and he brought uh uh a couple guys, I think one was uh James and a couple other guys, they came over here to check out my building and everything, and my and my metal art, and uh they uh they were talking all kinds of welding stuff and that I didn't understand. But they mentioned that uh there's no welding program at the high school here, and I didn't know that. Um they built a new school and they cut it out. That is wild. There's only uh carpentry program. So that got me thinking, well, what can I do? I thought maybe I could uh have some kids come in here and and do some welding, but I didn't know how I was gonna financially do that. Uh I just bought this building and the cost of everything was just unreal. Just getting the electrical done and everything in here was way more than I thought. So I didn't know how I was gonna go about that. So I I looked into some uh grants, some different grants out there. They didn't work, um, they didn't fit what I wanted to do. So I just kind of let it slide. I went to the nationals, the the Skills Canada International competition. I saw all these kids interested in welding. I saw my son with just a simple Lincoln little Lincoln welder in that little booth teaching a kid to weld his first bead and take this piece home. And thought, well, why can't I do that? Like it doesn't have to be a million-dollar facility to to teach a kid to weld. Yeah, I got to thinking, and uh in the meantime, uh another uh lady brought her daughter here. They were touring my art gallery and stuff, and uh she was interested in welding, and she was wanting to do it as at the high school, but they have no course, and they said that you can do a uh SAS BLC online course. Um you can do 50 hours, I think it's 50 hours of the bookwork, and then 50 hours you have to find a place to do practical. So I thought, well, maybe that's something I could offer someday. Then I let it go again for a while, and then this spring, well, this was it spring or summer? Sometime this year.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Yeah, it there wasn't any snow on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Another kid was walking by and he he had mentioned to me that uh he got uh uh a welder at a yard sale, and he was all proud and happy. And I said, Well, why don't you stop by and I'll I'll show you some welding anytime you want. So then uh he he finally did contact me, and then uh a friend of his wanted to come too and learn. So then I had all of a sudden I had two kids coming to learn how to weld, and then uh of course I post everything. Yeah, and then uh I was approached by another girl, she's 18, she wanted she was interested in uh learning some welding. So all of a sudden I had three kids here, and and then uh and then I was approached by uh Clay Wagner at uh Eagle Alloys. He said uh I got some uh welding rods you can use. So he he dropped off a case of welding rods for the kids to use to burn up, and then uh I posted that, and then all of a sudden more companies were were getting involved. Um really did good. They sent a welder, they sent jackets, helmets, everything. Lincoln sent some jackets. Ark Captain over in China saw my posts on Instagram and uh sent me a little welder and uh a helmet and some gloves and and uh a cordless grinder, um Hobart, and then uh yeah, it's it's still snowballing. Um Weldcore, Jazlin at Weldcore contacted me, given given me a great deal on welding gas for the kids. Um Walter Morse um Arctic Automotive and Saskatoon sent paint to spray paint the walls. Uh just got a whole enough welding rods from Graham and Saskatoon to last me probably 10 years. That is awesome. All that support. And uh and then now I've got I'm up to 14 kids involved. Oh my that want want to um I'm just kind of shuffling them in here here and there. I can I can accommodate up to four a day right now, and it's uh yeah, it's it's taken off.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

So clearly you identified a a gap in uh the education system, or at least where you're at. Um there's they're only teaching carpentry as a trade. Is that is that all they're teaching?

SPEAKER_01 35:41

I believe so, yeah. There's no mechanics or anything anymore. That's just because just just because of the budget, I guess. Um they I talked to Derek and he said that these places feel they need millions of dollars of equipment to to operate, uh so they just don't have the budget.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Yeah, that's crazy. And I uh it's not really just in your area, it's schools all over the place. I know it in Regina, like we every high school had a welding program. Basically, every high school when I went to high school had a welding program, besides a couple, right? Um now out of 13 high schools, we have I believe two that have a full welding program. Um, one of the schools, the building is kind of not so safe anymore, so they might just shut that down, and then we're down to one, and then uh basically a vocational school. So if you want to go there, you leave your school and you go train there. So speaking to the instructor there, it's the same thing with him. Like he gets five thousand dollars to begin the year. Well, how are you gonna buy materials? Like you you just spent your budget, you bought materials to teach the class, you just and you're done. Like, how like obviously something's not going right.

Funding, Donations, And Auctions

SPEAKER_01 37:03

It's it's uh it's not only here, it's uh the same thing in the states. I uh a teacher in uh the states reached out to me last night on LinkedIn, and uh he's saying the same thing. They he's asking me, he's he can't keep his students interested in what they're doing. They're just welding beads on a plate back and forth. Uh and he's asking me, like this this uh his student is really exceptional at welding, but he's losing interest. And he said, What what can I do? I said, Well, do you have to follow a curriculum? He said, Well, we have a little bit of a yeah, we have to follow a little bit, but uh I said, Well, can you do any uh projects? He said, Well, we don't have the budget, we don't have the the scrap material to do any projects, so it's they're losing interest.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, that's that's terrible. So, like we're talking about curriculum and stuff and and budgets and equipment. Your program right now it's like it's still super young. Little play on words there. Um, but do you have a certain curriculum? Do you have something you're trying to to teach them for sure, or just set up the welder and go?

SPEAKER_01 38:14

I'm I'm letting them choose what they want to be. I asked them what's their goal with this program. Do they want to just learn so to make some art? Do they want to just stick some stuff together? Do they want to learn how to properly weld with weld beads and how to use the equipment to pursue welding as a career? And uh some of them just some of them just come to uh learn the basics so they can make some cool shit and and sell it. And uh but some of them are really intent on being welders. So that those are the ones I'm focusing on, trying like uh trying to help them learn the basics as best I can with what I have so they can carry on to the next step. And I'm trying to uh I'm I'm posting it with the hope that in the future there'll be some kind of uh the schools will see that this is a benefit. They can maybe take the uh through the SAS DLC, maybe they can take the the bookwork part at the school, and then maybe uh shops like mine can be paid to teach these kids for their 50 hours. Yeah. So they can so they can get the credit in school.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

I was gonna ask you how long your program was. So it's it's 50 hours, but that's not your program, that's what they require through their that's the SAS DLC, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

I'm just going by what uh parents have told me. Um far as mine, it just goes forever. I'm just donating a couple hours a day, and uh these kids can come in and Do projects and uh as long as I don't go broke, um, I'll keep doing it.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

And here's the next question: how how are you funding this program right now? Like I know a lot of people rallied behind you, got you some equipment, some filler metal, but is there is there anything from from industry, is there anything from the government? How are you able to to do this?

Starting Young And Building Confidence

SPEAKER_01 40:22

There's nothing so far. Um, I haven't really reached out to any anybody. I don't know how to reach out to who I reach out to. Um, I don't really have the time to reach out to anybody, but what I'm doing right now is uh the students there there's a bit of donation which helps. Um, I had some some people donate some money. Um, we got the welding gas paid for. I've got some more money donated today so I can buy some steel. Um the kids are actually funding part of it themselves. I give them a project to make. We put it up for sale to the highest price. Um the the kid gets half, and then the program half goes back to the program. So that's helping too. Helps pay for uh some of the power. Um the heat for the winter is gonna be something because I just have a fan to get to suck the smoke out. So I'm gonna lose a little bit of heat there. So that'll that'll help uh offset some of that cost. But as far as my uh my own labor, um, I guess it works out to right now about a week a week's pay that I'm a month that I'm uh donating to the program.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Yeah, donating essentially, yeah. I mean you are doing the work of of a ton of people, so it's it's worth a lot. I really like the fact that you're auctioning off the student projects.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Yeah, it gives them a real sense of pride that they can create something this soon with welding, and uh people want to buy it. And and this is good stuff. It's not just uh a bunch of stuff stuck together. This is good good things that they're creating. So they have a lot of pride in that.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

They have a good teacher. I saw the uh I can't remember his name now, but the the log that uh your one of your students created. Yeah, he's 11. Oh my god. I wish I had started earlier. My god.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

That's that's that's the thing too. Like uh weld programs in schools, they they don't start until you're in grade 11 or whatever. Grade 11, 12. Yeah, 10, 11, 12. There's there's kids that are 11 years old that are that are good welders already. They they're interested, they want to go now. I've only got one student over 16. That's awesome. Out of all of them. Um, most of them are 14, 11, 12, 14.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Yeah. Do you so do you don't have an age requirement? How how young is too young?

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Uh I don't know. It depends on the individual kid. Like uh, you can tell these kids already had an interest, they've already been welding at home. Uh they they they're interested, they that's what they want to do. It's it's it's incredible. And they're they're good welders too. Like uh, I can remember sticking a stick to the 7018 stick into the plate for the first two weeks of pre-employment welding. And and these kids can just like just strike as video games or something that help, or having a cell phone, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

I can't I can't knock video games. Um, so I didn't play a lot of video games growing up. Like I play with my older brother, uh, but my older brother was huge into video games, like role-playing stuff, really technical games, and like getting all the fingers going. Yeah, and uh my brother's uh surgeon right now, he's a doctor, a urologist, yeah, and he's got and he's got his own practice. So there's something to be said about video games, yeah. Yeah. So how do you how do you balance now? You've got 14 kids, I know they're not all there at the same time, but how do you balance that and donating like a week's worth of labor while still running your business?

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Uh it's just happening.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Just winging it. No plan. Just have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

It's kind of just hoping for the best right now. Yeah, I've never planned for any of this, and it just kinda I thought maybe a couple kids would be good. But I have a hard time saying no. And and uh if I can figure out how to find somebody that would pay pay me to teach kids like this program, not a not a structured, boring program, but uh something a little more exciting. If I could find something that I could get paid, I can maybe open up some more hours at night or on weekends and stuff to get more kids interested. I'd like to do that.

Finding Your Lane In Welding

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Yeah. So basically, you know, you're all set up, you have enough equipment to keep people going, you have enough filler now. We just need uh some something to back you, something to I you obviously want to do it. You started this all up on your own, just like on a whim, but you need you need some backing if you want to keep this going. And obviously the community needs it.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Yeah, yeah, and uh, and it's not something I want to charge parents for their kids to have to do. Then it then it kind of changes kind of changes what the program is. Like uh these these kids, just about all of them approach me themselves. It wasn't their parents, and their parents aren't really involved, it's them coming to the door and asking if they could if they could join the program. So it's kind of like if you make them have to pay, their parents are gonna force them to come, maybe, or it's it's it just gives it a whole different feel.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

Yeah, it changes the dynamic of the colour.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Or it makes it or it makes it like school, like no no kids want to go to school.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Definitely not. No, I get I get what you're saying, and like the the kids that you're getting, they want to be there. They they have a passion already.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

They're the ones that are probably going to pursue welding because it they they're they're coming here with the intent of learning to weld, not just to it's it's not something you normally would go to just kill time.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

Yeah. So in your program, what is what is something that you're trying to instill in these kids, or what's something that you hope they take away from your program?

SPEAKER_01 46:38

That's uh it doesn't matter their age or their size or if they're girls or or whatever, they can do it. Um these kids could potentially get a welding job without even pursuing pre-employment welding after they could go to uh production line welding. Then they gotta see that welding isn't just going to the pipeline or something, there's different branches of it. There's medical, there's you go into Autobody, you can be a millright, you can you can branch off into anything. It's a lot of opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

Yeah, that's amazing. That's amazing. So if you know, and I ask this on every podcast: if there's a piece of advice that you would give someone starting out, not even your students here, but you know, if you think back to yourself as a young welder, like what is something that you'd want to be told? What's a piece of advice you'd give someone?

SPEAKER_01 47:30

Well, uh a guy told me today that uh he should have uh listened better in school, but but uh yeah, find the branch of if you're interested in welding, find the branch that fits you. Like uh one girl that she's starting, she was a little bit hesitant about wanting to weld because she thought that there was a lot of math involved and she wasn't good at math, so she wasn't gonna be a good enough welder. Like you don't have there's there's lots of the wild lots of welding out there that's just welding. You're just welding. You're not figuring math, you don't have to lay out blueprints and stuff like that. You just have to follow and do some weld. You can do production line welding. There's there's lots of branches, you don't have to be a wizard on math or anything like that. It's totally possible.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

That's really cool you say that because I was terrible at math in high school, and the only time that math clicked for me was when I got into welding and somebody put a tape measure in my face and explained how the tape measure works. And then from that, learning how to use the tape and multiplying fractions, subtracting, adding, using triangles, using angles, like it all clicked because I was using my hands. So you're right, not everyone is made to do that, not everyone has that in themselves, but it can be learned.

Economy, Small Wins, And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 49:00

And uh a lot of that math that they're teaching in school, they think it's all useless because they don't see how it can be applied to anything. Once you're in the job site, then you can see and visualize how it's applied, like calculating bends and and yeah, everything. Um I was on a work site one time. I had to uh they were bringing in some modular buildings to build a three-level apartment complex. And I was doing all the screw piles underneath, and the the contractor didn't know how to to uh figure out if if it was square. I said, Well he's Pythagoras' theorem. Yeah. So what? I said I got an app. Just give me the measurements. I got an app on my phone, I'll tell you if it's square.

SPEAKER_02 49:54

Oh, everyone's got a calculator in their pocket now. You can't you can't just show up. You're the contractor and you don't know what you're doing. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

We had to have these screw piles in in kind of the right spot or the whole building wasn't gonna sit.

SPEAKER_02 50:07

Yeah, yeah, they're pretty important.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

And I'm just there to weld and I'm telling him how to freaking lay it out.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

You should have sent him a hefty consulting bill at the end of it. Yeah. So what is next for for Rob's metal art? What are you what's your project coming up? What are you focusing on?

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Actually, projects are slow right now. Just uh doing little uh Christmas orders and stuff. Um talking to a lot of art a lot of artists are contacting me to ask me how things are working out because they're seeing a definite uh lull in in orders. The economy in both the United States and Canada is is not good. People are hanging on to their money for groceries, they aren't uh buying stuff like art. Um the last couple of years I've noticed a big uh drop in I used to have a lot of interest in large projects, but uh a lot of them got cancelled basically just due to the economy.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yeah, it's when when people when people get in that situation, there's less money for for the arts.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Yeah, that usually goes first, but uh I have a good following and uh lots of my small stuff sells sells pretty good, so I'm not worried at all.

Closing Notes And Subscribe

SPEAKER_02 51:27

Good. Because we need to we need to keep your doors open for all the good work that you're doing with those kids. Uh I've been I've been doing a lot of flowers. Something I think uh it was a few years ago. I feel like we're gonna wrap things up here, but I feel like a few years ago you told me or one of my friends, like, I'll never make a metal rose ever. And I'm not I'm making an aluminum rose. Awesome. And they look great, they look great, man. I can't I can't knock you for a second. They're amazing looking. Well, Rob, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me tonight. It's really cool getting to know you a little bit better and to see exactly what you're doing way up north Saskatchewan there. Yeah, middle of nowhere. Yeah, so thank you very much for being my guest tonight. Um, make sure you stay tuned. We got episodes dropping weekly. Make sure you subscribe, share this with everyone who loves welding and the people that don't, because everyone needs to know about Rob and what he's up to. Thanks very much.

SPEAKER_00 52:47

You've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, rate our podcast and visit us at cwbassociation.org to learn more. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions of what you'd like to learn about in the future. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.