The CWB Association Welding Podcast

Episode 240: Birdman the Welder with Shaun Bird

• Max Ceron • Season 1 • Episode 240

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The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what’s happening in the welding industry. Subscribe, listen, and stay connected to the people who keep the world welded together.

Shaun “Birdman the Welder” Bird has carved out a career in welding on his own terms. From custom car builds to Boilermaker shutdowns, and now running a one-man architectural metal shop, Shaun shares what it really takes to navigate different corners of the trade without losing your footing. At the core of this episode is something deeper than weld processes and shop setups. Shaun marks nine years sober and speaks openly about mental health, addiction recovery, and rebuilding a life alongside a career. It’s an honest look at trade culture, pressure, pride, and the quiet strength it takes to choose a better path. This episode is a reminder that welding is more than square footage or follower counts. You get to choose the work that matters and build a life strong enough to hold it.

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Sponsor Offers And Cold Open

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin O'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 the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hua, and today we have a special guest, Sean Byrd, aka Birdman the Welder. How are you doing, man?

SPEAKER_02

Good man. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01

Good. A little frosty, but uh we're we're gonna struggle on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I feel like uh I feel like it's been a couple of uh tries at this. I've been sick with my my preschooler bringing all that stuff home, but here we are.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's the joys of having kids, and and you know, usually if you leave town, go on vacation, you bring stuff back with you. It's no, it's I understand. But we're done playing podcast tag now. Yeah. So Sean, tell us uh a little bit about yourself. Uh like where'd you grow up?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I am from the infamous town of Surrey, British Columbia. Uh grew up in Wally. I lived there for the first 25 years of my life until uh we moved out and moved uh a little bit around the lower mainland of British Columbia here, and uh now we live in Tawasan. That's where the shop is and that's where my home is. Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_01

So where did your uh love of welding come from?

Finding Welding Through Custom Cars

SPEAKER_02

My love of welding definitely started out with like customizing my my vehicles. I think that's where it all started out. You know, I we we grew up, we didn't have much money to uh buy fancy fancy cars like uh a lot of these kids do nowadays. But uh so we we always like my brother and I were both very creative and we we just always wanted to make things our own. I should say it starts before vehicles. I mean we were doing this with our BMXs, our skateboards, whatever we were rolling around on, we were customizing. And then as I got a little bit older, I wanted to you know advance that skill set. Um I worked in a out of high school, I worked in a um in a low rider shop, uh customizing vehicles and stuff like that. And I was just it was uh it was like the grade 12 co-op program. Um yeah, which problem which probably saved me from the gutter, to be honest, because school was so hard for me. And then when I found something, I found a program right at the very end of all that schooling. It put me into a mechanics co-op and and uh I thought I was gonna be a mechanic. Anyways, ended up going to do like a little, what do you call it, like a work experience program at the local custom car shop. Uh, and then I saw like, okay, if I want to keep going with this and like doing really cool stuff, I need to pick up some skills, and welding was definitely that. Jesse James was also coming out on the scene at that time, so once the garage and all that stuff was obviously an inspiration for so many of us, especially me. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I also thought I wanted to be a mechanic, and uh after doing it for a year, like I went and took my first level one and two, and I did it for about a year, and it was not for me. Like, yeah, yeah, you know, like I I love Volkswagens, so you're constantly working on them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, it's hard to work on people's stuff during the day and then coming home and working on my own stuff. Absolutely. Um, so yeah, so you did this uh this vocational program, I guess you'd call it. Did you after that, did you pursue any kind of welding school?

Schooling, Tickets, And Early Shop Work

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so what happened? I was in the I was the grade 12 program. So for like the last semester of high school, um I was in this shop. And and you had the opportunity to go around to uh whatever, like you could pick and choose a couple different shops if you wanted to, but I obviously I I I I was just so drawn to the custom the custom cars. Um we're talking we're talking late 90s, so that's I mean, if you look at my Instagram feed and you look at my life, basically I was living that dream. I was building custom GM trucks and and and uh and 90s vehicles and all that kind of stuff. And if you look at my feed, that's I still live that life. I'm stuck in the 90s for sure. Um same, same music music, rides, all that stuff. Um, but when I was there, I was I was there for I ended up getting a job there out of out of that program. And I I think I was there for like I want to say like three years or something. And it was kind of it was a small shop. I was it was it was going nowhere. It was great experience, absolutely. Um, but I was like, okay, if I want to make something out of my out of my life here, I'm gonna have to pick up a skill. So I went I went to our local BCIT technical institute here, British Columbia Institute Institute of Technology, and started with my C level. Um and then from there went and got a job, not doing custom vehicles, not doing anything like that, but building excavator attachments, buckets, and all that kind of stuff. And sweet. Got a big company here, yeah. And then just started building my skill set from there until eventually going back and doing my B level, then my A level, and and the whole world opened up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. So how does that work in BC? Because like, you know, here in Saskatchewan, it's like you know, level one, level two, level three. So is that your A B C's, or is there like what's the schooling involved with that?

SPEAKER_02

They just gotta make it confusing. So C I'm assuming C is is your base, your uh I'm assuming level one is your start. Yeah. Um so yeah, C B A. You've got to do both, right? Of course, I want to make it, yeah. Um why not? Yeah, yeah. So um, yeah, that's not interprovincially recognized as as you know, um, as you most likely know. Um, so yeah, I ended up it's the same thing. I'm I'm sure it's the exact same thing um as what you're talking about, but yeah, that's uh that's the way I did it. Yeah. Cool. So does that does that mean you have your your journeyman's your I have my journeyman ticket in BC. I never re regretfully, I never did the the interpret the IP. I never did the red seal test because why? Because I was young and I was I've just done a whole bunch of schooling and I wanted to make money and I was like, I just wanted to get out there. I just wanted to get out there and start making money. I didn't think that how do I say at the time I didn't need my red seal to go out and make a bunch of money.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

See, now if I if I want to change career paths in life, that uh the red path is a little more or sorry, the red seal is a little more important. So yeah, I have my A level, and I went on to get pressure tickets and all that stuff to to work with the boilermakers and all those things, but yeah, just recognized. I think it's recognized in a couple different provinces, but not not across the board, all across Canada. So no, that's fair.

SPEAKER_01

That's fair. Yeah, said you just mentioned that you worked for the boilermakers. Like I know you as the guy who's like only build building cool stuff, right? But you you you've got a pass with the boilermakers.

Boilermaker Years And Why He Left

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean I I I I always think like I think back at this. I've only been doing my own thing for just over, I guess it's probably about 12 or 13 years, really going at Birdman the Welder for the past 10, 11. And uh before that, like I said, I started out getting my experience at the uh you know, doing excavator attachments, buckets, and then I was there for a few years. Then I went on to where did I go from there? I went to a place where we were building all the structure for like water slides and water parks. Super cool. That sounds really cool. It was so fun. I mean, it was it was a little too fun. We were we had a lot of it was afternoon shift and there was some debauchery going on, but uh um I'm sober now, but uh uh and then I went on to a couple other different shops. I I dabbled in as I started to do my B level, then my A level late, getting my TIG welding experience up. Um I wanted to I wanted to I wanted that's what I wanted to, I wanted to TIG weld. That was the ideal, not just you know, not just wire feed all day long. I love it all. I love it all, but especially when you're young and you see that the finesse of the TIG torch and what people are doing with it. It's just uh obviously you want to just keep going and learn it all. So yeah. Um I worked at a couple shops where I was TIG welding, but you gained some experience there. And it's so funny, man. One of the shops that I worked at was this crazy guy. He was like a horrible person, but so so brilliant. Like he was just a genius, but he was almost like an evil genius. And he was developing he was developing laser welding software. We're talking like in the in the early 2000s, and this is just like in my little in the town that I was living in. Massive like massive machines, massive machines that you could put a block of like titanium and a block of copper in, and it would like weld it together. But it was like this huge machine, and you could only do you know, like a little piece. You think to and you think about obviously laser welding is handheld now, so it's like so it's so wild, but yeah, it's crazy to think about it. Yeah, yeah. So it's so funny when I think about that, think back on that. Anyways, I I left that shop because it was wild and then went to the boilermakers. Yeah, went to the boilermakers. Um I don't know if this is a known term across the board, but for my my local, my BC local 359, um it's what's called I didn't take the Boilermakers course, I just I came in as a projo or a probational journeyman. So I had all my tickets, I had my pressure, my pressure vessel tickets that they that they wanted, um, and they took me on as a as a member. Um with that, not having to do the actual boilermakers apprenticeship, which is yeah, depends on what school of thought. If you're a welder who wants to get into the boilermakers, it's a great way to get in. But if you're a boilermaker who don't want to do it the old-fashioned way, they don't always look, they don't always uh they don't always love that route, but that's what I did. And I I was with the boilermakers for a few years. Yeah, it was great. It was great uh until it wasn't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Was there was yes, if if you want to touch on it, was there something that kind of steered you away from there?

Starting Birdman The Welder

SPEAKER_02

As soon as I got my dog, I didn't want to I didn't want to leave town anymore. I got we got our we got our first dog. And then I wanted to stay home, you know, but no, it for me for me the where I was at in my life with legal I'll be raw, like with booze and and my my my mental my mental health and all that kind of stuff, like the money is great. Like I was going out of town and it just the money's so good. Like you just you're just making so much money and having a good time with your pals out there, but staying in these CD motels in these small towns, it's it's trouble, man. Like for for me, it was trouble. Like there's people out there that have better uh better control than I did. So it was just a hard, it was a bit of a hard way to hard hard way to live for me. I respect those guys. And and you know, it's I don't I'm I'm really I don't want to talk smack, but a lot of the guys were working and they they've done boilermaking all their whole life, and as soon as they retire, they they die. Like they just like they die, or their wife divorces them and takes all their pension, and like it's like, oh man, like yeah, that was uh that's a fairly common story. It's a fairly common story, and I know it's not that way across the board, but those were the things that I was seeing, and it felt like felt like it was a possible path for me, so I didn't want to go that way. And I just I like being home, man. I like being home. I didn't like leaving leaving my my own bed for like weeks or months on end. As much money as they want to give you, it's just not worth it. It wasn't worth it to me. So but the one thing that it did do was allow me, because it was because it was I was doing shutdowns on refineries and pulp mills and stuff like that. Gave me all kinds of time. I'd get laid off, and then I'd have a big, you know, a big fat a fat bank account, and I'd be collecting an EI. Uh so at the at the time I was playing a lot of Call of Duty, and then I shifted that. I shifted that. I was like, you know what, I got a lot of this time and I got this money, like let's just let's start. I I rented a little shop from from from a guy who is now my buddy, um, and kind of an industry peer, and I started just tinkering around in this shop because I I live in a condo. Uh so yeah, I I that allowed me to kind of work while bringing and bringing money, but then also start building this little foundation for Birdman the Welder Inc.

SPEAKER_01

So it was Yeah, that was that was where I was gonna ask you is how how did Birdman the Welder get started? Yeah, what was what was the what was the spark? Was it hey, I don't want to travel anymore, I want to do my own thing, or what what kind of led you to that?

SPEAKER_02

I think the the the real kind of a holistic answer to that, I didn't want to travel anymore. I knew that. And when I was at the the the custom car shop as a as a you know, still wet behind the ears kid, um fresh out of high school, the idea was to go get my like start my own hot rod shop and or something like that, and just you know, build cool for myself, like not for myself, but build it myself for other people. Yeah, um that's a dream that is much harder to attain than just saying it. So but so so so the idea was is like I always want I I always had this creative like fire in me that I wanted to be able to, you know, bring art into the world or bring you know bring something different into the world, but not have someone not be, you know, have someone telling me what to do, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you know, I mean that's I think that's the dream for a lot of welders to to do your own thing. I mean, I've I've always wrestled with it in my head, and it's like, okay, well, you know, I started out with this company, which I'm still with, it's almost 20 years now, but you know, like when you you start you start a family, you buy a house, you got people to support, and it's hard to make that leap that you know everyone's like, oh, just do it, just do it. But it's not that easy, right? Oh, no. So, yeah, for you, what what time of life was this for you? Because you were saying you weren't liking the lifestyle of a boilermaker traveling a lot. You got a dog, you have a girlfriend, because you've been with your wife for many, many years. We've been together 25 years, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So so was it you know your first time being laid off, or did you bounce back and forth renting that little shop?

SPEAKER_02

Um, no, it was when I say hole in the wall, this was like a buddy, this guy's I saw an ad on Craigslist. You remember Craigslist? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I saw an ad on Craigslist, and it was it was this guy out in Richmond's city out by me here. And the he just was looking for someone to kind of like help him with the rent. So it was very low financial obligation for me to just kind of have this shop. And and yeah, like I said, I'd work for for six weeks, I'd work for eight weeks, whatever, they get laid off and and collect EI in between and and just kind of like go to this shop. It was it was so the rent was so the he was he was good to me and he was it was it was so fair to me that I was able to just kind of tinker when I would have some spare time. And once I finally kicked that Call of Duty habit, uh I was able to uh just yeah, just tinker and start. And then like I I can't remember the exact timeline, but it was around the time too when Instagram was just kicking off, and you could actually, you know, you post something and it would get attention from the the people that you wanted to get attention from. And there was some sort of method to that, uh, to that to that art of social media. Now it's I can't even I can't even figure it out, but it's yeah, I but but you remember, like I like I was able to build up a good following just based on like pictures of welds and things that we we we'd create, you know, and really like target it to at the time it ended up being like architectural metalwork, so I wasn't targeting interior designers and commercial and home, you know, home builders and stuff like that, so built up very quickly. I didn't have to, you know, this it was nice back then, you didn't have to pay for any ads or anything, it was just like it was organic.

Instagram, Community, And Early Growth

SPEAKER_01

I've been following you since like 2019. I went back and had the look, and they still remember the interactions that we would have together, and like you helped me out a lot with creating some things. And it's funny because a friend of mine that I work with followed you first. He's like, You gotta check this guy out, he's building all this cool. So, whatever. He's you know, shy dude. So I reached out to you. You ended up sending us t-shirts, uh, stickers, still have your uh your Simpson donut sticker on the side of my lid, you know. Like, but you're right, in Instagram, Instagram was something different back then. Instagram used to be cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It used to be cool, and I think the community that it was. I don't want to I don't want to go off and sound like a couple old men talking about the good old days of Instagram, but yeah, man, I built a built up such a such a great community of uh it was a good way to find like-minded people and with a similar interest and stuff like that, you know.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's now it feels like that's used to use for evil, but uh yeah, you know, some some of it, you know, it's it kind of turns into a job almost, right? Like you yeah, you have to create content, and you know, whenever I'm making something, I'll make like an instructional video, like this is how I've repaired this cast piece, blah blah blah, and like I get left hanging. And if I you know just recently made a video of myself pulling open a welding curtain, and we're at like 75,000 views. I don't I don't get it. I don't know, man. It's wild, it's wild. So so you built this community you're and is that kind of where your work came from? Like all these jobs people started coming to you because of your social media?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. Well, I mean, that was the that was the that was what kind of got my foot in the door at that time. I mean, there was there's definitely architectural metal shops before me in my area for sure. Me getting my work out there and you know uh uh on in such a such a visual platform. And there was no reels, there was no videos, it was just pictures. It was just pictures. Um, and then people would ask questions and people would you know tag their friends in it and stuff like that. And and through that I made a lot of connections in the into like I said, the interior design community, and it used to be I used to have a lot of fun. Eventually I started going to a lot of the social events and stuff like that because welders weren't going to interior design parties and stuff like that. And I had a lot, I had there were a lot of good times. I made a lot of good friends and a lot of like a lot of clients became friends and and and uh colleagues and stuff like that. So yeah, it was just it was very, very organic. It took work, it took a little bit of work. Like you probably remember having to figure out what hashtags you were you were gonna use and and and uh what time to post it at, and like like now I I I I don't even know if that's a thing anymore, but I mean I they maxed me out at five hashtags, like I can't use more than five because it's they want keywords now.

SPEAKER_01

Like what yeah, just let me yeah, let me do what I do. I'll just like I'll put whatever's out there. If it gets some love, it gets some love. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I've got I've just got draft after draft after draft in my in my Instagram now. Of like I just I start and like oh man, like it's I I can't be bothered. I'd love to, yeah, I'd love to, but yeah, yeah. So I so it allowed me to really make a great community, and like I said, like not just of people to sell to, but also people to learn from and people to teach and people to become friends with and all those things, man. Like I I I think it was we we moved into this shop space 10, it'll be 10 10 years ago, March. And when we did that, I invited how I I I got the keys to the shop on my on my birthday. It was like so I I had a birthday party slash shop warming party, and we had we had guys uh I'll drop some names. We had like the guys from Evil Metalworks down in Seattle and Blend Fabrication, and uh there's so many more, but I had like the air liquid suppliers. It was just like people were coming from miles and miles and miles away. That's crazy to support this thing, and just you know, it was so fun. And he had like obviously times have changed, but yeah, yeah, kind of had the perfect storm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a lot different now, but times do change, things change, don't they?

The Reality Of Architectural Metalwork

SPEAKER_01

Things change, people change, yeah, yeah. Except for us, we're staying this we're stuck in the 90s, yeah. Exactly. Which I I love the Simpsons, you know, mural that you have in your shop, you know, like everything's very 90s rap kind of themed. Um, so yeah, so let's let's keep on this track of so you opened up this shop, uh, you moved into your new space. What was the kind of stuff that you started building?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I I actually went from that other shop space that rented one. I went to a family friend supported me greatly. He let me kind of work out the back of his barn for a couple of years and continue to build a foundation. Like I owe, I owe, I owe this man quite a bit of of gratitude and and uh and in building up as well as so many people. Um, but him he he allowed me to work out of the space for next to nothing. And and uh I mean he had like uh VAC truck, uh VAC, a fleet of VAC trucks, so it wasn't for nothing. I had to do some work on some VAC trucks, dirty old VAC trucks. Oh yeah, but yeah, anyways, I was there for a couple of years until I was able to actually I can't even I can't even believe that we were able to do this, but we we bought the we bought the warehouse back then and um we were able to start building this thing, we're like really build it.

SPEAKER_01

The shop that you're in now, you own the building.

SPEAKER_02

We own it, yeah. And that's with like I said, that's with the help of that family friend, and then um, and then also um just some really good support and and and help with from other family members, yeah. Been really great and this dream of mine for sure. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's pretty cool, man. Pretty cool. So we've been here just about 10 years, uh, 10 years in actually 10 years in April, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. Um, you mentioned these VAC trucks and having to work on it, and uh, I've worked on VAC trucks and none of it is really that be that fun to do. No. Uh so now in your shop, do you take on repair work? Do you just take on what comes in the door, or you can pick and choose?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the I mean the Instagram is definitely mostly like a highlight reel. I I don't use the Instagram very much anymore, but it was always a highlight reel of all the fancy, you know, the blending and the finishing and the architectural stuff. For the most part, there's some industrial in there. But yeah, I do everything. We do it, I do everything in here. I'm solo right now. This is the first time in a while that I've been fully solo. Um, or it's not the first time in a while. I've been fully solo for quite a while, but um, yeah, I'm solo. So industrial repairs, um try not to get into too much automotive. That that's not all that's typically not very fun.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, everyone loves rust repair.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, like patching floorboards. Uh or uh I had a I had a guy bring in a Toyota pickup truck, and it was like it must have come from your neighborhood, man. It was just completely like rotted out. It was just the frame. Oh yeah. He's like, and uh build this up home. I'm like, man, you should not be driving this thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you shouldn't even let me see this. I'm gonna call somebody.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, so a little a little everything. Um we're in an industrial park. We're in the smack dab in the middle of an industrial park. So nowadays, the industrial type of work and the the repair work, that tends to tends to be the most you know fruitful, like most profitable. The the architectural metal work is man, I've had so many, I've had old times, like the old boys come in and tell me, like, man, you you're you're you this is gonna this is gonna run you into the ground. And I've been doing this for well 12 years or so now with architectural stuff, and it's running me into the ground. It is definitely like it's just it's because everything is custom every time. So like there's no like you know, I want some I want some brackets, I want some stuff that I can do a run of 200 off of and make some money here, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Doing patina samples and and and you know, like this, this this weld is, you know, you can I don't know. I don't even know. I can't there's a there's a whole plethora of things that that these designers come to me and and pick at out of all the fine, fine details that I labor over for days, weeks, months, you know, and they pick something silly up anyway. Yeah, anyway, yeah, I'm not no that's okay.

Repairs, Solo Shop Life, And Margins

SPEAKER_01

I I know the world you're living in, you know. The company I work for, we've we've stepped out, you know, in the industrial area and we've gone now to do more architectural stuff and like thin stainless steels, handrails, crazy, crazy curved things, and like that's what people want. But yeah, we've had customers come back and be like, I don't like the look of this one weld here. Well, you've got you've got a hundred feet of railing in your house, and you're gonna pick out this one thing, but like they're paying big money, they have a vision, they have the money to make the vision come true. So yeah, it's it's absolutely wild.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think I think I've done the the architectural the architectural realm. I I mean I'll still pick out I I think I cherry I cherry pick a little bit now, of course, um for my own sanity, and I actually don't I don't really do the installs anymore. I used to we used to do full you know start to finish service. We go there and you know measure up site and serve the survey and build and install on site. Oh man, no way. No way. Yeah. I mean it's like I I'm so this is my experience. I'm tired. I also have I also have a I'm 45 and I have a uh nearly a four-year-old, so I'm like I'm not uh you know, I'm getting a lot I'm getting up there and running a business and be doing it solo is like it's it's a lot, man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you know, and yeah, repair work's cool too. Like there's there's an art to it. So it's it's nothing to shake your head at really. No, man.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I love it. When that's when I get that call that you know they they need something repaired or they need a little uh like a box frame made for their mini house or what are they tiny house or something, like yeah, yeah, bring it over, man. Bring me a whole bunch of them, please. Like to trim my brain off and jam out and yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, just you know, I'll give you a better price if you let me make 10. You know, yeah, man. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's cool. So you kind of you do have some staples though at Birdman the Welder, your ashtrays, right? Yeah, so uh when did that start up?

Ashtrays, 3D Printing, And Creative Blocks

SPEAKER_02

That's like one of those things that I I guess I've been doing it for probably a five or six years, I'm gonna guess. And that's like one of those things that I squeaked in there to keep my creative juices flowing. It's something that I can I can build and plop out onto onto social media and and uh they always have sold very quickly, and thankfully I'm very grateful for the people that appreciate them and buy them and use them because it allows me to build something that I really I just really love so much, man. And I haven't built one. I built one, I built two last year, and I'm in this weird phase of life where um they're in the closet, they're in the cupboard. I just uh they're tucked away. They're my two most favorite ashtries I've ever built, and they're not seeing the light of day. I just for some reason I'm going through a little going through a little perfectionism stage or something. Something. Yeah, you know, but they're they're yours to keep. They're not for sale. They are for sale. I want to sell these people. What's going on? I want to sell them. I want to sell them. I'm just for some reason I can't bring myself to, you know, do the do social media feet um, you know, content and put them out there because that's how I've always sold them in the past. So I think, you know, I think maybe there's a little uh I don't want to say like maybe a little fear of a little fear of it just falling flat, you know, where I've had such a good run, kind of the old style of Instagram and the old way I was doing it. I think I just not trusting, not trusting the process. And I'm getting I'm I'm really a good friend of mine told me I'm getting in my own way, is what he said. And that's absolutely what's happening.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah at some point in life we all go through it, you know, like you get a little gun shy. And I'm the same way with my art. Like, I'll make something and I'll look at it and it's like, holy, like, this is a piece of junk. Like, I just I don't even want to do this right now, and I get all in my head about it. But in the end, I'll go show it to somebody and they'll be like, Wow, like you are made that I guess, yeah. Like, what so like yeah, sometimes you know your friend's right, we do get in our own way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I mean, I I don't know, I gotta pull those things out of the cupboard and just do something with them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, at least send me a picture. I want to see these things.

SPEAKER_02

I love doing them, I love smoking cigars, I love I love making cool stuff. Like, I've been I've been uh you probably know this about me, but uh 3D printing is like my latest addiction, so um it has been for many years now, but creating cool things uh that you can use in whatever industry. And you know, cigar smoking, there's all kinds of cool stuff that we can do, and I've been working on some different things for that I want to bring out to, you know, but they just it's just yeah, getting in my own way. I'm getting in my own way, man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it'll happen. One day it'll happen. You know, the universe has to align just right, but there'll be that opportunity that comes. So it's uh, you know, if you don't mind, because you've brought it up a few times, you know, addiction and and booze, and you said you're sober now. How long have you been sober?

SPEAKER_02

I just turned over nine years like a couple weeks ago. Oh wow. Nine years, nine years, no booze, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, that's well, congratulations. That's thanks, man. Yeah, so 10 years of being in this shop and nine years of being sober. So what uh if you don't mind talking about it, of course, you know what what made you uh make that switch? What made you say, you know what, this is it, we're done.

Nine Years Sober And Mental Health

SPEAKER_02

Well, the main thing is is like I was done, I was done fing up. I was done, I was done screwing up good things. I was like, i enough was enough. And there's people in my life that also were being very patient with me. Like I said, me and my wife have been together 25 years now. Like we were very young when we got together, so we've like we've not grown up together, but we uh were young adults when we got together, so we've done all this whole life together. And uh when you're able to really like step back and see the things that you've put yourself through and you how you've made your own life harder, but also of course the ones that love you and support you, the ones around you who are there for you. It's like, you know what? I've tried this. Like I had bouts of it where I would, you know, I'd quit drinking and uh you know, I'd do a year sober, and I'm like, oh, you know, let's celebrate. I've got control now. I'm good. I get a year, I can control the and and uh and sometimes it was instantaneous, and other times it was like a gradual pro progression back to just being a binge drinking party, partying fool, and making bad choices and and stuff like that. So at the time there were no kids in the picture, um, there was definitely a dog in the picture. Um, but it was like okay, like we we just we I want to make something out of this birdman thing, and I definitely wanna, you know, I want to preserve that relationship with my my wife. She wasn't my wife at the time. Uh yes, she was. Yes, she was, pardon me. Um but uh I wanted to preserve all that. I wanted to I wanted I knew the life I wanted, and I knew that the alcohol was not it didn't have a place. Didn't have a place. Not with me. I I'm all or nothing. I'm all or nothing, and it has to be nothing. That's yeah. And honestly, I just said I quit. Didn't I didn't I think I've gone to one AA meeting and that was like years into being sober. But for me, it's just like as soon as I if I say I'm gonna do something uh and really commit to it, I can do it. I don't know how, but it's uh it happens. And there's you know, yeah, it's been great. And it's the best, I mean, most any anybody who's sober is will most likely will say that's the best choice they've ever made because they probably struggled real bad with it, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, definitely very true, very true. You know, I see it in my side of personalities too, where I could, you know, I could get a little addicted to things myself, right? So it's it's thanks for sharing that side of you. Yeah. Was it yeah, was it just booze? Were you into other things?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, uh there was I used to I smoked a lot of weed as a as a youngster, but that wasn't I I think I don't wanna I don't want to dive too far into it. Uh I didn't get into any hard I never did any hard drugs. I I never did any hard drugs. Um thankfully, I it was like something in me knew that if I pick up something harder than weed or shrooms or something like this, I I'm in trouble. And yeah, how I had that how I had that awareness at a young age, I don't know, but I'm very thankful for that. Um because I think it would have been trouble. I had no friends that are to this day either not now not alive or they're just really they're really having a tough go in it. It's yeah. So thankfully I had that awareness back then. Um but it can be factor X. I mean, I quit drinking and then it was Call of Duty, like I would just play Call of Duty for, you know, and then there's all kinds of other paths to go down that you can start to depend on for numbing, numbing agents, you know. Like I've I was diagnosed with ADHD at like what is a few years ago now, like fully in my 40s diagnosed with ADHD, which explains now. I know I explained so much of what was going on, of course. But yeah, anyways, yeah, it's unfortunately never got into anything hard like that, but uh yeah, man, it's the best choice I've ever made. I look at especially now, I look at my little my little my little daughter, and I'm like, she doesn't have to see the stupid that her dad was doing, and like, you know, the fighting and and and all the all the all the all the negative that came along with that, you know? Yeah, yeah. I'm so and I just look at her and it's not even a question. It's not a question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's that's absolutely amazing, and congratulations. Thanks, brother. Um, we're gonna sneak away for a short break here, listen to our podcast sponsors, so hang tight. Josephgasses.ca, your one-stop welder superstore. Whether you run a welding shop or are just starting your welding journey, JosephGast, the Welders Superstore, it 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 josephgasses.ca. That's Joseph with an F, as in family. Start filling your cart with welder confidence. And we are back with Sean Bird, also known as Birdman the Welder. So, how did you get this name? Obviously, your last name's Bird, so it's but where else did it come from?

SPEAKER_02

Last name is Bird, and uh I have uh my my brother who's just uh barely two years younger than me. He's one he was one grade younger than me. He was always Little Bird, and I was Big Bird or Birdman. I just I just stuck with it, man. Yeah. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_01

That's good, that's cool. So Sean, what's um what's one of the things you've built that you're the most proud of? Like something that stands out to you.

Back From Break: The Birdman Name

Favourite Builds And Clients Who Care

SPEAKER_02

Honestly, this is a cheesy, it's a bit of a cheesy answer. Uh, I think it's the coolest projects for me are always the ones for the people who appreciate it most. Uh I do have a couple, like I have a couple that stand out. Being in the architectural mill industry puts me in a lot of agreements to build stuff for people who have a lot of money. Like they're they're wealthy. Like my house is not full of black and steel and brass and like this, but theirs are. They can afford that stuff, you know. And uh they often I I often don't feel appreciated. I mean, and we're just there as we're just there to get their their their their Pinterest home or their like their their get their magazine shots or whatever. And it's as a guy who likes, I guess I like validation and I like to feel appreciated. It's you know, you're just another tool in their in their box. But I have done some, like there's there's a project that stands out with a really great interior designer and a really great family that and a really great builder as well, for that matter. It was a it was a all-around kind of a dream project, and they've all kind of become friends after after all these years. But we did like a ton of steel in their house, and yes, they had they were they were they were more well off than I. But uh um, oh man, it was just like we did a we did this beautiful black and steel hood fan and and swing doors and railings and accents and all kinds of things throughout this house. Um, and they just gave me kind of creative license to work with the interior designer to a point. I mean, it wasn't like I could do whatever I wanted by any means, but it allowed me to build some stuff that I was really proud of, and then they appreciated it as well. Like we're talking like they would invite us back down to their house, you know, for uh, you know, for for we did photo shoots with other products in their house. And when we were showing up and I had a crew with me, like the the homeowner, she was making us sandwiches and and oh that is like I said is it it's so that those are like some of my favorites, and there is one another one that stands out too. I built um I built a a friend of mine, a friend of mine. She insisted on paying full price, and and she wanted to build this loft bed for her son with like a um like it was a perforated sheet. It was a loft bed, really cool tube frame loft bed, all matte black, and then those perforated sheet sections throughout for uh to hang his nerf gun collection. And then that's cool. A built-in desk under there. Like it was so cool, and it was so fun to build. And uh just seeing the kid's face light up when we when we put it in the in his bedroom. And yeah, that that kind of stuff really brings me great joy. It's it's the people who appreciate these things, but then also, you know, either either being allowed to flex my own creative muscle or collaborations, like that that home was a great collaboration with my one my my friend and favorite interior designer around here. And that loft bed was you know a friend of mine, and and and she kind of came up with the idea and let me kind of build on it. Yeah, that kind of stuff is really cool to me. The stuff that mean the stuff that means something to somebody is like always. I I was right at I think it was on boxing day. Me and my daughter came by the shop. I haven't been in the shop very much lately. We came by the shop, I had to change over a 3D print or something. I can't remember what I was doing, but we were here and she was coloring in the office. So I'm like, I'm just gonna take a minute. My uh a friend of mine had a had their first little newborn um just before Christmas. And uh so I just like I had a I had a brass, I have a bunch of these brass offcuts. They're like, I think they're quarter inch thick and they're just like inch and a half diameter, two inch diameter, and I just grabbed my uh ball peen hammer and my little punch set and my birdman stamp, and I just made this like baby's first Christmas type of ornament thing. But it's like out of salt, it's super heavy and probably gonna pull a whole bunch of things. But I uh but me and my daughter and my wife, we dropped it off to them, and they were just like thrilled about it. And it's like out of all the things I've built all year, like that, I can I was I was thinking back, I'm like this little thing that I was able to just kind of create out of my own mind and and heart, that's what I feel good about. That's what brings me the most joy, that kind of stuff, you know. It used to be ashtrays, and I think it can be ashtrays again once I get to that point, but now I I build them and I revel in them, and then I tuck them away because there's something going on there.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's that's cool because it's not it's not about the money, it's not about you know whatever you want to say. It's it's about the joy of of fabricating, it's about seeing you're like you're almost like the welder Santa. You like the smile on people's faces on Christmas morning. That's that's the feeling you're you're after.

SPEAKER_02

If I could pay the mortgage, man, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, unfortunately, we gotta go out there and and you know sometimes struggle a little bit. Yeah. So what's um what's the main focus going to be for Birdman the Wilder, the company in in this new year?

Parenthood, Priorities, And Burnout

SPEAKER_02

So so there's some potential big changes happening over here. I am tired. Yeah, tired. Like I said, I'm a I'm a mature dad. You know what I mean? Like I'm 40, I'm I'm I'm gonna be 46 pretty quick here, and I got a kid that I'm chasing around, and I love being a part of her life. I love being there every day with her, dropping her off at school, having breakfast, dropping her off at preschool, and a lot of times picking her up, which makes for a very short work day. Uh, and it's it's been very difficult for me to keep up here. So having a kid, priorities have definitely have definitely changed. And I've been looking back on the past few three to five, I mean, really, since COVID. How much has changed since COVID and how hard it is to retain staff, find good staff. Like, it's not that they're not out there, but it's just man, like I know in our in our in our city, like the cost of living and the the the the the what the like I can I can't I don't I to try to pay someone in town what they can easily get out of town, you know, it's it's a really really hard I find I'm finding it really hard to run this business right now, like really hard. The overhead is is crazy. My my property taxes are insane. Um, you know, as you know, cost of materials is just it's just gone up. Everything's gone up. Everything has gone up, and it's absolutely ridiculous. And it doesn't feel like it's stopping. So like this as Birdman has not been very fun for me for the last you know, post post-COVID. Uh it was it's just been a real challenge. And I know I don't want to bring home with me from work. I don't want to bring, you know, I want my I want my daughter to I well, I want to give her the best chance at things. Like I said, you and I tried to we've tried to book this thing. I don't know if this is the third or fourth attempt or whatever it was, but I was sick and I was like all these all these crazy things. As you know, with most small businesses, there's no paid sick days, there's no there's no one to here to pick up my slack and explain to the clients over and over again why I can't meet their timeline. It's just it's a lot of pressure. So Birdman welder is not done. But I think 2026 is gonna be a year where we're gonna see a little transformation here. I think um I think that something along the lines of and this is this is all but this is all breaking news on the uh on the on the CWB uh podcast with you now. Yeah, and it I mean it's gonna shock the world.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say it's gonna take a few months for this episode to come out, you know, like don't feel any pressure. So you're gonna you're gonna s switch gears a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna switch gears, and I ultimately I don't have a plan, but like, yeah, I think the we've listed the shop space for sale. Um and like I said, that's not really that hasn't been public information, but I'm not really hiding anything. I mean it's uh it's it's too hard, man. It's it's become so hard. Um and I like I I I refer back, like I I look around and I think to myself, how what I sacrifice to try to keep this dream alive and in this iteration. Um I use it back back before kids, back before having a kid, I would it was nothing to stay at the shop till two, three, four in the morning, um, work through the weekend, uh, all those kinds of things. Um, and now it's just I mean, I'm lucky if I work a six-hour day here. And yeah, um, like I said, obviously all the rising costs and all this. So it feels it doesn't feel sustainable. It doesn't feel sustainable financially, it doesn't feel sustainable from a health standpoint. I don't want to stress myself into the grave. And like I want to be, I want to give myself a fighting chance to be around for my kids. So yeah, I think I've been I've been looking around. I've been I've been exploring some options. We've lifted the warehouse at a time when it's not great, right before Christmas. So there's been some tire kickers. Also not a really great uh it doesn't seem to be a really great time for real estate in general, but um the idea is that you know, my in my perfect world, I pick myself up a nice cushy job, whether that's welding or not. I don't really care. Like I just want I want something where I'm not beating myself up mentally and physically.

SPEAKER_01

That is more than fair after after you know going after it for 20 plus years, right?

SPEAKER_02

And and the sound of uh getting a paid six. Day sounds nice and some medical and dental benefits, you know. Fortunate my wife gets a bit of that stuff through her work, but it's it's not it's not quite enough. Hopefully reopening these creative uh vessels within within me because I keep I was so hung up on on preserving this dream of Birdman the welder as I have it right now. Yeah, but I'm not there's no room for me to create what I want to create. Like even my my my lowrider red pickup truck, like it's fat. It's sat all summer. Usually I insure it for the for the spring and summer months. It's sat because I didn't have time to do some minor repairs that it needed to get back on the road. And that's like one of my greatest joys is cruising that thing, especially now when I cruise it with my kiddo. And like some a lot of people don't understand this, but that little piece of truck, like what it brings me to like just go out there and crank up the tunes and just you know let my let my hair blow in the wind, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I'm in the same boat, man. I got no hair left on my head, and I don't know, you can see it behind me. The listeners can come in. Like, I picked up that 90s Volkswagen Corrado. There, you know, did I have the money? Not really, but like for once in my life, I bought something for me. I worked so hard for so many years, and yeah, like it's not fast, but it sure makes me feel cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I was gonna ask you, yeah, I was gonna ask you what happened to Project Bird dropping because I didn't see it very much.

Hard Choices: Selling The Shop

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's still there. My my kiddo, she comes every time she comes to the shop, she gives it a she's like, Dad, this truck needs a hug. I'm like, Yeah, it does. It definitely doesn't give a big hug. Came by the other day, and it's just like the bed is just filled with leaves, like yeah, like the poor girl just sitting there, just you know, I yeah. So but that's it, man. Like, I'm not creating the things I want to create. I don't have time to like I don't I I don't have time to be in here on a on a on a weeknight. I just I don't make it like any time I want to spend with my my kiddo or or resting trying to recharge, like so the dream is not even the dream that I really want. You know what I mean? Um I wish it were, I wish it was different. I wish I could hold on to this space and and have it all, but I think uh the government and and and life and all these things and the crazy shit that's going on in the world is is making it way too hard, man. So a little a little shop in the backyard, maybe uh would be ideal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you got the feeling you like you need to get back to the heart of it. You know, you had the perfect storm when it started up, you know, and you can see what it did for your life, but you're right, you know, things got a little sideways. Um, but yeah, they'll there'll be that moment. You you're you're gonna find something, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like even in saying to you, what are the what are my favorite jobs? They're like the little things building the ashtrays and building a mid little medallion, like I don't need a big warehouse to do all that stuff, you know. I'll cherry pick all my my best equipment and put it in a little little garage or something. And and uh yeah, yeah, it's for so long, it's it's it's I tried it, it's been my it's been my livelihood, it's been my source of income, and it's it's not for the amount of work that I'm putting in and the amount of grinding that I'm putting in, there's just what's coming out of it is not uh justifiable or even it's not worth it at all.

SPEAKER_01

The the life the life math is not is not adding up.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I don't know, man. I see the I look around and I see like the you know the the city workers who are like refilling the the dog poo bags on the on the uh post of the park or w watering the hanging baskets, you know. I'm like looks pretty good right about now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and they get some really nice benefits and attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, I'm gonna hit that bridge at some point too. Like my my body's tired, I know that. My knees are just trash, right? From you know, work, snowboarding, all this stuff. Yeah, and yeah, like where's my outlet kind of thing? So we all get to that point in life. It's not just you, you'll you'll be okay. And I really appreciate you sharing that about yourself and about your company and and and the way you see it, because a lot of people would just you know glaze over and and not even go that route, which is which is very nice.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean that's I walk I've I've watched him on one of my I call him a mentor. I hasn't been involved a lot, but in the times that this guy has been involved with me and my business, like I take what he's been doing the he was doing the architectural stuff for a long time, and his complaints and his gripes were all the same ones I'm having now, and he's just like he's like I'm done. And he did it for a lot longer than I did, but he was he he he's he just up and sold and he moved up into the interior BC and has a sprawling uh a sprawling property with a big shop where he just builds cars that he wants to build and just beautiful. Uh and and uh other what's the other option? I feel like the other option is you just keep grinding yourself until you drop with a heart of a heart attack or something. You know what I mean? Like that's that's and I don't want that. I don't want that. Obviously, I don't want that.

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah, nobody, nobody, you know, I'm yeah, I'm really striving for that heart attack, you know.

SPEAKER_02

But that's it, man. If you don't if I feel like if I don't make that choice, it it appears that I am striving for that heart attack, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm. Yeah. If you don't make the choice, the choice, you know, it'll be made for you at some point.

SPEAKER_02

And damn, man, that was a hard choice. Like I've stru I I think the writing's been on the wall for me for many or not for many, but for a couple of years. And my wife, bless her, like she's trying like she's trying to just approach it with such compassion and diploma like like in diploma not diplomacy, is that the right diplomatic? It works, it works. Yeah, yeah. Uh, but just in a way that you know, she doesn't want to be the one to tell me it's time to shut down my dream, but also yeah, and she's actually not telling you it's time to shut down my dream. She's saying your dream looks a little different than your dream looks a little different than what it is right now, and it took me a freaking long time to to wrap my head around that.

SPEAKER_01

I've been with my wife since since we were 18, you know, and like there's there's something about growing up with somebody, like go going through life with somebody. Yeah, man. You know, usually they end up knowing you better than you know yourself, and like they see that they see the struggle before you do, you know, and you're right. Like sometimes it's hard to deal with like guys like us, right? You gotta approach the situation with kid gloves and kind of lay it out, you know, with because you know, some things would upset me, you know, right? But yeah, it's uh yeah, exactly. Exactly. Let's bottle it all up and then one day just boom. Yeah, absolutely, man. No, that's that's I mean, thanks again for sharing all that with us. So, with that being said, with your life experience now, is there a piece of advice that you would give to somebody coming up in the trades who who has a dream? Definitely follow that dream.

Redefining The Dream And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02

Uh, I think that trusting your trusting trusting your intuition is so is so key and so it's so hard to do, especially in this day and age of being influenced by this device in your hand and all the things that come along with it. But uh man, you following your intuition and trying to surround yourself with people that are good hearted and helpful and truly like genuine good people that will kind of help you along the way. Um yeah, that's I mean that's really that's really it. And don't lose your creative spirit, don't let the robots take it. Don't let you know, like I it's just it's such a crazy time with AI and stuff like that, and I I fear for what's to come and what's to go with it all. Um you know, I want people to keep creating art and yeah, man. I don't know. That's that's it, man. Hold on to your creative spirit and uh follow your gut.

SPEAKER_01

Sounds very canned, but no, it's it's it's perfect, man. It's it's what people need to hear because you're right. With with AI, creativity has died, you know. It's and and you we're meant to be creative people as humans. We're meant to create, we're meant to work with our hands and stuff, and now let's just hand it all over to a computer and then have a robot build it. Like, yeah, yeah, you're right. So so if somebody's out there listening, chase your dreams, chase your dreams, and don't lose your creative spirit, right? Yeah, man, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, Sean, thank you so much for being my guest. I'm glad we stopped playing you know, podcast tag there, but it's a life happens, right? Yeah, man. So thank you again for for sharing your life and and and your process with us.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm an open book, man. Thanks, thanks for having me, brother. I'm glad we were finally able to meet up. And I wonder what's like the halfway point for us to go for a cruise.

SPEAKER_01

You drive the corado down and uh I'll drive the I'm a little I'm a little scared to take it out of the city limits.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, same with me, man.

SPEAKER_01

Same with me. I've got a I've got a brother in Pentikton, so if I'm ever in the general area, I'll definitely I'll make the little jaunt over. Uh thanks everyone for listening to Sean Bird, Birdman the Welder. Um great episode. So make sure you stay tuned. We got episodes dropping weekly, and uh smash that like button.

SPEAKER_00

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 on what you'd like to learn about in the future. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.