I'm looking for info on metal shaping courses on the westcoast. I found one by Wray Schelin but he is in MA and I'm in Washington state. I have found some in California which would be fine, but I wanted some input on them if they are any good. I'm a beginner, but I have quite a bit of mechanical skills,tig,mig,stick welding,pretty good at fabricating just want to learn more and thought a metal shaping class would help me. Thanks for your thoughts and any info you can provide me. I have learned a lot on the HAMB! Wayne
John Kelly here on the HAMB! He's in Washington so that's a no brainer. He has shaping videos on youtube.com for a sample. Dan Stevens dba, Steelsmith
Thumbs up for John Kelly I took his weekend course he is on the coast, and carbuilder here on the Hamb does sheet metal courses in Washington
Thanks for the plug guys! Wayne, I am about 3 hours from you. I do small classes with or without lodging in November, December and January only. Let me know if you would like to be on my list to notify when a date comes up: [email protected] John www.ghiaspecialties.com
I just attended a 2-day Ron Covell workshop last month in Escondido...check his website, he does workshops all over the world.
Ron Covell is a class act, a true gentleman. IIRC, Covell does demonstrations only, Lazze's classes are hands on.
My classes range from 1 day basic to full blown 5 day a week 8 hrs a day up to one year all hands on doing what we do every day. Minor to major projects.
Spent three days with Lazze in may. Best investment I ever made in myself. He's a good dude, with his ego in check. He makes a special effort to take his students in the direction of their specific sheetmetal forming desires (art, automotive,bikes, etc). He's an excellent teacher. He's very positive and believes, if you can envision it, you can build it. I use many things he taught us every time I pick up a piece of sheet metal. I believe in the "you get what you pay for" credo, it's not an inexpensive course but he moved me light years ahead in my forming abilities in three days. Like I said, you get what you pay for. Lazze's worth it. There you have it there. Chris Conley
I'm planning on taking a Lazze class soon. I took a Covell workshop in Watsonville and it was hands-on. Ron helped me fabricate the fender skirt for my sidecar. If you haven't been to one of these classes before, get a sandbag/scrap metal and spend some workout time swinging a hammer before you go.
Hey, Also check out metalshapers.org , here on the web! Good luck with your metalshaping! " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
Another guy to check out on the west coast is Bruce Terry, his shop is in Monterey Ca. http://www.specialtymetalfabrication.com/ I toured his shop a couple of weeks ago, a class guy.
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