So how did you guys get your start? I've worked in a few body shops, but I would really like to learn how to do serious fab work, building stuff off of a wood buck etc. Are there apprenticeships out there? Any words of wisdom would help.
Take a beginners course with someone like Ron Covell, Lazze , or Gene Winfield and don't be afraid to start pounding. I took a 2 day at Gambino Kustoms with Gene. It blew my mind. I''m not a expert.....yet. But it got me started and thinking about shapes and what I can use to make things.
Lots of dvds out there from Covell and Fournier, Lazze sells them too. An alternative if a school isn't near you.
grab a hammer and some metal and beat the shit out of it, see what you come up with. those vids and classes are a big help but nothing beats practice. Beat the crap out of something.
What Jay said. Pick up a hammer and start beating away, paying attention to what the metal DOES. I started like that. The courses and metalmeets I attended were awesome, but they were as much about affirming what I had learnt and building confidence as learning many new skills. Buy David Gardiner's DVD though - that put me years ahead of the game even though i'd beeen at it 5 years already. www.metalshapingzone.com. Best money I ever spent of metalshaping!!
Gene's course was awesome, Im no expert either, all I can say is start beating on metal and learn what happens...Lazzes DVDs are super expensive, but worth every penny, and there is tons of stuff on youtube about metal shaping.
Years ago ( early 80's?)I read a magazine article about Marcell building a coupe body, really got me wanting to learn the process. At the time there were no classes or video's, hardly anyone knew what an English wheel was, let alone where to get one. I bought one of Fournier's book and that got me started. Pretty much had to learn the hard way but started with small projects and kept at it, pushing my limit with bigger, more difficult projects. After 15 or so years I built a 32 Vicky body from a junk 4 door cowl and a pair of Tudor inner door frames. Unfortunately now my arthritis has gotten to the point it's hard for me to beat metal so not sure if I'll ever get to build a whole body but I still want to, maybe someday if my own body will let me. If you can do a class that would be great, I'm sure if I could of it might of taken a few years off of my learning curve! No matter what,like other have said, at least start beating some tin and getting a feel for it. You don't need an english wheel or power hammer to get started. Grab a shot bag and some hammers and get started!
grab a good set of hammers and dollies. an anvil. and some strong hands and firm knees. and have at it. thats how i learned. and i recomend. a little red book called- keys to metal bumping-. good way to learn how metal reacts and works. good luck to ya.
To pretty much sum it up, like the others have said, grab some metal and beat on it. But seriously, since you've worked in a body shop and all, you should have most of the rudimentary knowledge. The big step in becoming a metal shaper, is to really learn how metal reacts to actions, and to really CONTROL it. It's one thing to beat out a dent and fill it. Entirely another to hammer and dolly it, file it, with no filler...kinda like the difference between pulling out a splinter, and pulling out your appendix! Roughing out the shape is pretty easy, I'm sure you can do it, with either shot bags, stumps, even a stack of newspaper on a bench. The real hard part is doing the finessing of the metal, the fine tuning and eventual planishing to make it look like you HAVEN't hammered on it, that takes the skill and practice. Get yourself a good planisher, like the one Covell sells, or the light spring slapper like Kent White (tinman technologies) sells, and work on your fine tuning.
I grew up around the autobody trade, then worked in the trade until the early 1980's. After leaving the trade I wanted to learn more about metal shaping; which there wasn't a lot information available until the mid 1990's. Ron Fournier's book came out in the early 1980's; which made it the only reference that most of us had back then. As a result of reading Ron's book, I purchased John Glovers English Wheel plans in the late 1980's; which were listed in the back of the book. In 2000 there was a internet group that started on metal shaping, Metalshapers.org; which is a good source. You might also take a look at Metalmeet.com for another. There are some excellent video's out there too. You might also check on Youtube.com. There is a lot of information out there, check it out. Just remember there are many ways to do any one thing. So don't let anyone tell you that there is only one way. I've had a chance to take classes and seminars from Ron Covell, Clay Cook, Wray Schelin, Fay Butler, Lazze, Gene Winfield and Craig Naff. Every time that I walk through someone elses shop I pick up ideas. There is a lot to learn.
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