(gentle music) - You just take a piece of metal, look at it, and start looking and figuring out what you can do with it.

Well, it depends on what it is.

You can look at it, study it a little while, you will cut it there and cut it there, and I'll make that and you know, it comes into something.

I grew up in Mill Hill.

When I was a kid, I was making stuff up.

Yeah, I ain't never had no experience in welding.

I just had to have something welded one night and couldn't finish the job without getting it welded, you know?

So I had to learn how to either do it or didn't finish the job.

I just had an itch to make something, then started making something up.

(upbeat music) I just get my parts from old scrapyards, junkyards, anywhere I could probably find something, but a lot of times you get people bring stuff up and drop it off.

Well, one time I went off and come back, and there was about four bicycles laying down there.

You can't ever tell when you go off, something might be laying here, and if you throw it away, I'm gonna put it in something, make something out of it, recycle it, make it a whole lot better than going to the dump.

Well, somebody throw this old drink machine away.

So I made a door to my office out of it.

Gears off a bicycle, somebody's gonna throw 'em away.

So I just made something out of it.

I just call it a flower.

Just don't throw nothing away.

I just like to make something up and let 'em look at it.

The fun's making it.

After you get it made, it ain't no good no more.

Well, let's see here.

(welder buzzing) You just get more enjoyment outta making it than you do selling it.

(lighthearted music) Pigs, I made a bunch of pigs up.

Well, you got a couple dinosaurs down there.

Right now, they're shooting fire.

That one's made outta shopping carts.

I think it took 32 shopping carts to make it.

I think that'll be good at a swimming pool.

If you had the fire and water shooting back out at the same time, it'd be different.

And I also thought about putting a grill inside of one of 'em and shooting fire out at the same time.

Sitting there cooking to watch the fire burn.

That'd be kinda weird.

(chuckles) Yeah, I get people coming up quite often, wanting to know if they can go in and look around.

Yep, a lot of people really like it.

Tin man, that stands about five foot high, made out of a road tractor muffler.

That other man there made outta old car bumpers.

Enterprise is made outta haul truck feeders.

Just something different.

That one airplane that I got down there, it's got a washing machine for the engine on it.

Anytime I'm sleeping, I'm thinking about making something.

I guess it gets in your head, you just gotta put it together.

Sometimes I'll just start welding it up and keep on going 'til I get something like I want.

That boat down, that's made out of old license plates, out of North Carolina license plates.

I was at an auction one time.

They had four or five boxes full of license plates, so I bought 'em.

I don't know, I just started.

That's all I know.

It's just, you do it so long, it's just like an everyday thing.

(welder crackling) It looks like a bouquet when you get it done.

You always got a spoon with ya.

Yeah, I made bicycles up.

I took, I got one down here I made, take it and flip the bicycle upside down, and you'd be setting way up here.

Reversed the frame and everything.

It's just a little different, you know.

Just do the best you can with what you got and go on.

Well, I always say it's a throw away society.

Throw it away.

Go by new.

Don't need to throw it away.

Just bring it by here and we'll do something with it.

(lighthearted music)