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May 7, 2025 67 mins

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.

Reimagining life through metal art—Codie Aljets from Sage Country Customs takes us on an extraordinary journey from corporate burnout to creative fulfillment. Growing up in a small southern Illinois town of just 150 people, Codie's wanderlust was ignited by grandparents who traveled the world and this adventurous spirit carried him through a winding career path. What distinguishes Codie's approach isn't just his skill with metal—it's the profound meaning he embeds in each creation. Beyond personal commissions, his work has raised nearly $100,000 for cancer organizations, creating impact far beyond what financial donations alone could accomplish.

Follow Codie:
Website: www.codiealjetsart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sagecountrycustoms/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codie.aljets/

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Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/
Canaweld: https://canaweld.com/
Josef Gases: https://josefgases.com/

There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry.  https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, I can check.
Check, I'm good.
So I'm Max Duran.
Max Duran, CWB AssociationWelding Podcast, pod pod podcast
.
Today we have a really coolguest welding podcast.
The show is about to begin.

(00:24):
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(00:45):
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Happy welding.
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.

(01:05):
My name is Max Saron and, asalways, I'm trying to find the
cool people, the kids on theblock that want to be on the
show and bring out to you myfaithful fans.
Today I have a wonderful friendwho is just a great human being
all around.
Fun to follow on Instagram andeven funner in person Cody
Algetz, who is, I believe, CEO,owner and administrator

(01:25):
extraordinaire of Sage CountryCustoms.
How are you doing, buddy?
Doing well.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you for having me, Max.
I appreciate it.
Did you like the intro?
Yeah, I'll take that, you know.
You got to put it out therewith what you want to be right.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
That's right.
That's right.
You got to manifest, man, yougot to manifest.
So let's talk a little bitabout uh yourself, cody.
So first of all, where are youcalling in from?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
uh, I live in western colorado, on the western side
of the the continental divide,in gunnison, colorado well, is
that?

Speaker 1 (01:58):
is that your home, turf, or where were you born and
raised?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
no, I grew up in southern illinois and I've uh
kind I grew up in SouthernIllinois and I've uh kind of I
grew up in a really small town,150 people or so, and uh have
kind of wandered my whole lifeuh, you know, to the mountains,
california, tennessee, back toIllinois Uh, and I've always
wanted to kind of make my homehome, uh, colorado, and we've
been here since 2012, full-time,me and my wife and

(02:26):
nine-year-old son now.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So why the desire to travel?
You know, is that something yougot from your parents, or was
that something that just youknow, yourself, as a young
person, wanted to do?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Probably my grandparents.
My grandparents were a hugepart of my life and they had
went like all over the world.
You know, to the point, theywere one of those people that
had a world map, that of all theplaces they had been together.
My grandpa was the merchantmarine when he was young so he
had like a map of all the toursthat he did on there and

(03:01):
different pins.
And you know, I just remember,you know even loading up the RV
as kids and you know riding onthe dash down the interstate.
You know going to like you knowsomething with the grandparents
and gotten the Boy Scouts andused that a lot to travel.
I got, I actually did travelover to Europe and everything

(03:21):
through the Scouts and, um, youknow, just kind of always had
that desire to to travel, not somuch worldwide.
Um, you know I've been all over, but I I really like just to
check out all the parts of thestates and things like that they
can offer that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
We do a lot of two-lane traveling yeah, off the
main interstates, yeah yeah,yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I, you know, growing up in a small town, I, we, we do
I'll travel 3000 miles andmaybe hit 20 miles interstate.
You know somewhere that youhave no other option.
But uh, you know, I really likegoing through the small towns
and going just using an Atlasand like looking at you know it
tells you so many more thingsthat are there historically or,

(04:06):
um, you know, tourist kayak typestuff that your phone doesn't
you know.
And it's and with my boy beingyoung, it's also a good way to
like teach navigation and thesethings that, uh, you know,
people still need to know andnot be so reliant on the
technology, you know.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
It's funny.
I just just uh, last summer Iwent out camping with a friend
of mine and he brought his kidsand, um, they, one of the kids,
he was like kids like 15, andhe's like, oh, where's north?
And I'm like, just, I'm likeit's over there.
And he's like, how do you know?
I'm like, well, it's over there.
I don't know.
Like what do you?
What else you want me to tellyou?
North is is that way.
And he's like, let me get myphone.

(04:45):
So he went and got his phone andhe had to put the app on his
phone to find the compass, toget the compass up, and it was
pointing in a differentdirection.
And he's like you're wrong,north is not that way.
I'm like, no, I guarantee you,it's just a compass app on your
phone, so it's going off celltowers.

(05:06):
And, uh, he would argue with metill he was blue in the face
and then literally had to pullout like a big map, just like an
old map, and be like look north.
I don't know what more you wantme, but it's true, you lose
something in the digital world.
You lose, like perspective,right yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I mean, and we live in an area that's like, uh, you
could get real remote and in thewilderness real quick.
So, um, you know, even when I'mdoing my winter sports or my
dirt biking and things like that, like I carry a manual compass
with me and, man, you know stillmanual maps, because 90 of
these areas you don't have a mapunless you have a really fancy,
uh, um, you know, trail,something that you can bring

(05:47):
with you.
That's got it all downloaded.
Um, but if you know how totriangulate and read a compass,
you can get about anywhere yeah,you can get anywhere.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, you can even figure out the sunrise and
sunsets and day lengths and allof it.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Man like yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
I mean, it's that's the kind of stuff that's funny
that you learn when you're youngand you're like what the am I
ever gonna do with this and uh,you know, here I'm an adult
trying to teach my son to kindof keep that alive a little bit,
you know yeah, so you know thewhen I ran into you the first
time I met you was a fab techdown in orlando last year, and I
even remember you telling methat you had driven down for

(06:24):
that, and that was quite theadventure driving.
And I remember one of the firstthings you said, when I, when I
was like you were in a circle ofpeople and I kind of walked in,
I was like, hey, how's it going?
And you're yeah, cody came downhere from colorado and I was
like what was that like?
And you're like it was like 50hour drive or something like
that.
I was like what?

Speaker 2 (06:42):
yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I looked at some art along theway and went to the beach in the
panhandle and ended up comingacross like a pirate festival.
Uh, you know, and you saw laterlike why I drove.
You know, I came into fabtechlater with like a piece to try
to kind of promote myself andthat's right I didn't want to
ship that, nor could I have donethat like don't.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
I didn't want to throw that on a plane you know,
yeah, like usds mail, who knowswhat's going to happen, right?

Speaker 2 (07:11):
yeah, well, and they had like the hurricane right
before, so there's a lot ofunknowns.
So I just like, rented a carthat I just, you know, I bought
my sleeping bag and some of mycamping stuff and like,
literally, a little camp stoveand a cooler with some sausages
or something, and you know I, Ilove it.
I still do it the same as I didwhen I was you know young yeah,

(07:32):
you know high school trying totravel around, catch a ski trip
or something so let's talk aboutthe reason you're at fabtech.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
So you know, for the people that are listening,
fabtech is one of the largeststeel manufacturing and welding
conventions in North America.
It's kind of the who's who ofnot just welders and engineers
and fabricators, but alsoartists and people within the
metal arts.
What was it that attracted youto come to Fabtech in Orlando?

Speaker 2 (08:08):
to come to fab tech in orlando.
Um, I tried to go to chicago,uh, the year before and it was
kind of last minute and I didn'tmake the leap just because,
mainly because, like financialreasons, to be honest with you,
um, and I kicked myself for itI'm definitely somebody to like
take the chance, just do it.
You know, if you got to figureout money, take what you got up
front and kind of figure out therest later or do like I do.

(08:30):
you know like it was cheap torent a rental car for like 250
bucks for a week and I didn'tspend any money on hotels and,
you know, shared a house downthere, um, so I just put it out
there earlier that I wanted togo out there, you know, this
year and you know found a way to, you know, to have a place to

(08:53):
stay cheap.
So I did it and I just wantedto.
I wanted to see what it wasabout.
I wanted to gain some of theknowledge there.
Knowledge there, uh, obviouslyI was kind of trying to promote
myself a little bit and and see,uh, that was some of the
knowledge.
I was having all thoseconversations in the background
with people like yourself andeverybody else and, um, really

(09:15):
just wanted to kind of shakehands with a lot of the people
that I've met over the last fewyears on social and through
podcasts and things like that.
Um, you know Kevin Johnson's,who I stayed with, you know, so,
like you, you know know him aswell, and, um, you know that was
.
I just wanted to see what itwas all about and decided, you

(09:37):
know, if I'm going to go, whynot see if I can promote myself
a little bit?

Speaker 1 (09:41):
No, it was great and it was funny because, you know,
I was talking to kevin, we hookup every year at fabtech and and
, uh, he was telling me a storylike the first day I ran into
him.
He's like, yeah, so I got thishouse and we're crabbing like
eight people in this house.
I'm like you came with eightpeople, like no, like some of
them were just people, like justjust people.
I'm like really.

(10:02):
And then, like, literally, likea few hours later, I run into
you and you're like, yeah, I'mstaying at this house.
I'm like, oh, you're one of thepeople staying at his house,
got it?
Okay, cool man.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, and it was cool , you know, and uh, still
networking with those guys andum, having conversations and,
you know, just asking questions,and you know I'm definitely
somebody that asks a lot ofquestions in the background at
certain times if I want to gainsome knowledge or techniques or
you know things like that.
So it's like I said it was goodjust to shake hands.
I'm definitely kind of an oldschool guy, you know.

(10:36):
We had that conversation.
uh, just, you know it's good tohave the handshake versus over
the screen, you know you can getto know somebody, but you
really get to know them sittingby the pool, you know, drinking
a drink or, um, you know,standing around later in the
evening because most people thatI had met were so damn busy at
fabtech to like see anybodyduring the day, you know yeah,

(10:57):
during the day it's kind of awrite-off everyone's running
around with their heads cut off.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
But you know, hopefully and hopefully, and
those networking, you knowopportunities in the evening.
This is how I feel about them.
Like you know, fabtech's big,so as the groups get smaller,
the conversations get better,right?
So when you're at Fabtech it's,you know 10,000 people.
There's only so much you cantalk.

(11:21):
But then you get to the next.
You know VIP party or whatever,and there's 5,000 people.
Okay, that's still tough, butyou can talk.
But then you get to the next,you know vip party or whatever,
and there's 5 000 people.
Okay, that's still tough, butyou can do a little bit better.
But then, like, the clicksbreak off and then you get your
little groups of like fives andsevens and threes.
That's when the bestconversations start to happen.
You know what I mean yeah, 100,yeah, I'd say.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
I thought I think our first meeting was by the pool.
Uh, I had just met all Palo,like a month before in Utah at a
shaping class, and you knowshe's like, hey, yeah, we're
drinking by the pool, you know.
So you know, and things likequick, good conversation, even
just listening, walking in,coming at the end and gaining,

(12:01):
gaining just all the knowledge,insight.
There's.
A lot of people have a lot moreexperience, um, you know, than
I do in certain things and, uh,you know, I'm gonna gain all
that knowledge.
I can and I may not use it now,but it's always just good tools
to have in the toolbox to, um,like we were saying, you know
compass that's right.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
That's right.
You never know when you need itright you know so for yourself.
You know um, what's yourbackground professionally.
You know like what word, what,where's, what's your career
train been?
Because I met you as a metalartist.
You're already established.
I see your things online.
They're amazing, they'rebeautiful, but I don't know the
cody that that happened beforethis.

(12:39):
Right, so walk me through your,your kind of career paths from,
like you you know, high schoolout.
Oh gosh, I've probably doneeverything.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
I've done so many things.
I mean, when I was young I waslike that guy that was hungry
and chasing money.
So I do three jobs construction, uh, you know.
Work at a washing cars, at acar dealer, um, you know, when I
got out of high school I movedto Colorado, um, and did like
the snowboarder instructor thing, ski bum thing, uh, went back,

(13:12):
went to school for a little bitback at Illinois, um, what'd you
go to school during?
that time, uh, I was going, Iwas going, I started school
originally as an art major andat that time I, you know, going
through it, what the am I goingto do with art major beyond like
teaching, or you know, how areyou going to make a living?
And um, you know, still tryingto figure that out.

(13:33):
Um, but uh kind of got pulledinto the family business.
My family business was mechanicshops.
They had two mechanic shoplocations and a body shop.
Uh, in the body shop we hadlike a pit frame rack so we did
a lot of pulling, uh, you know,and pushing on vehicles and
frames.
So, uh, I was always trying tokind of draw into that side of

(13:55):
it, uh, but the necessity wasreally on the mechanical side,
doing turning wrenches, you know.
Um.
So I did that for a while andthen, uh, you know, did some
trade school for learning alittle more of the mechanical
stuff and uh getting thosecertificates early, um, and then
I ran into a guy that ran skitrips and uh started doing these

(14:20):
ski trips and uh ended up incalifornia for a while working
for them and uh did that for agood amount of time and sold
sandpaper, uh, norton abrasivesfor a period of time I was.
That was probably my mostsuccessful time in my mid
twenties as far as likefinancially.

(14:40):
But I would actually yeah, 250nights a year on a hotel and you
know 100,000 miles a year.
You know running the road, youknow yeah at one 1.11 states and
then got transferred to like aterritory manager in nashville,
tennessee, and kind of had thatarea in northern florida,

(15:01):
mississippi, alabama.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
So I uh, you know ran , had a, you know job, restores,
ran dc, uh, but I was primarilynorton just running these
accounts and try to do, um, youknow, start with hands-on and
then so interesting I just don'tsee you showing up with like a
bucket of sandpapers at my frontdoor of my shop to be like, hey

(15:26):
, can I show you the latestgrits of paper, like my epoxy on
the paper doesn't burn or bind,or you?
Know whatever spiel you have todo I.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
I don't see you doing those rules, but it sounds like
you did really good at it.
That's kind of where it started.
And then when I got down to theterritory manager, you know I
was hunting, uh um, autoauctions, you know these big
multi-million dollar accounts,and and then that's why I became
more financially successful,because I was grabbing some of
these, you know selling like 4.3million dollars a year in

(15:57):
sandpaper or something like that, which is a lot of da disc you
know, uh, you know, but it was ahustle and I was just, you know
, out of shape and so on.
And then, uh, 2008 came and, um,you know, as a lot of people
did, they, they cut like 40% oftheir sales force.
Uh, and you know it was kind oflike a meet us at a hotel.

(16:19):
We were having a meeting andthey ended up taking like our
company cars or our computers,our credit cards and gave us
money for a cab home.
It was pretty shiesty and itcompletely changed my like my
first time.
It changed my vision of like,what I wanted out of life, and
it definitely wasn't going to beworking for a corporation.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, corporate life's another.
It's a beast right, it's abeast of its own, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Corporate life's another.
It's a beast, right, it's abeast of its own.
Yeah, I mean, I, I did it, youknow.
I went to the headquarters andwent to all these national sales
meetings and wore the you knowkhaki pants and suit and shirt
and tie every day and, um, but Ithought that's what I was
wanting, you know, and we're, Igrew up, you know I I'm 45, or
almost 45 now, um, be a coupleweeks and uh, you know that's

(17:07):
what you're.
You know, if you could get thecompany car and the cutty car
like you're doing.
Well, you know, and, and I did,I bought, bought a house and a
nice car and so on and so on,and it was just a bunch of you
know, it didn't mean anything.
You know, I was just meeting abunch of circle of people that
were like on their third divorceand their second bypass and you

(17:29):
know, yeah, they had a lot ofmoney, but it just wasn't a good
point.
No one was happy.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
So, you know, when I was I was in my mid twenties and
went back to work for thefamily, we moved to illinois.
Uh, after my wife graduatedfrom college in tennessee and
and um did that for a while andit just was always on the hunt
for to get back to colorado, um,you know.
And in 2012, you know, we wereback home, I don't know.

(17:58):
Five years, four years inillinois, and then in 2012, that
same tea company bought a houseup here that needed some work
and said hey, you know, I knowyou're trying to get to Colorado
, you want to go check out thishouse?
And, uh, you know, if you'll dosome work to it, it's a cheap
place to live.
And so we came out with likeresumes, which was funny because

(18:19):
it was like ski town nobody,everybody's like.
What the hell are you doingwith like resumes?
You know?
Uh, we got jobs and a monthlater I moved out and worked at
like a blacksmith shop doinglike high-end uh railings and
home stuff and same.
When my wife ended her teachingcontract, um, she followed up,

(18:40):
you know, a month or two laterand then we've been here ever
since so, first of all, when didyou meet your wife?

Speaker 1 (18:46):
because you started this adventure without one and
then, all of a sudden, there wasone so whereabouts along this
trip.
Is it a california wife?
Was it an illinois?

Speaker 2 (18:56):
wife was it a.
I met her in illinois.
Uh, we've been together since2006.
Uh, and we're?
We just celebrated our 14thwedding anniversary this.
Well, it's tomorrow officially,but, um, yeah, so we've been
together for a long time, youknow, like we you know, it's

(19:17):
like everything.
It takes a lot of work and I'mnot gonna say it's like fertile
situation, but uh, we definitelyboth support each other and
like our business decisions andand things like that really well
, so it's just always been agood, good partnership on that
end.
Beyond you know, we just alwayshang out.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, well, she must be a pretty patient woman to uh
travel with you all over the usand these jobs, like I know how
it is.
Like I got a very patient wifethat supports me as I travel all
around the world with my work.
Um, and you got to be on thesame page or else it's just not
going to fly right yeah, I meanshe can work remote most of the
time, so that's cool.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Um, I I can't um beyond if I'm doing like a show
with my art, uh, and I'm notgonna say she hasn't flown and
met me places.
Um, but you know my boy, helikes to camp.
You know I can't camp.
So when we do that, we wetravel light and we bring the
tent and the grill and, uh,bring the dog with us and you

(20:17):
know we'll camp a handful ofnights on the way to meet and
meeting her.
And then you know, when we're,if we we have like a destination
, then she's with us and, um,you know, then we're back
together yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
So at the beginning, at the very beginning of the
story, you told me that you wentinitially to school for art so
early in your life, probablyyoung.
You know, baby cody, you werealways artistic into art because
obviously this was a dream thatyou had, that you know,

(20:50):
capitalist corporate Americacrushed as soon as you got to
university because it's thatwhole idea of, like, what are
you going to do with an artmajor which?
My daughter has an art majorand she has a great job and
makes great money as a musicteacher.
So first of all, to all thepeople that are thinking about
getting an art major, just do it, you'll be fine.
You'll be fine, it's work,you'll figure it out.
But for yourself, you know, youabandoned it, got into

(21:14):
corporate America, the khakisand the suits and the ties,
which makes me want to barfbecause I know how that feels.
And then you got sick of itbecause you notice everyone's
dying.
I had a heart attack at 30.
I know the game, like it's,it's, it's.
It eats you up.
You're way overweight, you'resitting all the time.
You're stressed out all thetime.
You're eating junk on the roadall the time it's.

(21:45):
It's a hard life and in thisjourney.
I didn't hear anything aboutthe art, and the art was there
when you were young.
So where did you put the art inyour life during all this stuff
?

Speaker 2 (21:52):
um, I don't know, I always did like little things on
the side, kind of, yeah, um, Ilike I coached skydiving at one
point and like made a sign forthe skydive center that was like
3d and uh, I, some of myjobbers had like airbrush
classes so I'd trade somesandpaper to get a spot in their
class on.

(22:13):
You know, make sure I was inthat area during the class and
you know the company paid it andI supplied all the sandpaper
for the class.
So it was a win-win and yeah,um, you know just kind of always
had it, but it was never, itwas just kind of come and go and
really, when I got to coloradoI did like the blacksmith shop
and then, um, at a certain pointI made playground equipment

(22:37):
like, uh, concrete, sprayconcrete.
But it was like a steel frameinside, and then the foam, and
then they spray it and carve it.
Uh, you know, I I was a umproduction manager for them and
then when my son was born, Ididn't, um, I didn't travel the
same.
You know, I'd always traveledso much.

(22:57):
I just wanted to be around formy family.
My, my father was never around,so that was kind of where the
boy Scouts thing came from.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Right.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
And, um, you know, so I wanted to like break that
cycle, so I quit doing that andwent back to like Valley job and
that's where the I don't thinkI mentioned that firefighter emt
thing, of course.
Come on, you've done, you'vedone it all um, well, you know,
I always, I take, I've alwaysbeen told, try something, and at

(23:27):
least once, and then you atleast know if you want to try it
or learn more.
Yeah, and I've always tried toeither better myself, whether it
be in like quality of life atcertain points, or financially
at certain points, and that's abalance right it is yeah you
know, part of the firedepartment, draw, is already
volunteering and had all thesearch to be paid, so it's like

(23:48):
why not?
we worked to 48 96, so I wasgone two days a week and then I
had four days off you know.
So it was a good quality of life, uh move, and you know he got
good benefits and financially itwasn't bad Um, but you know, I
I've always had the, just thedesire to create.
Um, I'm definitely like, evenwhen we built our house, you

(24:11):
know, I like to build thevanities and the sink basins and
you know just different thingslike that, just with my hands,
and some of it's been afinancial thing.
Like you know, we wantsomething nicer than uh, we can
afford to buy and it's like,well, I can make it.
It just costs me my time andover time I've, you know, I've

(24:31):
got a ton of different tools andwood and, uh, metal and
mechanical and so on.
So, uh, you know, I've got aton of different tools in wood
and metal and mechanical and soon.
I've got enough to be a masterof none.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Well, that's half the battle.
Is the tools really?
That's really the hang-up.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Once you acquire the tools, it's kind of whatever is
at your disposal, right?
Yeah, I mean I'm kind of amarketplace junkie for that
stuff, for sure.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, me too.
You don't even want to see myyard.
My wife yells at me almostdaily about it, the amount of
things I got rolling around backhere.
But man, find some good deals,yeah I mean, that's what I did
all this morning.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
It was nice and it wasn't windy and I you know it's
probably not cold, so I tookthe opportunity to, you know,
kind of clean up my clutter, mytreasures.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Your treasures.
Yeah, they're my investments.
I was just looking at making anashtray stand this morning out
of an old crankshaft out of adiesel, nice, yeah, you should.
I'm like that'll be a niceashtray stand for my deck,
because everyone always keepsdestroying ashtrays, and it
wouldn't blow over or tip over.
It'd be heavy as.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah, you should definitely do that.
Find like a plow disc to set ontop or something, or for your
base.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Yeah, I do got a couple pieces of plow discs.
I also got a couple disc brakesold disc brakes lying around.
I thought that'd be a nice basebecause they're round and
they're shiny.
Hit it with some clear coatthey're shiny, hit it with some
clear coat.
Yeah, you know, heck.
Yeah.
Anyway, you should definitelydo that.
Back to my junk, I guess, but Idon't think it's junk.
I think I always see stuff fromnow for yourself.
When was it that you startedreally putting the art forward,

(26:08):
like you're starting to thinknow more aggressively towards
your art projects and taking onsome of the bigger things,
because some of the stuff I'veseen you do that's not off the
side of your desk, that's.
You know, that's a process um,I don't know.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
I mean, really it was covid, you know, 2020 I.
I lost like 80 pounds in like40 days.
I was super weak and so on, andhad got back to the point where
I could get back to work.
Uh, you know, I had to meetlike a physical requirement to
be able to work and get off thedisability and um what a

(26:52):
terrible time to get cancer,like right during COVID, when
everything's like on shutdown.
It was pretty brutal, I meanyou know, nobody could come over
, you know, even during mysurgeries the first one, you
know, in the hospital by myself.
Family couldn't visit.
Uh, and then the second side ofall that.
Um then, like one person couldcome for X amount of time, that

(27:16):
they were allowed um.
So yeah, it was pretty wildexperience and just people
wanting to come to kind ofsupport you, but, you know, if
they we didn't know so nobodycould um, and then got back to
work and got hit with like a,you know, a vaccine mandate.
I, you know I used to be kindof cautious about how I say it,
but it just is what it is.

(27:37):
And the way the medicine didand um, you know, I ended up
going like a pretty like a wholeholistic route, um,
naturopathic kind of route, andended up being successful to
beat my cancer much quicker thanuh being told and didn't get
vaccinated, and I got a letterthat told me I was no longer an

(27:58):
employee uh, if I wasn't.
You know, I'm vaccinated by acertain date, so at that point
it was just kind of like that.
Another epiphany of like allright, why am I putting all this
time and energy towardssomebody else or, uh, you know
an organization that doesn'tobviously give that time and
energy back to me, um kind oflike I had with that corporate
stuff.
And you know an organizationthat doesn't obviously give that
time and energy back to me, um,kind of like I had with that
corporate stuff.

(28:18):
And you know, just took thechance.
I I, you know having theperspective of not, uh, thinking
I was going to be alive.
It was like, well, I wait, youknow I had built like a, um,
detached garage, uh, but itwasn't finished, it was just a
shell, and I'd always said, likethat's going to be like my
backup gig, when, when we, whenI get situated with the house

(28:42):
and you know, slow down, blah,blah, blah, yeah, yeah yeah, um,
and I just the last class I wasat, uh, for fire department uh,
I like wrote a note that youknow I wasn't even paying
attention to the class that itwas just like I want to make,
like you know, the raddest artpossible and you know, every
once in a while, maybe make areally cool vehicle in there, um

(29:05):
, and just approached my wifeabout it and we ended up selling
the property that we had andtook some you know retirement
stuff and funds that you know wehad acquired over time and said
you know, here's my allowanceand, um, you know, I had some
drywall left over from the houseand finished out the shop and

(29:28):
pulled my tools that I hadcollected out of storage and and
started making stuff.
Um, and like in 21 it was likenovember 21 when I, when I did
that, I was cutting like handsaws with a plasma tor or not
plasma, like oxyacetylene torch,uh into like trees.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
I was making like kind of I I don't want to call
it crafty, but it was more craftfair type stuff yeah I always
said, I wanted to be likethere's nothing wrong with that,
like people can make a livingoff that you know you definitely
can.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
It's just man, you gotta make a lot of stuff you do
like 50 and 250 dollars tosurvive with a living and, um,
you know, coming with what I,you know, coming with what I,
you know my cancer stuff, like Ihad to have insurance so I got
to pay for that and you know wehad just built a house right
before all that so it was likeoh yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
I always forget that you guys have to pay for
insurance down there for health.
That's tough yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah.
So, um, you know, and it's notcheap, Um, um, you know, and
it's not cheap, um, so it was abig decision and needed to cover
some stuff and um, so I've just, I've just always been
motivated to keep pushing, and,pushing, and pushing, and you
know, coming from like saws andrandom flat stuff.
Uh, one year I approached thelocal cancer organization that,

(30:54):
um, that had helped me a theylike provide cars and all this
stuff.
They do like a summer songwriterthing.
They bring in these nationalsongwriters and it's, uh, you
know, four or 500 head of peoplethere that, um, you know, raise
a lot of money.
Um, and I just approached thelady with a really drawing of
like a cow skull, similar towhat you saw last year really

(31:17):
crappy drawing of like a cowskull, similar to what you saw
last year.
Yeah, I've took um, but it's areally rudimentary drawing and
said, hey, I want to like donateback to you guys.
Uh, and I'd really like to likestand up and talk about this
piece and there was like ameaning behind it and it I was
more successful than I thought Iwould have ever been, uh, in
like getting to the final pieceof it and that was just like an

(31:39):
eye-opener to me and it itbrought a lot of money, um, for
the organization and um, then Iwas off to the races.
You know, it's kind of thatepiphany of like all right, if I
could make that yeah, the firsthundred percent.
Um, and now I'm just at thispoint of like I'm really I don't

(32:02):
get a lot of commissions.
You know, most people you knowget a lot of commissions and a
lot of these things I'm makingare either for these um
organizations.
I do auctions with them and Itake a percentage from them, um,
and I also, um, you know, fromthose auctions I'm starting to

(32:22):
get pretty big client formissions now, you know so, um,
but I'm gonna leave openingsmyself to because I want to
create.
I've got like notebooks uponnotebooks of bigger and better
projects that I want to do.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
They just have to be the right timing or somebody to
pay for them.
Well, let's take our break nowfor the advertisers.
And when I get back, I want totalk to you about that whole
process, because I'veinterviewed a lot of different
artists and it's very twodifferent kind of angles of the
commission versus the build itand they will come model.
And when we get back let's talkabout that because I think it's
interesting and I think theviewers would love to hear it.

(33:02):
So don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back here on theCWB Association, with Cody
Algiers here.
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And we are back here on the cwbassociation podcast.
My name is max serron.
Thanks for staying with usduring those announcements.

(34:46):
All right, so we got cody here.
We've been talking about hisjourney, you know, uh, from his
life through the trades, throughcorporate and into you know
this, this desire to be um, orthe epiphany of creation that
you had, where you know it'slike the stuff you do is
valuable and it's, you know,gives you that confidence to to

(35:08):
build more.
And one of the things we werejust talking about is is it's
hard to get commissions, and I Ifind that when I run into some
metal artists that get a lot ofcommissions because some seem to
get a lot of commissions.
They're very niche, right.
It'll be like you're the fishstatue guy, so then all the

(35:28):
fishing places in north america.
I'll be like I want a fishstatue and so you go to the fish
statue guy and he makes you allthe fish statues and then then
they're running off the top.
I don't.
I don't know if you have carvedyourself a niche like that to
to kind of become that artistfor that niche, or or if it's
something you even want to dolike you know, where do you

(35:51):
think you are in that, in thatscale?

Speaker 2 (35:54):
um, I'm definitely not a niche.
I get told that all the timelike niche down and uh, I'm more
about like I want to doprojects that I'm feeling and
what I discovered.
Like I was saying before thebreak, like I've I can touch
people with my art and I canalso give back with my art, like
I'm almost I'm just under 100kof raising for local cancer

(36:19):
organizations with just fouryears of uh donating some art
pieces that's why easy to me,that's amazing, like I can't
give that back fiscally orfinancially.
I never would have been closewith that uh but I've been able
to do that and having theconversations after those,
especially with other cancersurvivors or people that are in

(36:40):
the process, how much it touchesthem kind of changed how I'm
approaching it.
But I am leaving doors andwindows open for like some of
these stepping stone pieces I'llcall them, uh of these just
pieces that are in the back ofmy brain that linger and I want

(37:02):
to get them out Uh, but I gottabe at like a point financially
that I can do that and also knowthat I have like a window
without a deadline to have likethe next commission set up.
You know, it's like for me likethe end after fab tech this
year.
I'm not, I'm just gonna finishwhat I want at the end of the

(37:23):
year.
Unless somebody really reallywants my time, yeah, and I think
I've got myself hopefully setup to that like I won't be
financially where I want to be,but I do have a little bit of um
.
You know, I've got some piecesfor sale currently on my website
.
So, um, if some of those dropand some of those things, uh,

(37:47):
you know, sell and some of theseconversations I'm having and
some of these commissions thatI'm doing, uh, talking out
through the end of the year,then I'm okay this year and
it'll still be my best year as afull-time metal artist you know
, I don't do a secondary job oror anything like that at this
point.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
You know and you know you bring back, giving back,
you bring up, you know your,your cancer survivor.
My dad's a cancer survivor.
I'm pretty much the only one.
Cancer has hit my family veryhard in a lot of areas and I
very much appreciate how youbring that emotional state into
it, because that's kind of theeternal artist battle, you know,

(38:30):
like did Nickelback sell out ornot?
Right Kind of the question.
Because it's like you, you workas an artist to get your art out
there because you love art.
But you also got to feed yourkids and live in a house and put
food on the table and sosometimes the way to do that is
to sacrifice some of the feelingof the art for the production

(38:55):
of art, you know, so you canmake X number of pieces to
sustain yourself.
That's a tough line to walk.
Sounds like you've got a prettygood plan.
You know for yourself how isgetting your inner you know,
those inner vibes out, the mostimportant part of creating art

(39:18):
um, I think it's the best way topush yourself to the level that
you want to get to okay, youknow what I mean like if it's.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
You know it's hard to spend two, three hundred hours
on something that nobody'spurchased, if it doesn't have
any meaning to you in my opinion.
You know what I mean it's likeif you're just trying to be the
best metal shaper or or welder,or tig welder or whatever you're
doing, uh yeah, you could likepractice right, but your best,

(39:47):
in my opinion, your best isn'tgoing to come out until you
actually like are challenged,meaning behind it you know and
and like those cow skulls andstuff for super school and I've
done like ram skulls anddifferent animals, and that's
just because I'm so outdoorsyand it's kind of inspired by
what's around me, yeah, but thepieces I'm taking on now are

(40:08):
conversations where I'm divingdeep in like personal lives of
people.
Uh, you know, like, uh, my mostrecent commission is a 10-year
anniversary piece, just you knowwe were talking about that
before the thing and, uh, youknow I'm learning more about
these clients in a short couplephone calls and emails and and

(40:29):
conversations like we're having,uh, than I do some of my
closest friends and that's kindof cool they're.
They're actually becoming myfriends and I same.
I would have never expected itlike we're gaining a personal
relationship out of art and likethis client now, even the very
beginning of the conversation hewas like I'm not creative or

(40:51):
anything like that.
I was like, well, let's justhave a conversation about your
expectations and you know allthe stuff you know.
By the end of the conversationhe was so worked up that he felt
like he was like creating thepiece, because in real time I
was telling him how I was goingto maybe utilize that
information in this piece oflike it's two mules.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
You'll actually see it.
It's going to be at Fabtech, soyou'll see it.
Awesome, can't wait that waspart of my contract with them is
like I can fit you in by thisdeadline, but I need a piece for
this event that I'm going to.
So, but there'll be all thishidden meaning behind it and
that's just been somethingreally cool to be able to see

(41:39):
that in people and they getexcited about it and that's just
part of what I'm creating withmy art beyond it and you know,
I've been told by several people, like you know, this will be
stuff our kids want, becauseit's going to remind them of our
story or what the meaningbehind it absolutely it'll be
passed on and that's like thebest compliment I think I could

(42:01):
ever get you know well, those,those are the connections that
artists make, that they oftenkind of like delude to
themselves, which is too bad,because artists should be
confident in in what they do andand what they contribute to
society.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
I think that art is a critical aspect of being human
and our social structures.
Um, when you connect throughart, it's timeless.
It's timeless.
You know, like I can go to themuseum or the art gallery and
see a piece of art from someonethat's been dead a thousand
years and connect to it.

(42:36):
You know, I'm a builder, so Ilove statues and I love seeing
statue work, and so I can see astatue that was done during the
roman times and I'm connectingwith that artist and they've
been dead a million years orwhat, a couple thousand years,
and and I think that that is avalue that is beyond any, any
financial thing like mean,obviously you need to live, to

(42:57):
eat, but one of the things thatwe were talking about just a
couple minutes ago was likebuilding by commission or build
it and they will come, andthat's something that I've kind
of even figured out inmanufacturing.
I'm not very artistic inbuilding, but I like to build
things.
I'm more industrial in mythinking, but if I build
something, I'm like, why am Idoing this?

(43:17):
I'm wasting time.
But in my experience, and myexperience with other people, is
, if you build it, someone willbuy it.
You know what I mean.
You just gotta get it out therebecause eventually, eventually,
that's it will happen right,and that's kind of like the
things are.
Or if you build something andit's not selling, it's like
maybe reassess how well youbuilt it, right, because things,

(43:39):
um, things tend to get soldLike go to the dollar store.
There's a million cheap thingsthere.
People are buying them, right,so why would they not buy
something better, right?

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's the luxury, right?
So if you can get them to, tohave that personal feeling to it
and you can and and also makethem think they're part of that
process, it's way cool.
You know, even if I'm doing,like, you know, a steer skull, I
, I want to know like therecipient's favorite color I'll
try to tint with heat torch or,you know, yeah, or patinas, you

(44:13):
know, I'll add all these littlehidden things that just make it
different than just an animal.
You know and I don't disrespectanybody that just does that and
wants to do hard to sometimesarticulate that, uh, even in
like a reel or something, I'mI'm terrible at it, but I'm

(44:40):
getting, I'm getting better atit.
And when I do put it out there,or if I show some vulnerability,
um, you know there's a lot ofpeople definitely on the
background that messaged me andsay, hey, I needed to hear that
today, or I really appreciateyou putting that out.
That spoke to uh, you know,here's my story and that's how

(45:01):
you meet like really cool peoplein the background and and
that's something you know,especially from the social stuff
that I would have neverexpected.
Or, you know, I stayed awayfrom instagram and all that.
I didn't even have one untillike 2022 or somewhere in there.
Yeah, yeah now because, I justheard these horse stories.
You know like don't putyourself out there, people are

(45:23):
gonna knock you and right.
Uh, I personally haven't hadone like negative interaction or
anything that I would callnegatives from it beyond, like
just you, you know, having morepeople to call and say, hey, you
know, no one's calling you upbeing like.
I don't like that art yeah, Imean and and I think it's just

(45:45):
because I'm not trying to sayI'm like the best artist out
there, I'm just doing my, thing,you know and I think I'm
putting out some pretty coolstuff, and I think I'm just
getting started and I'm prettyconfident about saying that uh
you know I'm going from saws towhere I'm at now and you know
I'm in my three and a half years.
There'll be four years at theend of this year.

(46:05):
My level of manipulation andthe way I'm at now is just going
through the roof and you know Istarted with like shaping and
manipulation and now I'm reallyinto like light.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
I'm trying to play with like light, with different
materials and patinas andtextures I didn't notice that on
some of your last sculpturesthat you've really broadened,
you know the steel work, theworking of the actual steel.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Yeah, well, because I was scared of it.
You know, I I never take weldedand I was super scared.
And uh, austin and bo came uplast year and like we spent like
a week of filming for ethob anduh at night.
I just had those guys like,just give me the rudimentary
down and dirty and then same.
I've just been testing myselfand just upping my level with

(46:55):
with bigger stuff and in the endit's really for these projects
that I, like I said, if I, if Ican really show what I want to
do, you know, I'm really goingto try to send it to the moon
and um, and same that's not forfinancially, it's just I've got
like notebooks of these thingsthat I also think will be very
powerful, uh, for public art,you know, and things that could

(47:17):
be powerful for people.
So, um, I'm just trying to playfor and grow so I can make meat
in the middle and and use theshaping plus the, the different
lights and the material, and andbe able to keep growing that's
super cool that thatblacksmithing gig that you had
for a bit.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
How much has that helped you out and kind of
understanding the steels or youknow, in in working towards your
art or you know, was itvaluable to you to kind of have
that job?

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Maybe a little.
It was so different.
It was more like you know, bigthree quarter bars, handrails
and benches and things like thatand most of my stuff.
I honestly do cold.
I like I kneel a lot of mystuff and then I use a lot of
you know, leather, bag andmallets and, um, different
hammers that I put in my vicethat I've gotten from like yard

(48:12):
sales and just my own littletools that I've used.
You know I'd say it helped, butI think it's really just been
trying and failing a lot ofpieces and being willing to toss
it aside or saying like, okay,can I bring this back yeah and
make it work you know sometimesyour

Speaker 1 (48:31):
flaws end up being a super success, you know yeah now
you said you avoided socialmedia for so long.
You know we're the guy, youknow we're kind of you're on the
edge of gen z or gen x.
I guess you're probably a younggen xer.
Socials aren't natural to tonecessarily everyone over their

(48:52):
40s.
But once you got into thatsocial sphere, you know you said
you didn't.
You haven't had much negativeor almost none.
But how much have you learnedthrough socials?
You know looking at otherpeople's art or accessing other
people's arts, like you said.
You know you met alice impala.
I mean, you met her in person,which is wild, but she's also

(49:12):
someone that avoided socials butdoes great work.
You know what I mean.
And uh, you know how do you getmuch from social media in terms
of either inspiration or skillor tips and tricks, or or do you
try to kind of avoid it andfigure it out on your own?

Speaker 2 (49:30):
no, I definitely.
I get a ton uh and I I ask alot of people, you know, um,
even like the gold leaf stuff,uh, yeah, I, I found a couple
people that did gold leaf andthrew a post out there saying
anybody didn't know that goldleaf, and got a couple messages
and uh, got people that weredoing huge gold leaf projects

(49:52):
that ended up sending me like asix-page email with like every
product they use, step by stepthat's amazing and just same.
I just tried it you know I don'tthink anybody here or at least
in in like the realm I am insocial, which is pretty small,
uh is doing anything secret.

(50:13):
You know we all have our littletricks.
But you could put the same pileof materials, same pile of
tools in front of each one of usand say give us a, an owl or
something, and everybody's goingto make it their own way anyway
, and if one of us is doing goodor doing better, then it really
trickles down.
You know that turkey fan.

(50:34):
It was completely a.
It was a referral from a reallyhigh-end social media person
that was too busy and couldn'tmake a deadline and they threw
my name out and I ended upgetting the job that's awesome,
which is that that network wasamazing yeah, I mean, and I hope
to someday be able to be ableto do the same thing.

(50:56):
You know, um, but I thinkeverybody's super humble, uh,
even you know, like, I was justat kevin stone and michelle's
shop, uh a couple weeks ago, andthen I'm out with those, uh,
christian sosa for a couple days, and all these people have been
doing this stuff for 20, 30years and they're willing,
they're open books if you'rejust willing to sit and talk to

(51:18):
them.
And you know, uh, we're notcompeting on the same level or
the same client, so it's notlike it's a bad thing it's not a
cutthroat, yeah.
No, you know, and and the same.
It's just putting yourself inthe circles that you, you know,
the the level you want to be.
I don't necessarily.
I'd rather my art be knownversus me, but it's part of the

(51:42):
game, you know people.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
But it's part of the game.
You know people have to likeyou, to like your art.
I guess, yeah, maybe that'ssomething new.
You know that's interesting.
You say that because you knowthere was, uh, there's been an
old tradition in the art worldof pen names.
You know lots of writers, lotsof artists don't give up their
real names, their realidentities.
They create like a falseidentity for their art because
they don't want people to knowthem.
And I've read even someliterature where some artists

(52:12):
feel that if people know themit'll distract from the art,
like it'll take something awayfrom the art to know the person,
for example, like here's aneasy example for me like michael
jackson.
Michael jackson might be thebest artist, the pop artist of
all time, but his legal troubleswhat happened with him taints
his name and then it taints hisart.
Right, and if you would havenever known anything about

(52:34):
Michael Jackson and only listento the music, you'd have a
different opinion right now.
Does that happen in art?
Can you get around that insocial media today?
I don't know, that'sinteresting.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
I don't know.
I think too, and know it's thesame as kind of what I've said
about putting myself out there.
And even just I talked to somany people dirt that are going
through cancer right now andused to hold a men's group in my
shop for, like, did like 50meetings in a row and, um, if my

(53:06):
story and just the way that I'mturning around and taking a
negative and trying to make thebest out of it, uh, you know,
can be motivating for people, soI, that's where I've decided
I'm willing to put myself outthere and, um, you know, just
let people know that even thoughtoday you might be in a really
situation, but if you get up anddo the work, it'll get better.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
It's not going to happen overnight, but it'll get
better yeah, and that's reallythe key, right that that work
angle.
Uh, you gotta meet good timeshalfway, right?
You can't just expect the goodtimes to roll up and be like,
hey, how's it?

Speaker 2 (53:42):
I mean, I wish, I wish, that'd be super sweet yeah
, I mean, you know, and that'swhere it's double-edged, because
I think you know, from thesocial aspect, people think I'm
like living it up because I amriding my dirt bike and going
snowboarding and things likethat.
But like you know, I live in anarea that I can do that out my
backyard and I don't spend muchmoney beyond that.

(54:04):
You know I.
When we travel, I travel light,I travel cheap.
You know I don't go much moneybeyond that.
You know I.
When we travel, I travel light,I travel cheap.
You know, I don't go on bigfancy vacations.
Uh, because I want to have likethe day-to-day lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
And.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
I'm always happy to come home from a vacation
because I do live the life I'mtrying to create and, um, you
know, I don't think that's likean entitled thing because it's
been a lot of work, you know,and I and I have the least
amount of money in the bankaccount that I've had in my
entire life and I'm okay withthat you know like I say that

(54:35):
all the time.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
I'd rather die happy and poor than rich and angry.
Like there's, there's no.
There's no comparison there,really but it's coming.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
I mean, I, you know my commissions now the talks are
a lot bigger dollar amounts andyou know, like the one that I
had to this guy recently, he wasgoing to get his wife a
restored truck and said you know, well, that's, that's just
money.
I want something that'smeaningful.
You know, and I had met him andtalked to him a couple of weeks
prior and my name you know, myname thought popped in his head

(55:04):
and after that conversation,here we are.
So you just got to have more ofthose conversations and you
know that happened by going to amule show in Arizona.
You know off grid ranch and Iwanted to go to this off grid.
Yeah, yeah, but but it was likebillionaires with like ranch

(55:24):
people.
Like it was such a weird mix ofpeople and you got this time
out there that when these peopleweren't busy on their phones or
on their computers, and youknow, you got to know them.
You know dealing with mules andwith family meals and all this
stuff.
And next thing, I know I've got, you know, four or five more
clients.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Now, what's in the plans forthis year's Fabtech?
You said you're going to be inChicago.
What's the plan?

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Right now I'm going to.
You know, I signed a one-yearthing with Forney as an
affiliate, you know, and theyprovided me the machines and so
on, and um so I'm gonna havesome stuff in their booth, uh, a
couple, probably that mulepiece and a couple other ones,
and then, um, pearl snap pimpjonathan herrera yeah, yeah I

(56:18):
met him last year and you knowthey were super cool guys and
they're young and hungry.
Da offered to to put a piecethere and I think I'm going to
try something pretty wild forthat, for that um one's going to
be.
Since I got this commission Iknow one's already sold, so that
gives me a little leeway tokind of throw something that I
think the welding industry willappreciate, uh, for the skill uh

(56:43):
of like the TIG welding aspectand how far I'm going to push it
.
Yeah, plus my art with it, youknow.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
I'm excited to see it , man.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Yeah, so we'll see and then, you know, just kind of
doing the booth things, acouple of those, but that was
just all stuff from last year.
But I'm also going to givemyself time.
You know everybody that I metand have been talking and
networking with you know theyall were so busy that they
didn't get to really enjoy likewalking around and looking at
all the booths and some of that.

(57:12):
So, um, as I always do, unlessit's the right opportunity or
somebody really wants my time,I'm going to make sure I have my
time to walk around and seeeverybody and and also support
some of the friends that I havethat are going to be in booths
and so on.
You know.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah, I totally hear it.
I mean, I have thisconversation every year because
you know I'd look at my staffand you know we're planning off
Fabtech.
I literally had a Fabtechmeeting this morning and it's
like how much time will I haveto actually walk around?
And I haven't been able to walkthrough Fabtech three years in
a row now and it's like I reallywould love a few hours to just
walk around and and shake handsand get to see the new stuff.

(57:51):
And I, you know, sometimes Inever even get out of the
welding area and the only time Iget to visit is in the evening,
when you know, when we get outand and try to find those clicks
, those small groups of peoplethat I that I know that we can,
you know, hang out and actuallyjust relax and talk and shoot
the shit right.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Definitely yeah, and I think this year will be a
little harder with that.
I don't know, I've not done theChicago one, but you know it
was easy in Orlando.
Everybody kind of filtered tothe same place every night.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Yeah, chicago it's.
We all kind of stay on the samestrip, so there's a couple of
bars there on the same strip bythe waterfront.
There, the AWS building,there's a bar there, there's an
Irish bar.
That's kind of a central meetplace and so it's not too hard
to figure out where everyone'sgoing.
There's the Hard Rock Hotelalready is up and getting
promoted for that event.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Yeah, so that.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
There's the Arcs and Ales event.
Um, there's, there's the arcsand ales, so there's a few
places, but usually we all justmeet there and then bounce to go
somewhere else.
I mean, chicago's got somegreat food, so yeah, that's
definitely what I get togetherwith everybody and do like a
dinner night, if we can makethat happen yeah, we usually do
one dinner night every year, um,but uh, yeah, like I mean, uh,
we'll we try, we'll make surethat we run into you there and

(59:09):
see who we can get on the list.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
So yeah, no, I'm looking forward to it and it'll
be a different experience for methis year and you know, it's
just more fun the more peopleyou know and get to see each
other in faith.
You know face to face once ayear at least, and it's less of

(59:34):
a drive, isn't it?
um not really, but I grew up insouthern illinois so I'll
probably, on one way or theother, um, stop by visit the
family.
Yeah, because I'm actuallygoing to montana from there, so
I'm gonna do like a big, bigloop you're gonna do the big
loop.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
You're gonna be up in canada anytime this summer no,
not that far yet.
I need a better truck to gothat far yeah, I was gonna say
I'm up, I'm camping every summer.
I'm always out from basicallythe end of june till the end of
august.
I don't book any work, travel,because that's my family time,
so like I still work.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
But uh, since I can work remote, uh, me and the old
lady usually pack up and go hitthe lake or park, uh the trailer
somewhere for a while yeah, I'mtrying to get through this
guitar I've been working on andthen I've got two pieces for
these auctions, uh, and I'mtrying to get through those
early because the same june,july is just amazing here in

(01:00:25):
august and I'm usually so busythe beginning of juneune july is
just amazing here in august andI'm usually so busy the
beginning of june and july it'shard to you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Take advantage some, some of that yeah, people don't
understand what seven months ofwinter is like it's great it was
snow flurrying yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
We probably had the same system, probably.
I mean, we get out at like sixin the morning to go dirt bike
and just to get it in.
You know like, yeah, I mean wecall it the dad ride and we just
meet super early and get it inbefore the kids get up and so on
and at least get out and dosomething.
You know, yeah, yeah, no, I'mpumped.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Uh, supposed to be warm this weekend, like hot,
like the first hot weekend, so,uh, I'm pumped.
I'm gonna be working on warmthis weekend like hot, like the
first hot weekend.
So I'm pumped, I'm going to beworking out in the yard lots.
I got lots of things I want toget going and plus I got to do
some organizing.
I got to separate mystainlesses from my mild steels.
They're all mixed in right nowand it's driving me crazy.
So I got to spend some time inthe shop doing some organizing.

(01:01:29):
Get you a couple magnets on astick and, yeah, walk around.
Yeah, and I had some donationsthis winter.
So I got a bunch of uh leafsprings dropped off, a couple
cranks, a couple camshafts andthen, uh, like 200 feet of uh
two inch pipe and I don't knowwhat I'm gonna do with yet, but
I got it, so I gotta figure outwhat to do with it leaf springs
are great for, like the top archof bike racks oh yeah, and then
you can put some gears on thetop of it and make, uh, if you

(01:01:52):
leave the, the round where thecoils, uh, you know where the
mounts are.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
You can hang like baskets off of them for like
flowers and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Oh yeah, last year I cut a couple up and made
throwing axe heads for buddies.
Uh, out of the leaf springs,because you can temper them and
then they're hard as F right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
That's good steel.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Right, it's 10-51.
So I cut out some axe heads andput them on short handles and
made them like all medieval,looking like a wide front with a
spike on the back, so you know.
But I got like probably eightmore sets of leaf springs now so
I got to figure out what to dowith them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Man, that's what I was like.
I said that's what I was doing.
It's still part of the work,you know.
You got to stay somewhatorganized and know where your
stuff is and be able to get to,but at a certain point you got
to have like a purpose for it ifit's going to sit there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Yeah, yeah, I probably don't tell me that.
I don't want to hear that.
Well, buddy, I can't wait tosee you in Chicago.
I mean that's going to be ablast.
You're a part of so many greatthings.
You know especially what you doto fundraise for cancer, for
cancer research and treatment.
Do you want to tell the peoplethat are listening, kind of you

(01:03:02):
know how to get in touch withthe groups you work with and you
know who do?

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
you want to promote and get the shout-out for.
Yeah, I mean, gunnison Tough isthe local organization and
Living Journey is the other one,and they're both in Gunnison,
colorado.
They definitely are boots inthe ground and all the money
stays in the Valley and theyprovide meals and transportation
and it's a insane.

(01:03:29):
It's not like there's not aanywhere else.
You know, um, so I fortunatelyit was here um to have it, you
know, when I went through it andwe definitely utilized it.
But, um, you can get in touchwith them on the socials or
their websites and um, yeah, ifany help would be great for the,
for those organizations awesome, and how do people get in touch

(01:03:51):
with you if they're interestedin seeing your art, purchasing
your art or or perhapscommissioning?

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
you know how do people find out where you are?

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
um on the socials.
I'm at sage country customs andand my website is
CodyAljetsArtcom and it's Codywith an I-E.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Cody with an I-E All right, codyaljetscom All right.
Well, that's awesome, buddy.
You know any shout-outs toanybody in your personal life
that you want to say hi to,while you got me here.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Happy anniversary to my wife, wife yes, 14th
anniversary tomorrow so well, Ihope I meet her someday.
Sounds like a wonderful person,and your kid too.
I love following you guys onthe socials.
So, um, I often feel like wegot similar lives because we
like to be outside lots and playwith our toys, so that is a
fact.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
I say we, we had a lot of connection when we got to
have those conversations.
We definitely had a lot incommon.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
Yeah, you bet buddy, all right.
Well, you know, if you're outthere listening, get in touch
with organizations Cody supports.
We're always looking for that.
You know.
It's very noble cause tosupport any type of treatment
center or rehabilitation centers.
That's something that ourchapters, our association, is a
big part of.
We've done a number offundraising opportunities for a
number of different charitiesover the years and and cancer is

(01:05:12):
no different than the rest wewere all affected by it, so so
that's awesome.
Also for the people that arefollowing along, you know, make
sure that you get out to Chicagofor fab tech so you can see
Cody's art in person.
You can go meet the man and thelegend himself and get to be a
part of it.
And also we'll have our boothout there.
We're going to be recordingsome podcasts at Fab Tech, like

(01:05:33):
we do every year.
We're going to have a couplebooths out there, so we're going
to be on the main Fab floor andwe're also I'm going to be
speaking at the educationalforum.
So I'm going to be presenting.
I already got my date but I'mnot sure when that is, but I'll
be doing a presentation thereabout leadership.
So busy.
It's going to be a busy week,but if you can get to Fabtech

(01:05:53):
Chicago, I'll see you there, andI'll see you too, cody, thanks
for being on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
Yeah, I appreciate you having me.
I look forward to shaking yourhand and giving a big hug.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
All right, buddy, you too.
All right, everyone take care,and I'll see you at the next
episode.
We hope you enjoyed the show.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Do you own a company in the welding industry or want
to share a targeted message withour listeners?
Then this 45-second audio adspace could be yours.
We have the coolest listenersfrom all over the world, with
over 60,000 downloads, and 88%are from North America.
This podcast serves to educateand connect the welding

(01:06:39):
community together and isavailable on all major platforms
, including the CWB GroupNetwork.
If you are interested, reachout to info at cwbassociationorg
.
Look at that.
I just gave you all of thatinformation in only 45 seconds.
You've been listening to theCWB Association Welding Podcast

(01:07:00):
and if you enjoyed what youheard today or want to send us
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