The ultimate holiday wish list for metal fabricators

It’s the season for giving. Welder Josh Welton gives his Top 10 holiday wish list for anyone in the metal fabrication industry.

As the season of giving approaches, I figured it’s a good time to put up my Top 10 list of gifts for metal fabricators. Hopefully this list finds its way into the hands of those of you scratching your heads wondering what to get that blue-collar girl or guy in your life – or even what to get for yourself.

1. Metabo 4-1/2-inch battery-powered angle grinder

Use it anywhere with just as much power as a corded version! Air-cooled design means longer battery use and quick charging. Metabo sent me one of these earlier this year and it quickly became my favorite tool.

2. Miller Multimatic 220

Finally, a “weld everything” machine for your shop or garage! AC/DC TIG, MIG, stick with high-frequency TIG starts. Excellent for aluminum. One of its neatest tricks is that you can switch between TIG and MIG back and forth just by pulling the trigger or hitting the pedal. It’s the only machine I used on my recent Viper ACR sculpture: I used MIG to put the base together and tack a few other parts, then AC to braze and DC to TIG the sculpture itself!

3. Tie from CyberOptix

Our friend Bethany Shorb is a fierce artist, fabricator, and screen printer out of Detroit. A while back we were talking and Darla said, “Hey, what about an anvil?” I don’t often wear ties, but when I do they’re all from CyberOptix.

4. GoRuck GR2 backpack

This is the backpack I bought before going to Iraq in 2017 and I still use it every day. MOLLE webbing lets you build it out to your needs. I’d use a carabiner to clip my welding helmet to it when traveling. Made in the USA and insanely durable.

5. Taag & Arc clothing FR T-shirt

Taag & Arc offers American-made clothing, both FR and non-FR. They’ve had supplier issues and currently don’t have my personal favorite, their long-sleeve FR shirt, in stock, but they do have these cool FR T-shirts and beanies!

6. Furick cups

Michael Furick has been designing, developing, and producing killer cups for TIG torches for years now. I’m very hard on my equipment so my favorites are these Fupa #12 white ceramic cups and diffusers. And this giant glass lens for welding highly reactive steels is a solid piece that would be a nice addition to any TIG kit.

7. CHANNELLOCK® holiday gift roll

It’s a 5-piece set of American-made tools in a nice roll-up!

8. ISOtunes® OSHA-approved earbuds

I’m a big wireless earbud enthusiast, god knows how many I’ve gone through the past few years. ISOtunes sent me a pair of the XTR wireless buds, and they’re bad to the bone. A charge lasts an entire shift, and touches like a cover for a USB charger are designed for dirty shop environments.

9. Special Ops COFFEEBOXX™ from OXX

I don’t drink coffee and I still want one of these bad-ass job site coffee makers.

10. Troll Co. goods

Another blue-collar clothing brand carrying my favorite “dirty hands clean money” and “f@ck cubicles” slogans. Lots to choose from, but here is a snap-back version of a hat I rock often.