Student transforms welding class into art studio

Ross West continues a grinding task in the Baker High School metal shop, where students build and put together big projects from farm-use trailers to car bumpers. West’s latest creation (above) is a glass-and-metal table that features an intricately carved scene with two wolves. (Baker City Herald/S. John Collins)

But one look at the ornate coffee table he’s created from a pile of metal will leave most observers begging to differ with the young man.

The table features an intricately carved design of two wolves standing in the woods, one baying at a brass moon brazed to the background. Trees cut from silver metal and transformed by a heated torch to shades of blue and gold adorn the table’s edges.

The size of the project was dictated by a piece of glass West salvaged from an old desk. He found the wolf scene in a catalog and put his creative talents to work bending and smoothing metal to make a table that incorporated the glass top and the metal etching.

West, an 18-year-old senior at Baker High School, along with his welding teacher, Randy Newman, both said they would be out of luck if they had to draw the images themselves.

But the two have used their own brand of creativity to add and subtract from designs available on the Internet or images adapted from photographs to produce unique designs.

This is the second table West has produced in Newman’s advanced welding class. The other features a mountain scene complete with a waterfall, trees and elk.

Preparing the computerized image for the cutting table is the most time-consuming aspect of the process, Newman and West agree. Once West finalized the design elements for his table, he spent about five one-hour class periods using a computer to prepare the wolf image for the cutting table.

The tedious process requires first downloading an image onto the computer and then ensuring that the computer lines are smooth and connected.

Next West sends the image to the computer that runs the plasma cutting system, which uses highly heated gas pushed through a rod — it’s similar to a welding torch — to score decorative designs in metal. The actual cutting takes only about 45 minutes.

The cutting table is 4 feet wide, but can handle larger designs, Newman said.

West’s table top design used less than half a 4-by-8-foot metal sheet.

In developing the design, the secret is in knowing which part of the metal will remain and which pieces will fall away as the pre-programmed image is carved out, West says.

“Patience is a key. You’ve got to take your time and don’t cut any corners,” he says.

The size of the table was determined by the 19‹ -by-38‹-inch glass top and required West to measure carefully to ensure the frame that holds the glass was just the right fit.

“It took a lot of measuring and remeasuring,” West said.

When he placed the glass in position, it first set atop the table, but with a little wiggling, it slid right into the rim he’d fabricated to hold it.

West attributes the fit to either “luck or good measuring.”

West knew he was taking on a big challenge when he started the intricate project, but as a third-year welder he had the confidence to proceed.

“I’m the only one (in the class) who’s done something like this,” he said. “I like it. I was proud of it.”

And he wasn’t worried about failure.

“With metal you can always redo it,” he says.

And West credits Newman with helping guide him through the work.

“I’ll take credit for teaching them how to run the machine and I helped him figure out how to bend the pieces (to make the table),” Newman said. “But Ross did a great job. Once (the image) is designed, it doesn’t take much to cut it out. Designing the table is the harder thing to do.”

West’s parents, Ken and Anita West, bought his first table. He sold the second to a fellow student.

For their next class assignment, he and senior classmate Gage Thamert will turn their skills to creating a project for more practical use. The two have teamed up to build a horse sled for Craig and Laura Bruland of Haines, members of the Eastern Oregon Driving and Draft Horse Association.

West has done farm and ranch work during his high school years, and he enjoys being outside where he pursues his interests in riding motorcycles, hunting and fishing.

After graduation, he has set his sights on a career that will keep him working outdoors as an electrical lineman. First he plans to attend lineman school at either Meridian, Idaho, or Astoria and then he’ll apply for an apprenticeship program to become qualified to work in the profession.

And while he doesn’t plan to pursue his talent for welding as a career, he hopes to continue to use the skills he’s learned in Newman’s BHS classes for personal enjoyment — and maybe some profit.

“I’ve always been kind of intrigued by welding,” he says. “You can make something from a pile of metal into something useful.”