About Metal Meet

How It Started

In 2000, Wray Schelin invited George King and Tom Lipton to his Massachusetts shop for a weekend-long, hands-on, sheetmetal-shaping workshop. One of the projects was wire-forming an original design radiator shell that looked something like a late '30's Alfa Romeo (see picture of drawing, wire form and finished half shell). Wray wanted to stress the creativity potential and freedom of design that the craft of sheetmetal shaping grants those who master it.

Tom and George arrived and the three were off and running with the idea for the initial MetalMeet. While they were making the wire form for the radiator shell on Saturday night, Wray blurted out "I bet if we could get fifty people in one shop for a weekend, all working together, we could build a whole car body shell!" Immediately, to Wray's great surprise, both Tom and George latched onto the idea and said, "Yeah, let's do it!" The first problem was locating a site at which to host the event, but that was quickly solved when George offered his 7000 sq. ft. shop in Huntsville, Alabama. Within minutes, the idea became a reality -- except for one thing: at least forty-seven more people needed to show up!

Fortunately, since sheetmetal shaping in recent years had grown as both a hobby and a business niche, finding forty-seven more people to come to a free weekend-long workshop would not prove to be very difficult. One of the main ideas for the get-together was for everyone to bring as many tools to the event as possible. The word was put out on the Yahoo! Groups metalshapers Email list, which Wray had co-founded and of which George and Tom were both charter members. Soon a sign-up list was posted; momentum was already growing.

As the host, George had set down the rules that the event was to be free with the exception of covering the cost of the materials that would be used. The first year went even better than anyone had expected (see pictures). Something significant had been set in motion - with the help of all the participants - and it quickly developed into an annual event, one that many waited all year in anticipation to attend.

This year marks the third year of the event (see photos from the second year), which will be held at Randy Ferguson's shop in Robinson, IL. The Midwest location has turned out to be a favorable destination for quite a few people that have signed up. The first two events at George's shop were promoted as weekend-long formfests, but about ten participants stayed the entire week. It became apparent that to fully accomplish a project, a whole week was needed in the future. It would better allow for everyone to meet each other (often for the first time) and to familiarize themselves with the shop and surroundings. So for 2003, October 29th to November 4th, about a hundred very committed sheetmetal shaping enthusiasts - some professionals, some hobbyists, and some complete novices - will assemble for one full week to build sheetmetal shaping projects (see Events) in Robinson.

This site is also the home for a cooperatively written online encyclopedia of sheetmetal shaping and a limitless photo gallery to place pictures of our sheetmetal shaping projects, tools, and designs.

Wray Schelin