The old adage goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. For retired Special Agent Randy Neal, one man’s scrap is another man’s art.
Before pivoting toward his passion for creating welded art, Neal worked for 36 years in law enforcement. He spent 10 years as a patrol officer and 26 years working first as a case agent for the IRS and finishing his career as a polygraphist and interrogator for the National Forensic Laboratory.
Prior to his law enforcement career, Neal attended a welding school near his home in Pennsylvania. His first welding job was at Armogast Steel Corp., a steel fabrication company in Dubois, PA. In his earlier years, he also worked in machine shops that specialized in repair and rebuilding mine equipment.
Those machine shops provided Neal with the opportunity to weld different metals and use different welding techniques, experiences that would later become essential when Neal began creating welded art and metal sculptures. In 2002, Neal bought a Perrysburg Township home on 5 acres, and built a welding shop on the property.
“I bought a couple welders and started to hit up all the neighbors to let me fix whatever they had that needed to be welded so I could get my skill level back up,” Neal explains. His retirement has provided him with more time to spend on projects and welded art is now his primary focus. He started out by making a few small pieces of art for his pond and lawn area. “The projects were pretty basic in the beginning and have become increasingly more complex and ornate,” Neal said.
From Scrap to Treasure
Neal’s welded pieces have recently received a lot of attention and he has been commissioned to make custom guitar pieces for charity fundraisers. “The guitars are made, for the most part, from repurposed motorcycle parts…there are a couple motorcycle shops which save me their scrap parts like chains, sprockets and internal engine parts,” Neal said.
Additional commissioned pieces include: a decorative anchor made with motorcycle chain and a nautical clock; a full-sized horse made from horseshoes for a stable in eastern Ohio; welded bouquets of roses; and a custom wine rack made from horseshoes. Neal also creates seasonal pieces, explaining that he has sold “lawn art such as large sunflowers, rusty bunnies, and crowbar birds. They sell well in the spring and summer. Christmas
brings a demand for railroad spike nativity scenes, railroad spike stars, horseshoe reindeer and horseshoe Christmas trees.”
Most of Neal’s materials are repurposed items. A farrier provides him with horseshoes and an Allen County resident gives Neal farm implement pieces to use for lawn ornaments. “It’s
fun to show the welded creations to the individuals who provided the parts. The people at the motorcycle shop always smile when they see the guitars and point out the pieces they recognize from specific bikes,” Neal said.
Art With Purpose
Neal enjoys the challenge of creating welded art. “Each piece is different,” he said. “The horseshoes can become a horse head, a flower container, or a butterfly. A brake rotor can become a snail. A crow bar can become a goose.”
In addition to satisfying Neal’s need to be creative, his welded art pursuit has also been a rewarding one. He’s donated to the Parkinson Foundation of Northwest Ohio, Acoustics for Autism and Down for the Ride (a benefit organized by the Down Syndrome Association). “I enjoy watching people look at the pieces and begin to recognize the parts incorporated into them. For example, they see a rabbit and realize it’s made from the teeth of a spring-tooth harrow. They see a guitar and recognize the brake rotor, sprockets, chains, bearings and timing gears included in the piece,” Neal said.
View Neal’s welded art creations at instagram.com/ren_studio1/.
