METAL MANIA

Making things with metal is nothing new for J.W. Burcham, 62, of the Eggville community near Saltillo. It’s what tool and die makers do. But turning scrap bits of metal into whimsical art pieces is new to him. His hobby began as an ongoing thought process two years ago, but for a year now, Burcham has added action to his ideas. And now it’s difficult to build up his inventory — when folks see his artistry, they want to take it home, and usually do.

Along with dreaming up ideas for his metal creations for a year, he collected all manner of metal pieces and parts he’d eventually use to make them. He keeps in his pocket a magnet. It’s at the end of an extendable wand, so when he’s at work — or wherever metal scraps might lurk — he doesn’t even have to bend over to retrieve them.

Open your mind and picture these: A fish fashioned from a set of small Craftsman wrenches; a woodpecker made from a ball peen hammer head; a sailboat using a pick axe; a vintage fire truck complete with running boards, ladders, water tank and hose; a motorcycle made from a hammer head, armature from an electric motor and a broken wrench for the seat; a turtle made from nuts found on the floor at work; a Nativity made solely from railroad spikes; and a guitar that’s a compilation of an automotive timing chain, a bicycle chain, a few old spark plugs and an auto transmission pump for the sculpture’s base. And that’s just to name a few.

“I am constantly looking for things I can use,” Burcham said. “And when I see a piece of metal, my mind is constantly wondering what I can use it for. When I go to garage sales with my wife, Tracy, I always ask the same question, ‘You got any broken stuff?’”

Burcham loved to draw as a kid and he’s always enjoyed art, but he had no idea his affection for welding together metal bits would be such fun. He set up a booth last year at the Link Centre’s Holiday Market and had no idea what to expect. He sold almost every piece he’d made.

“It’s fun,” he said. “I thought it would be cool, but the more I get into it and come up with ideas, the more fun it becomes.”

When Burcham photographs his work, he uses a soft drink can to show perspective and scale. Most of his pieces are small, but in 2008, he built large drum smokers.

“I built one for myself,” he said. “Then a cousin wanted one, then another cousin, and then someone requested their team’s logo be added. By the time I stopped making them, I’d made 30.”

One of his most recent creations is not as big as a drum smoker, but certainly not as small as his other pieces. It’s a tractor made from an 1890 Singer sewing machine and sprockets from a John Deere implement.

As word spreads of Burcham’s hobby, which he calls Metal Mania, people often call and ask if he can use this or that. He rarely says no.

“One man asked if I could use an old bicycle or two,” Burcham said. “When he brought them, he left 10. Another guy asked if I could use some empty oxygen cannisters. I told him I’d find something I can do with them.”

He doesn’t keep track of time when he’s having fun with his creations, but he figures he could spend three to four hours on some of them.

“But I may have spent weeks looking for everything I’m going to use to make it,” he said. “And that’s all part of the fun.”

See Burcham’s metal sculpture work on Facebook by searching “Metal Mania Art by JW Burcham.”

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