Fabricating Hot Wheels and being a rebel welder with Pa'Trice Frazier

In This Episode

Learn more about Miller Electric.

Learn more about Millermatic 142.

Learn more about podcast sponsorship opportunities.

ABOUT THE FABRICATOR PODCAST

The Fabricator Podcast brings you conversations with people in manufacturing who make things out of metal. We speak with manufacturers, metal fabricators, welders, job shop owners, small business entrepreneurs, artists, marketers, educators, and more. Host Dan Davis also goes beyond discussing just manufacturing and the skilled trades, and chats about pop culture, current events, food, music, movies, comedy, and, of course, robots. The Fabricator Podcast is presented by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association.

We shape the conversation around metal.

Host: Dan Davis

Producer/Editor: Gareth Sleger

Video Producer/Editor: Brandon Geier

Ad writer/spokesperson/social media: Sara Spring

Additional video editing: Dana Wiker

Graphics: Billy Kulpa

Marketing support: Elizabeth Gavin, Mary Diamond

Sales support: Andy Flando, Amy Hudson

Web support: Mike Owens, Jared Carlow

Additional support: Ed Youdell, Maurine Semevolos, Lincoln Brunner, Tim Heston, Rafael Guerrero, Josh Welton, Darla Welton, Amanda Carlson-Hicks, Callie Check, Rick Lehnhardt, Judy Steinbach.

Where to listen to The Fabricator Podcast:

• Spotify
• Apple
• YouTube Music
• Amazon
• iHeart
• Pandora

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

TRANSCRIPT

Dan Davis: I've read some stuff where people call you out kind of being an inspiration.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and a rebel. I been called out about being a rebel, too, a lot. You know what I'm saying?

Josh Welton: That's almost better than being an inspiration.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Man, I know.

Sara Spring: This episode of The Fabricator podcast is brought to you by Miller Electric. Welders make their impact one weld at a time, leaving a piece of themselves in every finished project. Miller supports and fuels their passions with machines, technology and safety equipment to meet the ever evolving needs of manufacturers, fabricators, construction workers and artists. Because it's not just about welding, it's about fostering new ideas and inspiring the next generation. Go to millerwelds.com to learn more.

Dan Davis: Welcome to The Fabricator Podcast. We're live at SEMA in Las Vegas. We're in the Miller Electric booth. We'd like to thank Miller for hosting us during this show and being our partner in this escapade. I'm joined by Josh Welton-

Josh Welton: Hello.

Dan Davis: ... of Brown Dog Welding. He works with us on thefabricator.com, a fabricator and a welder. And our guest today is Pa'Trice Frazier, the Weld Jointed.

Josh Welton: The Weld Jointed, yes.

Dan Davis: She's been involved in education and teaching people about welding and kind of spreading the word.

Josh Welton: Seems like she does everything.

Dan Davis: Yeah. There's a lot there and it'll be a fun episode, but one of the more recent things she was involved with is, as a fabricator, in the Ultimate Hot Wheel Challenge ... I think I butchered that already.

Josh Welton: You know what we're talking about.

Dan Davis: Yeah, it's a hot wheel show where people kind of come in and fabricate cool looking cars.

Josh Welton: Yeah, she's part of that show.

Dan Davis: And you had experience with that, or at least Hot Wheels related?

Josh Welton: With Hot Wheels, yeah. A couple of years ago, I got asked to be a judge at the Detroit area. So Hot Wheels does this car show that's become super popular, and they travel around the country and they host it. The car show's unique because the vehicles are being judged for kind of how well they would look as a hot wheel instead of how nice of a build it is and both matter but it's mostly what's wild and out there. And I had a blast because my favorite one did not win, but it was in my top. We all had this top three, same top three. The uniqueness of the builds there was really incredible, and then meeting the people who made those builds and understanding where their mind's at. And now he's a friend of mine, Doug, who he builds. He has these two vehicles right now. One is an old power wagon and the other is a '48 Dodge panel van. And he puts them on modern Dakota chassis and daily drives them.

Dan Davis: No kidding.

Josh Welton: And they're so rad. And he's a fabricator. He's got a unique sensibility as far as how fabrication works. He's an excellent mechanic. But I met him through that. And then the person who won it was this wild truck and his wife daily drives it.

Dan Davis: That's awesome.

Josh Welton: So just these crazy vehicles and the selection, there was normal stuff there but the wacky stuff, that was fun. That was a cool show to do.

Dan Davis: Is it kind of all over the board in terms of originality?

Josh Welton: Yes.

Dan Davis: Some, you see it and you're like, "Oh, that car looks like this." And other ones, you're like, "I'm not quite sure what that is."

Josh Welton: What they're going for, yeah, and those are the ones that did not do well, or the ones that were like, "What are they trying to do there?" A lot of times they use being wild for an excuse to do shoddy craftsmanship. To me, that always looks sloppy.

Dan Davis: Right. It's funny. Those older style vehicles have shapes you just don't see in the world around you anymore. It captures a moment in time in design.

Josh Welton: Yeah, in design, in engineering. That was one golden age. And I think we're in another golden age right now with people look at all the boring stuff and they're like, "See, everything's boring." But they're not looking at the new mid-engine Mustang or the Dodge Demon 170 or the supercars, the hypercars we have that are testing the limits of design because they can. Because now you can have things 3D printed and it opens up a whole nother level of organic design. Because what you find coming out of those is the forms we see in nature. And it's like nature's been doing this way longer than we have. And they're like, "Hey, you're finally catching up."

Dan Davis: I'm thinking even electric cars where we're putting that inside of a typical internal combustion frame where you may not necessarily-

Josh Welton: No, it's going to open up-

Dan Davis: It's going to be exciting moving forward, yeah.

Josh Welton: I think right now there's a thin line between being futurism and just being way out there. Like with the Cybertruck, I think now that it's a reality, I don't think it's going to be anything. It's not right. The proportions aren't right. It's not really a truck, but it shows what you can do. And I know I've talked to friends in design and engineering, and they're super excited what you can do when you can put a motor at each wheel and you don't have anything in the front. You're not going to have just trunks up there forever. They're going to come up with unique ways to use that space.

Dan Davis: Right. So yeah, the word frunk will be eliminated from the future.

Josh Welton: I don't know if it will be or not. It'll probably always be there, but I got to think people ... And they already are. Like they're putting generator systems up there and doing other things, but you don't need that there anymore. So it opens up different design windows but a lot of those right now are there for safety reasons. They're there for regulations. They're not there for ... But yeah, it'll be interesting as we go through these different energies, the multi-energy platforms and different types of motivation, it'll be interesting to see how design follows that.

Dan Davis: It's funny. Yeah. It's funny how a discussion about Hot Wheels kind of led to that kind of a tangent. But yeah, you're going to enjoy this episode with Pa'Trice. Stick around and enjoy.

Sara Spring: Every job deserves Miller quality. That's why the new Millermatic 142 makes professional quality MIG welds easy. Miller's newest portable MIG welder is fast and simple to set up, has a high duty cycle and can run on generator power. Everything you expect from a Miller MIG welder. Give every job you weld, no matter its size, pro quality results with the Millermatic 142. Learn more at millerwelds.com. Now's a good time to mention that we offer sponsorship opportunities for the podcast. Amy Hudson, senior account executive, is here to give us a quick overview.

Amy Hudson: Yes. We have two sponsorship levels. The first has local placement, some ad read-ins. The second option that we're really excited about is definitely kind of cool where you can bring in a customer and kind of tell the problem-solution story that way.

Sara Spring: Great. So to get all the details, please go to thefabricator.com/advertise, or you can contact your sales rep directly. And now back to the episode.

Dan Davis: We're here at SEMA in the Miller Electric booth. Thanks for Miller Electric for hosting us.

Josh Welton: For sure.

Dan Davis: I'm joined by Josh Welton. You might know him from thefabricator.com, The Fabricator and The Welder magazines. And today's guest is Pa'Trice Frazier.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Let's go ... Let's go.

Dan Davis: Yeah. Bring in the energy. Let's do this. Can you describe your ... It's the Jointed Weld.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Weld Jointed, my company, yeah.

Dan Davis: I knew I was going to screw that up. Sorry about that. Tell us about that.

Josh Welton: Don't worry. He screws up everything.

Dan Davis: Yeah.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, me too.

Josh Welton: He's just consistent.

Pa'Trice Frazier: That's why we're all here together.

Dan Davis: That's right.

Pa'Trice Frazier: We have a common ground here.

Josh Welton: Exactly.

Dan Davis: I have professionals here to bail me out.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely. Weld Jointed started because I wanted to get people into welding, and I didn't have ... I had like a hood way of doing it. Like, "Yo, come in my backyard. Let me teach you how to weld." And it was like, "Man, I got to kind of make this legit." You know what I'm saying? So that's where Weld Jointed came, because I needed to connect with other welders, getting as many welders in. In America with the 400,000 that we need, I was like, "Hey, I need to start a company." I'm a little bit more effective outside of the shot right now with getting more people in. So that's how Well Jointed came about.

Dan Davis: And your welding background, can you kind of describe to us how you got involved with it?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, it was super dope. I mean, resume to resume or a project, weld to weld. My background is super dope because I quit a lot of jobs. So I've been on a lot of sites. I'm one of those people that be like if it ain't right, I'm gone. Or I'm always looking for the better job. So I mean I started out welding in 2009. It's 2023. That makes me sound really old now. You know what I'm saying?

Josh Welton: I started welding in 2001 and I'm like, dang it, I'm old.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. It's super dope. But yeah, man, I started out, went to school for it. I went down south and traveled Texas, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. I did the Spanx building there. Went up to Tennessee. So I just was like a rolling stone with welding, with picking up jobs and wanted to learn TIG and I wanted to learn industrial. Then I got into cars so I wanted to see exactly what-

Dan Davis: You're well-rounded.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, so once I kind of collected all that from the forest, I kind of came back with the lion's skin on my back to the north.

Dan Davis: You were one of the wolves.

Pa'Trice Frazier: And that's how I made it public. So I went public with my company and helping what I've been doing for years, maybe 2020. So now this is everybody catching up to the hustle and grind that I'm getting out there.

Dan Davis: Getting that message out there.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, on the street. Street value. I'm a person-to-person type of person, not really an email girl or-

Dan Davis: Right. Is that message getting across to the people you're working with? Do they see the same opportunities you did at a younger age?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, absolutely. And I think they have more opportunities with shows like this and podcasts like this. It kind of give them a broader range. Where we started, we had the old dude in the shop with his kids running around. That was our videos. Now, they could see us and they could also go to videos and learn how to do it. So I think how they're coming, I think it's going to be a whole different wave of welders. I think this is opening up the Pandora's Box.

Josh Welton: I completely underestimated the effect that YouTube would have on the trades because I was traditionally trained, went to school for it and everything. So I thought that, my narrow mind was like that's how you should really learn. But the next generation has took to learning almost vicariously through film-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Right.

Josh Welton: ... and it's incredible how they've done it. It totally blows me away.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and they can listen, like I said, to these podcasts and get interested in it. I mean really quick flare, really quick, short video on YouTube can excite the younger generation to go 100% and they with it. Yeah. So that's what I'm here for is to grab them. The average welder is 55. I'm trying to get the average number down to 25 by the time I get 85 or something like that. You know what I'm saying? We need the new eye, the new vision. So yeah, I'm with it.

Dan Davis: So you were involved with the Hot Wheels show.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah.

Dan Davis: Tell us a little bit about that because, talk about profile, that's a real big deal.

Josh Welton: Everyone loves Hot Wheels.

Pa'Trice Frazier: I do. I actually got some Hot Wheels for you guys, so you know what I'm saying. The Hot Wheel show was a great opportunity for sure, going over to England and seeing the back side to shows, the production and all the cameras and the excellence. So I thought it was dope. I thought it was a great opportunity. They reached out to me. They was like, "Hey, we just want a badass welder." And I was like, "Cool."

Dan Davis: Your resume actually said that?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and that's what the whole contract was. We want a badass welder in bold letters and just a hot wheel like a kid straight up. We want a badass welder. Come to Europe. And that was it. So I went there. I was working a lot so I didn't spend a lot of time there. You know what I'm saying? But it was worth it. You know what I'm saying?

Dan Davis: Sounds like an incredible experience.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. Being around true geniuses with my coworkers and also the people behind the camera, the actual welders that was there. Shout out to all the UK welders for sure. You know what I'm saying? They were gorgeous men over there too, just to let y'all know.

Josh Welton: Good to know.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, they was gorgeous. So that was just a different industry, little peep into another industry. And I'm not like a showgirl, I'm like a show gal. So I'm only there for a good time and not a long time. So yeah, that was it. One contract down and now I have a little bit more to pass on in my teaching, in my seminar. I can give them a little bit of Hot Wheels and keep them awake for about 45 minutes talking about welding.

Dan Davis: You know who you're dealing with, right?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. So that was dope. Yeah, shout out to Hot Wheels for sure. And Barbie. Mattel, all that.

Dan Davis: That's awesome.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and Miller, you know what I'm saying?

Josh Welton: Hit them all.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah.

Josh Welton: Barbie, Hot Wheels and Miller. I love it.

Dan Davis: That's quite the combination. I didn't think

Pa'Trice Frazier: Lineup didn't together today. Yeah.

Dan Davis: As you were starting out as a welder, did you think you would be on this path in terms of opportunities and exposure? Because I think that's one of the things with young people is not realizing you're not going to have your head buried in a weld cloud all day.

Pa'Trice Frazier: I think I knew I was doing something extraordinary but, honestly, I just was making money. I was making money and I love to weld, so I was challenging myself with every job I had, every contract. So once I kind of stopped and slowed down after 10 years, then I realized that, "Hey, yo, I'm making history over this thing." You know what I'm saying? "I'm making history." So after that, I started researching more on female welders, straight up. I dug into that and, once I dug into who I was, I was a real dragon, a baby dragon out here. It was on from there. And that's when I went public, when I found out really about myself and got into the welding and what's out there.

Josh Welton: And you're in a unique position with a unique history, and that translates to getting people excited about it because they might come in and they might only do one of those things that you did, but that thing that you did got them excited.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Oh, absolutely.

Josh Welton: I don't know, I've always thought that would be cool is just to travel the country, just pick up welding jobs and whatever. Industry's hiring for a month or two months and-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Sleeping in a car, sleeping at cheap hotels.

Josh Welton: Wow.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Long nights, early mornings. Yeah, absolutely. Meeting hundreds of people.

Dan Davis: Do you miss those days at all?

Pa'Trice Frazier: I'm still on those days. I'm here with you guys. We're here. We're not in my living room right now. So yeah, I'm still on it. But I think it's just more so of giving away the secrets now. Now, it's like I'm giving away my craft where before I was trying to earn my spot in the welding game. Now, that spot is kind of like ... Now I need more people to have more spots. So I'm becoming a stage builder now. Where I used to party on the stage, now I'm building the stage for people.

Josh Welton: Dreams.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and let them tear it up on it. So that's what I do, getting the word out, getting it out.

Dan Davis: Are you seeing fruit of your labor in terms of younger people actually getting involved and making a life for themselves?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, absolutely. I mean their parents, shout out to the big brothers and the mothers out there and the fathers out there, and the big sisters and the big brothers that see welding and reach out to me and try to get their loved ones into a craft. So absolutely, it's always lit, DMs stay lit. You know what I'm saying? With good people trying to get into it, and they see me like this, so they don't know what I do. They have no clue.

Josh Welton: Yeah, and it opens their eyes up to what's possible, because welders always been pigeonholed into this one ... Basically, you go to Fabtech and it's, oh, there's another 40-year-old white guy with a beard and a hat.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, there's a whole bunch of them.

Josh Welton: And now, no hat-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. They're dope. They're dope. Shout out to all the 40-year-olds out there.

Dan Davis: Shout out for the 40-year-olds. There's nothing wrong with that.

Josh Welton: We need them too but-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, we love you all.

Josh Welton: ... it's cool the last 10 years, you've really seen the industry open up to become more diverse and it has a ways to go.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Right, yeah.

Josh Welton: But things are starting to move towards that direction.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. Yeah. I mean we need help. Let's just really keep it 1000. Wow. What they would say. We need help. America need help. Our infrastructure need help. So it's a little bit deeper than division right now. It's really about safety-

Josh Welton: Absolutely.

Pa'Trice Frazier: ... and keeping us safe and our kids safe, and our nieces safe right now. So we need the welders. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, we need y'all.

Dan Davis: It's like a higher calling almost.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, for sure. For sure. It's like a society in a society. You know what I'm saying? We're like a dope society to be in. If you're going to be in a trade, come over here. If you can't sing, come over here. You blew your knee out, come on over here. You know what I'm saying? We need you guys.

Josh Welton: And even if you can sing ... There's a dude, is it Dante Terrell down in Florida, and he's a rapper and-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely, a welder, I listen to him.

Josh Welton: Yeah, he's good.

Pa'Trice Frazier: I think he's dope. A couple of bars, you know what I'm saying? Shout out to him, no, for sure.

Dan Davis: And I've read some stuff where people call you out kind of being an inspiration.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and a rebel. I been called out about being a rebel, too, a lot. You know what I'm saying?

Josh Welton: That's almost better than being an inspiration.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Man, I know. Yeah. It definitely equals out. So yeah, because I'm in tune. You know what I mean? I might not do too many interviews, but I'm definitely behind the stage. I'm definitely in their DMs. I'm definitely pulling up to their homes. We're definitely brainstorming off of the camera. You know what I'm saying? So I'm kind of connected like that. I'm more of a street girl.

Josh Welton: You're a hundred percent in that game. That's your life.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, my connection. Yeah, I'm better in person than I am through a text message or a Zoom call.

Dan Davis: Is that a majority of your time now being spent kind of doing that outreach?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Oh, yeah, yeah. It's dope. It's dope.

Josh Welton: There's something about seeing that spark, that first-

Pa'Trice Frazier: And I'm still working nine to five. So shout out to all the nine to fivers out there that's listening to this. Grind, baby, grind. You feel me? Nine to mine. That's what I call it. I do nine hours, then I go to my hours. You feel me? So nine to mine. Don't take ... Well, you could take it. It's off the top. So go ahead.

Josh Welton: Yeah. Yeah, I work too many seven twelves and I don't want to do that, so I got to change that up.

Dan Davis: Shout out to the 40-year-olds one more time.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Shout out to the 40-year-olds. We love you guys.

Josh Welton: Yeah, 84-hour work weeks, 120-hour work weeks. It's all good.

Dan Davis: You're from the Philly area.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. Yo, shout out to Philly. Philly made me historic. Philly is going to put me on stamps when I get older. I'm going to be an old lady on stamps. That's going to be me, the old black girl on the stamps.

Dan Davis: That's awesome.

Pa'Trice Frazier: But yeah, yo, Philly made me historic becoming the first black instructor, female welding instructor on the East Coast at that time. It was crazy. So they gave me the opportunity to teach there and bring my flavor there. And being at the Seaport Museum, shout out to the Seaport Museum and winning their award. So it made me award-winning welder. So if you're ever in Philly, go to the Seaport Museum. It's beautiful. It's right on the Delaware River in between Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman Bridge, get you something to eat. But yeah, I'm active, man. You know what I mean?

Dan Davis: That's always interesting to me that your work is on display for everybody.

Josh Welton: Yeah, it is.

Dan Davis: Especially something like that and you take pride in it. Now you're driving people to go to the Seaport-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely. Go see the future. You know what I mean? I can show you what you can do. And a lot of hats that I wear. So a lot of people come to me with me being who I am and what they see. So I draw a lot of people.

Josh Welton: It's like a wide range of experiences that anybody can relate to no matter where they're at in their life.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, yeah. It's just super dope connecting with folks. How about that? It's really dope. That's why I'm here with y'all guys.

Josh Welton: Yeah, we're glad you're here.

Dan Davis: So what's the Philly manufacturing scene like? Are there opportunities in the area? What type of industry segments are we talking about for somebody who maybe has that welding training, they're looking for a gig?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Man, I would say always go to the water, baby. Always go to the navy ship yard, get some strip. If you just starting off, I think everybody should go to the shipyard with the old hands that's smoking cigarettes underneath their welding helmets. You got to be there with it. So I would say-

Dan Davis: Whiskey on your breath.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah.

Josh Welton: Real deal, right?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. Go to the water, go to the closest water where they're building ships and giving you just a different feel and, man, how strict they run their shifts. It gives you discipline. So I would say that that's the biggest money right now would be NASA and Rhode Island, they have a lot of submarine work going on. If you just keep up with the trades and the new bills, politics, when stuff drop, that kind of drop on us. Definitely we're going, entering certain wars. I ain't want to say it, but you know it's going to be a lot of welding in war. Let's talk about it.

Josh Welton: I work for General Dynamics Land Systems.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Exactly. So I would look into that. That's what I would do if I was just starting off, two years in, three years in.

Dan Davis: There's real opportunity.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Go to the water, baby.

Josh Welton: ... trying to find people for submarine builds in Drakon, General Electric. They've been throwing ads everywhere trying to find people to come build subs.

Pa'Trice Frazier: There's like Connecticut, Rhode Island.

Josh Welton: There's a good gig.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Shout out to all of them. Boston, they building up there. Shout out to all the shipbuilders up there. Everybody I met up there while I was working up there, man, y'all are super dope. Let's shout out to y'all. Everybody that weld in Rhode Island.

Josh Welton: That's a big deal, giving credit where credit's due. It makes people feel part of the community because so many times they get overlooked. It's like, oh yeah, they're just over there doing their thing. But you've been in it with them. You know what they're going through.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, and I shout them out all the time. I'm proud to see other welders. I'm proud to see other trades but when it comes to that sparking and-

Josh Welton: A hundred percent.

Pa'Trice Frazier: ... you know y'all working side to side laying down these beams, and we got hundreds of feet to do in the ship. You know what I'm saying? So I think it's like ball. It's just like ball. It's just like anything that you play, you have to trust in your neighbor to do the right thing because you can catch on fire.

Josh Welton: That teamwork when you're working in an environment like that.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. So I love it. Shout out to all the welders. Straight up.

Dan Davis: So what are you hoping to see here at SEMA? What draws you here?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Just some dope shit. That's really it.

Dan Davis: It's everywhere.

Pa'Trice Frazier: That's the only thing. I'm just trying to see some dope shit. That's it.

Josh Welton: Inspiration around every corner.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. I'm here for the art and it's all artwork and ideas coming to life, and I definitely appreciate all of the ideas and the robots to the ... I mean it's live over here.

Dan Davis: A lot of stuff going on.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot.

Dan Davis: That's awesome.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Hopefully I'll be around.

Dan Davis: I have one question. We're up against the clock. Who's your favorite Sixers?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, of course. AI. My favorite Sixer, it'd probably be Dr. J.

Dan Davis: Old school.

Pa'Trice Frazier: You really want to go there like the tuck and roll? That's classic.

Dan Davis: There you go. Shout out to Andrew Toney.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, come on.

Dan Davis: Louisiana Lafayette grad. That's my guy.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Smart guy. Come on now.

Dan Davis: The unknown man on that Sixers team.

Pa'Trice Frazier: The ghost man on that Sixers team. I love it. But yeah, I love it. Yeah, I like ball. I like dance. I like anything with balance.

Josh Welton: You were a ballerina, right?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. I was a ballerina for almost 12 ... Jesus Christ, I was a ballerina.

Josh Welton: I feel like now we're up against the clock and I'm going into this whole nother part of your life.

Pa'Trice Frazier: I was a ballerina, I was a ball player. Yeah. I tore ligaments, broke toes being a ballerina.

Josh Welton: That's a brutal, brutal-

Dan Davis: You got beat up more doing dance than doing sports.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's why my hands are so sharp with welding. I got patience. I got rhythm. So that's why I am the best at it. Become a ballerina, then become a welder.

Josh Welton: Well, I've often heard like-

Dan Davis: Herschel Walker did ballerina to help his balance when he was on the field.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Exactly.

Dan Davis: He got into that.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Get into dance. Just like welding, it's the same beat.

Dan Davis: Yeah, rhythm.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, man.

Dan Davis: Do you think sometimes females have an advantage-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely. Yeah.

Dan Davis: In general ... I didn't finish the question. Just in general. I got what you're saying.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Absolutely. Yeah. But no, I think females do great at TIG. I think all females should think about TIG welding. That should be their main goal from five years old to 85. Get into TIG welding because we're already sharp with our hands.

Josh Welton: But the greatest thing about any kind of welding is anybody can do it. You don't necessarily have to be hoisting crazy weights, it doesn't matter-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, absolutely.

Josh Welton: ... big, small, wherever you're coming from, there's a place for everyone. I got kind of frustrated. Jay Leno had somebody on one of his shows and they were talking about how girls make better welders because of their eyes and their hands, and it's like-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Well, I just said the TIG welder, I didn't say overall.

Josh Welton: Well, just like in general. To me, that's kind of a backhanded compliment. No, they could be ... They're just good welders. They don't care about being clean or being ... It's good.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah. Hmmmm

Josh Welton: Sometimes, but I get dirty so-

Pa'Trice Frazier: No, we're just kind of just better. No, we're kind of just better at it.

Josh Welton: You're better. Okay. I guess-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Because we just do so much. We wash clothes, we fold things. We do things that you guys just kind of don't do on the regular deck.

Josh Welton: I changed a lot of diapers when I was a kid.

Pa'Trice Frazier: That's super dope. That probably make you a great welder.

Dan Davis: If your next stance is going to be males defending their laundry ability, I'm going to have to-

Pa'Trice Frazier: I love that. I love that, though. That's where I was going saying like-

Dan Davis: I've lived with enough guys to-

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yes, a little bit more tedious. We kind of look at things a little bit sharp.

Dan Davis: We're a couple evolutions just from living in caves, man. There ain't nothing right about living with a bunch of guys.

Pa'Trice Frazier: No, man.

Dan Davis: That's correct and this thing has hit a wall at about 70 miles an hour.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Shout out to all the guys, though. You are great welders.

Dan Davis: Thank you, Pa'Trice, for joining us.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah.

Dan Davis: I think I'm rattled now.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Yeah, we're here. This is going to be a dope day, just walking around.

Josh Welton: It's such a great show to take in. It's a lot but it's awesome.

Pa'Trice Frazier: Definitely shopping. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm excited about.

Dan Davis: I was going to say you're going to need something more than the overhead compartment to bring back what you're bringing back.

Pa'Trice Frazier: For sure. For sure. But yeah, it was dope being here.

Dan Davis: All right. Thanks so much. Josh, thank you. And, Pa'Trice, where can they find you?

Pa'Trice Frazier: Hey, man, you can find me on the Gram, all social media as weldjointed.com. I actually just started a foundation called PIFF, Pa'Trice's International Fire Foundation, getting people into welding and now having the funding to actually put them through school. So that's what we're doing. So yeah, you could find me everywhere straight up.

Dan Davis: Right on. Good deal.

Josh Welton: We'll spread the word.

Dan Davis: Yeah. So if you have any comments, questions, complaints, send them to Josh at ... no, podcast@fmamfg.org. All right. Thanks a lot and good day.

Sara Spring: The Fabricator Podcast is a production of Fabricators and Manufacturers Association located in Elgin, Illinois. The show is hosted by Dan Davis and the staff of FMA Communications. The podcast is produced by Gareth Sleger and recorded and edited with the help of Brandon Geier. Sales support provided by Andy Flando. Additional production support by Elizabeth Gavin, Dana Wiker, Mary Diamond, Mike Owens and me, Sara Spring. Thank you for listening.