Striker Portable Welding Service

09/01/2026

Striker dismantled, repaired and installed the damaged framework of bleachers at PCC Rodeo arena.

08/30/2026

Metallica has invested more than $17 million to help thousands of people train for skilled, well-paying careers.

The legendary heavy metal band is using its nonprofit foundation, All Within My Hands, to tackle one of America’s biggest workforce challenges: making career and technical education more accessible.

Launched in 2019 with just 10 community colleges, the Metallica Scholars Initiative has grown dramatically. In 2026, the program expanded to 93 community colleges across all 50 U.S. states and Guam, while also launching its first international program in the United Kingdom.

Since its creation, the initiative has invested more than $17 million in workforce education and has supported roughly 15,000 students pursuing practical career skills.

The programs extend far beyond traditional trades. Metallica Scholars are training in welding, plumbing, electrical work, automotive repair, manufacturing, nursing and healthcare, firefighting and EMT services, maritime manufacturing, agriculture, and other high-demand fields.

For 2026 alone, Metallica’s foundation committed more than $3.3 million for its eighth year of the program — its largest annual grant yet. Eighteen additional U.S. schools joined the initiative, while a separate $250,000 grant established the program at Capital City College in London.

Frontman James Hetfield has repeatedly emphasized the importance of removing the stigma surrounding skilled trades and giving people a pathway toward meaningful careers that can provide family-sustaining wages.

For a band that has spent decades filling stadiums around the world, Metallica’s growing legacy may now include something very different: helping thousands of people build careers with their own hands.

Source: All Within My Hands Foundation. “Metallica Scholars Initiative National Workforce Education Program Expands to Over 90 Schools,” June 29, 2026.

08/23/2026

Striker cut the bollards (posts) to surround the tank for safety.

08/15/2026

Powder coating by Patrick @ Striker Portable Welding Service for the amazing artist Dick Bixler..
See photos in comments.

👀 New Art Alert 👀
Just arrived at The Filley, Stop in and check it out!

The Unbroken Circle
Dick & Nancy Bixler of Bixler’s Art Barn
Powder Coated Steel Sculpture
$2600

Life is an unbroken circle. It is deeply symbolic of the ring that seals the marriage covenant. Like marriage, the things and people that are included in, controlling over, and woven into that structure matter to the strength and completeness of that circle. Sometimes our Circle can feel chained and tethered to the everyday challenges in life.

However, when you think of the mathematical definition of a circle, each edge is at an equal distance from its opposite edge. The way that we can find and achieve balance in our Circle is by training our focus on the middle. That focus should be on the important things in life; family, friends, and goodness.

Everyone’s Life Circle eventually comes to completion. Birth, life and death. It is our focus and what we are attached to that makes it a Circle that matters.

Genesis 3:19 – By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

Thank you so much Dick and Nancy for letting us preview this beautiful sculpture!

08/12/2026

🥵Due to EXTREME WEATHER ALERTS
Striker Portable Welding Service
will be running our 6am to 2pm hours
the rest of the week. 🥵

We know we keep hammering the high heat that has set in across the area, but heat is dangerous if proper precautions are not taken. This is near to record breaking heat for several days, so a bit abnormal for the area. Know the signs of heat illnesses and stay cool!

08/02/2026

An old glider that customer drug out of the weeds. Striker sandblasted the rust and powder coated to turn it into a beautiful piece.

07/31/2026

Striker will be on regular shop hours next week.

07/21/2026

🔥 STRIKER 🔥
EXTREME HEAT HOURS
6AM - 2PM

07/10/2026

Patrick powder coated a very large Wildcat for Cunningham USD 332 at Striker Welding & Powder coating. 40075 Kennedy Ave. Pratt Airbase