On this week’s episode of Bucket Talk, our hosts catch up with Danny Keiderling, a rig welder and pipe welder based in Wyoming. He knew he wanted to get into the nitty gritty and play in the dirt from a young age. While you can get dirty as a job (somewhere), Danny decided in high school that he wanted to become a welder. He got started in the shop at 15 and kept building up from there. Listen in as he talks with Eric and Jeremy about overcoming adversity, getting into the welding world and navigating social media as someone who prefers living life hands-on. 

A Wyoming native, Danny got started in the welding trade at just 15 years old. He always knew he wanted to do something hands-on, even as a kid, so once he got to high school, he decided that was the direction he was definitely headed. At his first job, he started out at the bottom, fixing rough welds and cutting metal, but ended up working his way up to lead welder. From there, he went out on his own, contracting on different jobs, working for himself. 

“I contract welded pipelines, compressor stations, basically [doing] the same thing I'd been doing for a while. It was amazing. I made some of the greatest money in my life, and it was fulfilling, you know — just a dream to me.”

Next thing Danny knew and he was starting a welding school. The school took off like wildfire and, thanks to the nudging of his marketing team, he dove into social media, posting tips and tricks in the welding world. Even our host Jeremy has relied on Danny’s welding tricks in the past. To Danny, being able to share his knowledge has been one of the best parts of his career. 

“I appreciate that you say that I'm an inspiration because that means a lot to me, believe it or not, not not in an egotistical way. But it just warms my heart…That's what I live for. I love that.”

What’s next for Danny? He just wants to continue inspiring folks in the future. This shouldn’t be a problem — not only is he a master welder with tons of helpful tricks up his sleeve, but he’s on one of the most difficult roads to recovery you can imagine: a tragic accident left him without use of his arms or legs. While he has recovered some use of his hands, he’s still unable to walk. This hasn’t deterred him, though, and he wants to be known for his welding prowess, not his current condition. He knows he’s good, and that is inspiring in itself. 

“I guess that was my claim to fame when I was out in the field: I was a pretty good welder, a pretty sought after guy to get on the job. And I think that was mainly just because I literally live, breathe, and sleep welding. It was pretty high up there on my goals list to just weld you know, anything welding, I just was always ahead of the game.”

While Danny isn’t able to do exactly what he wants to do right now, he has an infectious positivity. He is taking everything in stride, knowing that even if he can’t weld like he used to, he’s got so much to offer up, whether it is teaching or inspiring the younger generations. We can’t wait to see what is in store for him.