A diving eagle, a bugling elk, homesteaders walking beside a bull-drawn carriage, a cowboy veering around a barrel, two bull elk locking antlers, and a family joined hand in hand saying grace — the ornate metal scenes dot the walls of Currier’s Certified Welding.   

The illustrations are the custom fabrication shop’s bread and butter. The crew transforms blank sheets of metal into striking scenes of Western life, or whatever else a customer can dream up. That creativity is forged into functional pieces, including gates, railings and signs.  

But the Evergreen-based business’s custom work extends beyond decoration. The shop takes on a range of projects, including custom truck beds and other accessories, staircases, metal trusses and brackets for homes. 

“Whether it's a bucket or a tractor or whatever. If it needs welding or something fabricated or fixed, they bring it here because we know that we’re going to do it right,” said Tim Goddard, the shop foreman. 

Goddard was introduced to welding in high school and quickly took an interest. After spending 15 years logging, he married the shop owner’s daughter and joined the business, where he has worked for the past 30 years.  

After leaving a shipyard job in San Diego, owner Tom Currier set out to return West, whether it was his birthplace of South Dakota or somewhere else. He ultimately landed in the Flathead Valley in 1972.  

“He picked a spot on the map and went and checked it out and fell in love with it,” Goddard said. 

Over the years, the shop has tackled a range of unconventional jobs, including pipe welding for Kalispell’s wastewater treatment plant, assisting the Environmental Protection Agency with tearing down the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company plant, and repairing turbines at a dam in Bigfork.  

Growing up in the Flathead Valley, Goddard said that being flexible and skilled at various crafts was a necessity.  

“You couldn’t just isolate one thing. You had to be versatile, like we are, just to survive,” Tim Goddard said. “You got the four seasons, and there’s so many different things that need repairs or built.” 

Goddard said he would love to bring on a fourth employee, but finding a welder versatile enough to wear so many hats is hard to come by.  

During the winter, the shop sells and installs Boss-brand snowplows and builds truck accessories — work that requires a strong understanding of hydraulics. In the summer, work can shift to boat repairs, often fixing pontoon boats or replacing torn-off skegs.  

Recently, Austin Goddard completed welding custom aluminum screening for a fish hatchery. The mesh will be used to sift fish eggs. Austin Goddard, Tim Goddard’s son, has been a welder fabricator at Currier’s Custom Welding for about six years.  

Where Austin Goddard and the rest of the crew truly shine is  fabrication of gates and rails.  

“That’s where the creativity comes out,” he said.  

It all starts with an idea.  

“Most people that bring stuff in don’t have a clue what they want. They just have an idea. So we have to try and pick your brain and start drawing something out,” Tim Goddard said. 

A drawing is then drafted to fit the space where the structure will be installed. Once the customer approves the design, it's loaded into the shop’s CNC plasma cutting table. Beside the machine lay piles of metal scraps, each piece punched through with clean geometric shapes. After it etches the pattern into a sheet, they are assembled, bringing to life what began as a simple idea.   

As with any project, Ed Kendall said the three regularly build off one another’s ideas by providing their own perspectives.  

“I can be doing something, Tim can have an idea of how to do it different and better. And Austin can have an idea of how this might work and that might work, and you see an aspect of it that the other person may not be seeing,” Kendall said. 

Kendall, also a welder fabricator, came to Currier’s Certified Welding with a background in home construction and heavy equipment repair, including mining buckets and dozers in Nevada. He joined the shop about six years ago.  

While the only unrelated member on the team, Austin and Tim Goddard still give him the honorary title of “Uncle Ed.” 

Austin Goddard and Kendall said some customers new to ordering custom work can be apprehensive at first, but they enjoy watching their reservations fade after being shown the final product. 

No matter the project, the team assured that the long-standing business prides itself on thoughtful customer service and speedy turnaround.  

“We do a good quality job in a reasonable time frame,” Kendall said. “We’re a shop that’s been here the longest. We aren’t going anywhere.” 

While navigating the shop located at 1623 Montana 35, keep an eye out for honorary employee dog Sammy, who is often wagging her tail and trotting around with her blue dragon stuffed animal.  

Learn more at currierswelding.com.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    A custom-made and designed sign at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Tim Goddard uses a cutting torch to begin removing a truck's bed at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A custom design on a gate at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    The custom-designed front gate at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Austin Goddard points to a trailer getting some work done at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Austin Goddard tig welds aluminum screens for a client at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Tim Goddard lights a cutting torch to begin removing a truck's bed at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Ed Kendall welds a bulkhead for a flatbed truck at Currier's Certified Welding in Evergreen on Wednesday, April 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Metal gate at the entry of Currier’s Certified Welding on Thursday, November 17, in Evergreen. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)