Overview: Freedom Fabrication LLC is a family-owned and operated small business located in Grantsville, Utah. They offer machining, welding, and general metal fabrication services, as well as custom work tailored to the specific needs of their clientele.
The Case of the Creative Custodian
Even though Stuart Dahl had worked in construction, he really hadn’t done anything remotely related to metal fabrication in his life—not even taking a shop class in school. It wasn’t until he got a job as a high school custodian that he took an interest. He decided to repair some equipment and spoke with the shop teacher, who told him that he could use whatever he needed in the welding shop at night. After figuring out how to do some rudimentary welding for his project, he realized that he would really like to know how to do it expertly, putting him on the path to where he is today.
When his father-in-law, a longtime resident of Grantsville, Utah, learned that Stuart wanted to get into metal fabrication, he told him he knew just the guy to help. He introduced him to Dave Christensen, owner of Dave Christensen Welding in Grantsville.
In 2010, Dave offered him a part-time job in the evenings while Stuart continued to work full-time as a custodian. “That’s how I learned the trade,” Stuart said, “started at the bottom, started running a grinder and a broom, and then slowly got introduced into the welding side of it.” Dave taught Stuart the fundamentals of welding. “We ran a lot of dual shield MIG, stick, and TIG,” Stuart said. “A lot of heavy industrial stuff, building frames, tanks, skids. So that was where I got started.”
A Shop of His Own
Stuart worked for Dave for nearly a decade. “While I was working for Dave I would save my money, and I would put that towards fabrication tools,” Stuart said.
He built a shop behind his house and kept filling it up with equipment. “In 2019 I ended up starting my own business and taking on work.” He parted with Dave Christensen Welding on good terms, and they refer smaller jobs to him on occasion.
To help him get started out, Dave gave Stuart his first welder, a Miller Shopmaster 300 that could do stick welding. He wanted to also be able to do MIG welding, so he saved his money and bought a used heavy-duty Miller XMT 350 from the KSL.com classified ads marketplace.
He slowly continued to acquire machines. “My business strategy from the time I started: I would always tell myself, ‘Okay, the next piece of equipment that I’m going to buy is the piece of equipment that I need most,’” Stuart said. “It wasn’t about price; it wasn’t about anything else; it was just about ‘what do I need most next?’”
He decided he needed a good TIG machine, so he purchased a Miller Dynasty. He wanted to be able to drill holes, so he found a used milling machine online. A used lathe, a used ironworker, and a used bandsaw followed. Stuart realized that he needed to be able to move everything around, so he then bought a used forklift.
American Made
A look around his shop lets a visitor know that Stuart takes his company name seriously, from the huge American flag draped across one wall to his red, white, and blue welding helmet. “I’ve always considered myself a patriot and always considered it a huge blessing to live here,” Stuart said. So, when he was trying to come up with a company name, he thought “Freedom Fabrication” sounded pretty good and decided to go with that.
As described on his website, “Freedom Fabrication is a family-owned and operated shop built on a simple belief: do the work right, stand behind it, and treat every customer like a neighbor. We’re not a faceless production facility—we’re a small team of craftspeople who take real pride in every weld bead and every part that leaves this shop.
“From day one, we’ve focused on building long-term relationships with our customers—contractors, manufacturers, farmers, fabricators, and everyday people who just need something built well. When you call us, you talk to someone who actually works in the shop.
“American-made isn’t just a slogan here. It’s how we show up every day.”
Crossing Paths with RMT
Stuart’s first bandsaw was a basic Enco machine. “It got the job done for the time being,” Stuart said, but it got to the point where he realized that he really needed a more functional saw, something with the capability to do things like miter cutting.
Just before he left Dave Christensen Welding, they had purchased a deluxe bandsaw from Revolution Machine Tools. “I thought, man, that’s a nice saw,” Stuart said. It was the first time he had ever seen an RMT machine, and he decided that it would be good to someday have one like that.
Now in his seventh year in business, Stuart took the plunge and purchased an RMT S-FAB PDM 10-14 bandsaw for himself a few months ago. While most of Stuart’s machines were used when he bought them, he wanted only a top-of-the-line machine to do his future cutting. “I still only have probably three pieces of equipment that I purchased brand new, and my bandsaw from RMT, that was one of those things.”
The saw is a definite upgrade from his previous one. “It’s just such a nice saw to run,” Stuart said. “It’s got the hydraulic assist on it. It’s got a laser on it so I know I can be more accurate.” (He likes his saw so much, he even filmed an “unboxing video” of it, showing him setting it up and running it.)
Stuart noted that his RMT bandsaw has been critical for some of his recent projects. A good example is a job he got building some staircases for a cabin in Heber City Utah.
“With staircases you’re gonna run into a lot of miter cuts,” he said. “I was able to cut every piece of material for the two staircases that I had to build. Every single cut I was able to make on that saw.” He cut all the stringers (the angled structural load-bearing frames that run along the sides or center of a staircase to support the steps) for the stairs on his RMT saw with its miter-cutting feature.
Stuart said that he’d recommend RMT to others. When he was shopping for a new saw, he approached two other companies besides Revolution Machine Tools. “One of the reasons that I went with RMT was their service. They got back to me quickly with a quote and there was a lot less back and forth with the price and everything. It was just a lot less of a hassle with RMT.”
Fabricating into the Future
When asked about his some of the work that his company has done, Stuart mentioned an office building in Park City, Utah, that had been completely renovated and needed a four-level staircase with a custom handrail built throughout it. Freedom Fabrication got the job. “It was a massive staircase, and it was kind of a complicated design,” Stuart said, “but when we got it done, it turned out awesome. The customer was happy with it.”
Some of his smaller projects have been just as rewarding. He said his favorite project was when he had a farmer ask him to come up with a specialized farm implement. The farmer had a pivot irrigation system, which rotates a sprinkler setup in a circle around a central water source. The problem was that tires would dig ruts in the field, which would frequently cause the pivots to get stuck. He asked Stuart to come up with something that would fill the dirt back in.
Stuart used his engineering experience to come up with a solution. “I ended up designing a blade that he could pull behind his tractor that would kick the dirt back in the trench and grade it as he went over it with his tractor,” Stuart recounted. The farmer was delighted and suggested that Stuart patent the invention.
The future looks bright for Freedom Fabrication, as more projects keep coming in the door. And Stuart plans to look to Revolution Machine Tools for help as he continues to expand his inventory of high-end metalworking machines.
“RMT’s been great to work with,” he said. “Their equipment has been good quality; the components are all really good quality, which I think is hard to find nowadays.” Regarding his newest acquisition, Stuart said, “This bandsaw is the most accurate bandsaw I’ve ever run.”
