Contractors near North Bay often need a small steel part made correctly and made close by. VB Steel is a family-owned fabrication and welding shop in Chisholm, Ontario, a short drive from North Bay. Ian and Lisa Van Blyderveen own the business and run it day to day. Ian has spent more than 26 years working with metal, and he still welds jobs that come through the door.The shop's work centres on Northern Ontario Steel Fabrication for builders, renovators and property owners. Common orders include lintels, brackets, frames, and reinforcements for building projects. The shop also makes stairs, railings, gates, fencing, fire pits, beams and columns. A CNC plasma cutter with a 5 foot by 10 foot table cuts material up to 1 inch thick. It will cut any conductive metal, so aluminum, copper and brass jobs are handled in the same place as steel. Customers who prefer to do their own work can buy raw stock such as square tubing, angle, flat bar and plate. Other sizes and shapes can be ordered in.
"We enjoy working with local builders because we often see our parts go into homes and camps we drive past every week," a company spokesperson said. "When a contractor brings us a drawing, we cut it and weld it here in our own shop. That keeps the whole job in one set of hands from the first cut to the finished piece."
Ian holds a Red Seal as a Structural Plate Fitter/Welder and is a CWB Certified Welding Supervisor. The company is CWB Division 2 certified by the Canadian Welding Bureau. Finished pieces can be powder-coated, a finish baked on at roughly 350 to 420 degrees Fahrenheit that holds up well against road salt and freeze-thaw cycles. Every item is made in-house, and the shop has delivered more than 30,000 projects and parts. Delivery and installation are available in North Bay and the surrounding area, priced per order.
About VB Steel
VB Steel is a custom cutting, fabrication and North Bay Welding shop based in Chisholm, Ontario. It produces structural components, stairs, railings, gates, fencing and fire pits, along with powder-coated steel signs and wall decor sold online and shipped across Canada. The shop also sells raw steel stock and offers CNC plasma cutting on any conductive metal. For more information, visit https://vbsteel.ca/.