Rusted pipe, horseshoes, ball bearings and scraps of wire are just a few of the materials Roosevelt resident Ray Zufelt uses when creating his works of art.

What seems like scrap metal to most might be a boot with a spur, a cowboy hat or a handlebar mustache for one of his “cowboys.”

“These are the old cowboys,” Zufelt said. “I tried to think of what they're doing. This guy's got a wire roll. This guy is going to cook him something. This guy is running, but I don't know what he's running from. When I get the spoon and the fork in this one's hand, he's going to cook him an egg or something.

“I've always kind of liked to tinker with iron, metal and stuff,” Zufelt continued. “My first piece was one of these guys about this size (18 inches), standing by a cut-out horse with a saddle on it.”

Zufelt has been welding for 45 years. When he's not in his welding truck, and working on oil drilling rigs, he's creating something with his scrap metal. He puts a lot of thought into his unique sculptures and claims that he doesn't throw anything away that he can create something with.

The cowboy statues are only a small portion of what he's made over the last 30 years. He makes candle holders, elephants, giraffes, bulldogs, dinosaurs, motorcycles, mailboxes, chuck wagon trains, driveway archways and many other items.

“I sell them all over the country,” Zufelt said. “I built a dragonfly and he went to New Mexico to a ski resort. He had a four-foot wing span on it. I had him hanging here on the wall and that gal come bought him and took him to New Mexico.”

Some things he leaves rustic, and others he paints, like the blue, metal moose on the Whiterocks Highway.

“People like them painted,” Zufelt said. “Then a lot of people like 'em just rusty, and put them in their yards. I've built so many different ones that I can't even count them all, hundreds of them, whatever people like.”

He also makes mirror frames out of horse harness hames and picture frames, desks, and coffee tables, out of wood.

“I'll go out and drive around the cedars, and find the right stump,” Zufelt said. “I have to find the root, how curved it is. Then I cut the tabletops out of bigger trees and build coffee tables. You've got to find the right tree. I've got two big pieces of redwood out in my shed. I was going to kind of make some tables out of it, but I haven't found the right legs.”

Zufelt says that he gets ideas in his head as he gathers ball bearings, or scrap steel, but will work with a customer when they want something specific.

“A lot of people call me,” Zufelt said. “Then they want to see some of the stuff, and I always keep some available. I just gather up junk and make something out of it. I like it. I enjoy doing a lot of it.”

Those interested in learning more about Ray Zufelt's creations may reach him at (435) 724-3370.