IF you’ve ever been to Portland’s capital, Port Antonio, you might’ve noticed a blue shop with various metal items outside on display. From saving pans to graters and hanging poultry feeders, the items can be seen lining the sidewalk at a section of the town centre.

Sitting at the entrance to the shop — rusted by decades of work and situated opposite the sea — is 58-year-old Morris Salmon, busy at work.

Did you know that he has been there for more than 40 years?

Salmon, who can be seen working with metal and shaping pieces with his bare hands, told the Jamaica Observer that he inherited the space after his father passed away. He started off making whistles at 11 years old, after his father taught him how to bend and carve metal using a pair of pliers.

Salmon now owns and operates the metal work establishment in Port Antonio, and supplies other businesses with his handmade products.

The 1970s saw a school-going Salmon with a bag filled with whistles he would’ve made the night prior — honing the skill that eventually blossomed into his self-run business today — selling them to his classmates and friends.

“I used to make and sell whistle for one cent when I used to go school. Every school wi go and go sell dem. A morning time when wi a go school, wi sell dem and get mi lunch money. And when wi a come home like 12 o’clock, wi sell dem and everybody have one a go home wid,” Salmon told the Observer on a recent visit to the north-eastern parish.

“Mi make grater, stove burner, feeding pan for chickens, saving pan, baking trays. Mi can finish one saving pan in maybe round half hour,” he explained.

Salmon has been practising his craft for more than four decades, making him quite adroit and efficient.

“More time, fi the day mi all do 10 saving pans. If mi a do dem pon order now, me all do 50 in a week — depending on how much time is spent on them. [When] doing stove burner, mi mark dem out in a circle. Mi a make them from scratch, but mi make them quick. Mi do dem by orders, so mi finish in no time. Yuh have the big one and the small one, and you can even wait and get it [right after ordering]. Mi can do this with mi eyes closed,” Salmon said.

He said, too, that there is now a greater demand for his products.

“Back inna the days people used to request dem, but dem never used to use them so often,” he said of baking pans. “But now, you have more people a do baking and cake and things like that; and people do it for a living now so you know say dem request it more. So, it a sell more in a time like now…People who have stores will order a two dozen or five dozen,” said Salmon.

He is also a firm believer that no matter the type of career one pursues, with dedication, one can be successful.

“Mi can work, use the money buy material, and then continue with the work. If you know how fi steer this, you won’t have no problem like running into bankruptcy. If yah monitor yuh business, yuh gone! Yuh nuh have no problem. A nuh like some people who borrow money fi do business and run inna bankruptcy – mi nuh have no problem, and mi enjoy it,” a proud Salmon said.