Welding student

[John K Jordan]

(This could probably be posted in metal working but I thought it was more of a general-interest note)

A young friend who cares for and trains our horses enrolled in an adult welding course in early January. Her only previous experience with welding was a class in high school.

It turns out she is good at it too and was picked yesterday for a competition involving welding overhead. The competition is in less than a week so to let her get in some extra practice she built a free-standing stand this afternoon in my little welding shop. The test samples will be tacked high on the post for welding.

I had an old truck brake drum for the base, some 1x3 rectangular tubing for the post, and cut some angle iron for bracing inside the brake drum. The thing is sturdy! (the little flat piece of scrap welded in the middle of the post is simply a place to attach the ground clamp.)

The test pieces have to be stick welded so we moved the MIG and TIG welders out and the Hobart AC/DC stick welder in. Fortunately I have about 4 tons of steel in my steel storage shed so all the materials were on hand!

olivia-welding-1.jpg olivia-welding-2.jpg

I am thrilled when a young person takes a genuine interest in such things! It’s really nice to have the facilities and everything on hand.

BTW, I have three people on the list to come for welding lessons and all of them are women - and oddly, all are evolved with raising and caring for animals. (What is it with young guys today - too busy with computers and sports?)

JKJ

[Jack Frederick]

John, it is good of you to make your knowledge and space available. I was a fitter/welder back a couple lifetimes ago working on power houses, pipelines, refineries, etc. If I do say so myself, I was slick. I will also say those days are long gone and I stick to MiG only today. Is she running 6010? I’ve had a lot of people over the years say they wanted to learn to weld, but as you know, you have to show up. Good for the girls!

[Lisa Starr]

I'm always happy when I hear of a person wanting to learn a trade. It doesn't matter whether it is electrician, welder, plumber, machinist....

Good for you John for helping her excel.

[Steve Eure]

It has been proven over and over that women have steadier hands then men do. My oldest daughter took welding in FFA in high school some 16+ years ago and went to the Ga. FFA State Convention and won the competition. Really peeved all the young men there who competed against her. She immediately was offered a job locally welding that would have paid a nice salary, but turned it down for other interest. I still call on her to do some for me around the farm.

[Dan Hulbert]

My son-in-law taught my 8 year old granddaughter to weld. She loves it and can't wait for their next project. My daughter cut down a set of welding leathers for her. My granddaughter is 9 now and just joined the wrestling team at school. She is one tough cookie. She really enjoyed pinning the boys.

[Ronald Blue]

John, it is good of you to make your knowledge and space available. I was a fitter/welder back a couple lifetimes ago working on power houses, pipelines, refineries, etc. If I do say so myself, I was slick. I will also say those days are long gone and I stick to MiG only today. Is she running 6010? I’ve had a lot of people over the years say they wanted to learn to weld, but as you know, you have to show up. Good for the girls!

6010....it's fantastic to learn with and a great root pass rod too. Also show's your errors and helps you get better. 95% of my welding was repair welding which has it's own challenges. Sometimes one had to be a contortionist in order to make the weld. That was after lot's of prep work in most instances. Still though there was satisfaction in a job well done. In some instances you knew it wasn't going to hold but you had to get it so it could be moved out of the way.

[Ronald Blue]

John you are doing a great thing helping people whether it's in woodworking or metalworking. Fabulous that you help others succeed in various ways. As for why no males are interested is a great question for which I have no answer. Is there no guys in the welding class your young friends welding class?

[Tom M King]

I'm betting she should win the competition. I'm always proud for anyone who wants to learn how to do something.

My Dad was a welder of ships hulls in WWII. He welded until he died from Meso at 88. His hands would shake, but he could still lay down a pretty bead in time to the hand shaking. I have a dual axle trailer he built when he was 84. I asked him many times to teach me how to weld, but he never wanted me to do it.

When I was building one of my spec houses in 1991, I became good friends with a guy next door that was building his own house himself. I answered questions about building a house every day, and we would go over to help him stand up a wall after he had one ready. He had been a head welder for NASA during the Apollo program, and when that ended he spent another career teaching welding, and machine work at a school in Northern Virginia. When he retired, they closed the program, and sold him all the equipment cheap. He served two terms as the President of some National Welding Association, or Society, I forget the exact name. Chuck not only has stuff sitting on the Moon that he welded, but he figured out how to weld stuff that had never been welded before.

When he died in 2012, he left he all his tools. They're still all packed in a couple of buildings at his place, but I've been too busy to build a shop for them. He taught me how to weld, mainly because he had a pacemaker, and was afraid to use a welder, so he called me over when he wanted something welded. He was always building something. That led to him teaching me how to weld, when he saw that I could do something he already had set up when he told me how he wanted it done. I wish he could see the welders I have now.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The welding instruction in our High Schools is now only books and a welding simulator. It is a real shame. I use what I learned in the FFA every day.

[John K Jordan]

…. Is there no guys in the welding class your young friends welding class?

There are several guys in the class. She said they aren’t progressing very quickly for some reason, maybe not as motivated. This girl is determined to make a career out of it.

[Lawrence Duckworth]

Hmmm.....back in 2009, when the economy tanked my son paid to have three of the guys certified G4 thinking he'd have to let them go... (so they could try to get jobs out west on the pipeline or oil fields, thankfully it never came to that). I remember the guy that tested them came down from Tennessee. ??? was that by chance you John?

[John K Jordan]

... Is she running 6010? I’ve had a lot of people over the years say they wanted to learn to weld, but as you know, you have to show up…

6010 for the root pass, 701? for the rest. I should know, I picked up the rods!

I was a welding inspector in the 70’s and worked as NDT to nuclear specs so I know good welds from bad but I never learned to stick weld until maybe a dozen years ago. I’m a lot better at MIG and TIG but use the stick on some stuff around the farm. Those welders will also work on 110v at reduced power so I can use them more places. I learned to weld thin stock with gas and when I got the TIG was surprised at how similar they are.

Good clean fun! I probably weld more things for friends than I do for myself but that’s part of the joy of life!

[Zachary Hoyt]

I taught myself to weld with a book on farm welding that a friend loaned me, using my grandfather's old Lincoln 225 AC stick welder and 6011 rod. I can't make very pretty welds, but I can welds things so they stay together even under a heavy load. I made the log arch out of a trailer I bought for $25 at an auction. It was 2 feet wider and 1 foot lower, so I cut two sections out of the top and welded them to the axles and welded the top back together, and welded a pair of Allis WC frame rails together to make the boom. I like the arch because I can carry logs up to 17 or so feet long and 24" in diameter without the log touching the ground, so they stay a lot cleaner when they get to the sawmill. I even carried a maple log once that was 25 feet long and 28" or so at the butt, since it tapered so much that the weight was balanced even with the skinny end sticking out 16 feet or so beyond where the chain from the boom was wrapped around it.

Being able to weld has made life here on the farm much easier over the last 5 years since I can weld things myself when they break, like the time when the PTO shaft carrier under the tongue of the haybine came loose. We used to have to either call a very good welder who also had a regular job so it would take 2-3 weeks till he could get us in, or else take things to a person in the nearby hamlet who could weld very well drunk or sober but was not easy to talk to or get along with. It was best to go see him in the morning.

[Jim Becker]

I have a friend in the equestrian world who is a young female, small in stature, and recently achieved full status as a Millwright. She's done a lot of welding up at the top of windmills in the past couple of years. 300' up in the air.

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I'm considering adding some welding to my routine once I have a shop building and will likely look for an adult course in the area myself.

[Frederick Skelly]

Good on ya, John!
And good luck to her. Do let us know how it goes!
Fred