[Thomas Dean]

Practice make perfect is a misnomer....PERFECT practice makes perfect. So yes, get a GOOD welder to teach you. (Not all schools have good welders, find out if they have taught others to weld pipe.) X-RAY welding is the EASY part of welding, just keep it clean, don't put in bad metal and it will shoot good. Bending can be your problem. I have seen good looking welds beat X-RAY but when they cut their straps and got them bent is when the tears started to flow. Usually in the root bend or a side bend. A lot of pipe now (and for the past 20 something yrs) is welded with E7010. Welds much like the 6010 or 5P as it is called. With the 7010 you can run the entire weld with this and all downhill. But as mentioned above, check what the job requires and work on that. Good luck.