How did you learn to Weld.

[irnsrgn]

I started my apprenticeship at age 7 in 1951 in my father and uncles blacksmith shop. My father was an old time smith and never really learned to arc or oxy/acet weld. He did horseshoing which I helped him with and he was rather tight with a penny so to speak.

He saved all the short rod stubs from when my uncle was welding and he gave me those to build up the toe and heel caulks on used horseshoes.

I must have done a pretty good job as when I was 9, my uncle gave me a pair of plow lays with new points tacked on to weld up. That was an intimidating job for a young me.

The farmer came in for them after they were drawn out, ground and polished. I used to releave either my uncle who did the grinding or my father who did the polishing when they were pounding out plowlays also as it was not uncommon to do a 100 or more lays a day in those days.

After dinner the farmer came back with what looked like a plow lay with no point, I was crushed till he handed it to my uncle who was pounding lays at the time, and I noticed that the point had not broken off, but was bent over onto the back and needed to be heated and straightened back out.

That turned from a big disappointment into a real ego trip for a kid.

[GVR-4579]

I live on a farm so as soon as i was somewhat helpful dad gave me some metal, rods, and a few pointers and said have at it. There is never a shortage of scrap to practice welding on around the farm. Then after we got the TIG welder i just did some research and went at it myself.

[hammerkid]

me and my cousin was working on his Vw bug(baja) and we was making a 6 inch body lift and he needed a hand so he thought me to weld and o/a cut.
First he thought me to Mig weld (about 3 years ago) at the age of 11 and then taught me to oxy/acctecl. cut (about 3 years ago)then stick(abut 6months ago) weld then tig weld (about a year ago)then taught me to oxy-fuel weld about 2 weeks ago.;)
Thanks, Chris
p.s. the VW bug(baja ) still ain`t done! LOL:p

[jayco]

One day my dad bought a new LIncoln AC welder at the farm store.
Neither of us had ever arc welded anything . I was 14 at the time.
Dad tried it first, but had trouble maintaining a consistant arc.
Scratch, scratch, buzz,......scratch...you get the idea.

After a few minutes, he turned to me and said "Here......You try it!"
I also fumbled with the 'arc thing' for a while ; I took a moment to look at that little book that came with the welder and was then able to hold an arc.
Reading the instructions helped!

Actually, it would have been much better for both of us to have practiced running a few beads, but dad was much less patient than I was.

We had several broken items around the farm that were in need of repair, so dad picked up a pipe wrench with the handle cracked 2/3 of the way through, and said" Here.....see if you can fix this"!

I did manage to strike an arc and fill the crack with metal.

Surprising both of us, it was a decent weld that still holds today..The wrench is still in my toolbox and gets used regularly.

By the way: My dad had went to the 'GI' school after WWII and one of the books he kept from that time was called FARM MECHANICS-YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE-1946

I learned a lot about arc-welding,smithing,soldering,building your own hog feeders, and lots of other shop type stuff from that book. I still refer to it from time to time.

[HWooldridge]

I was in college working for a manufacturing facility that had a small machine shop with an O/A rig and a nice Lincoln stick welder but nobody knew how to use any of the equipment. I bought a book and went to the local welding supply store where they gave me some basic lessons. I also taught myself how to use the lathe and the mill and finally became the maintenance man for the whole plant. I hate it when things don't work so that motivated me to start fixing stuff - the company owner took notice and encouraged me to keep it up.

[Paragon]

Learned the basics of MIG and TIG while working in the machine shop at college. Never used TIG that much so I never got good at it. The main thing I learned on MIG is to go slow so ya get a nice bead.

Taught myself last year (still teaching) how to OA weld. Havn't had the need to cut anything with it yet. Bought the OA kit cause I wanted to braze my own bike frames.. havn't gotten around to that, yet so in the meantime, I build things and used it to forge some items for last christmas.

[waianvil]

I first learn how to stick weld In High school when I was in FFA. also took a course in south east Techinal college,A evening class to do welding and still learning.

[Timekiller]

I learned helping my father fix things when I was 7-8yrs old. Then we built a go-cart, and I learned most of my welding from that. A while ago I bought a cheap mig welder, then a couple years ago I bought a miller 180sd Tig/stick and did a whole lot of reading.

[Glenn]

As a kid I learned by helping my uncle hold things while he welded. He used ox/ac to repair the family cars etc. so I wore goggles and watched how he did it. When he used arc welding (6 cylinder flat head motor on a DC welder), rather then turn my head to avoid the welding arc flash, I wore a hood and watched. There was a lot of learning by watching. I collected the spent ends of the welding rods to practice my welding. As I got better and better, I was able to practice with the "long" rods.

My senior summer I hired on with a company that built tug boats. The fellow ask if I could weld and I said I had "some" experience welding. He gave me a 50 pound box of rod and a stinger and said we need a welder HERE and pointed to the deck. You were expected to burn that 50 pound box of rod and and then come back for more, and that was on the FIRST day at work. There was a lot of rod burned that summer.

[hammerkid]

Thats cool Glenn! it werid what you learn from watching and also doing

[Brian C.]

I learned to braze as a kid helping in Dad's orthopaedic shop. Learned to Mig from a friend when I started smithing.

The friend I mention is an excellent weldor. I asked him where he learned one time & he said "I was working at a farm equipment operation that had a big silo type storage tank. It had a hole in it & the boss told me to patch it. I been welding ever since". :)

[Finnr]

I first learned stick and O/A from my Dad. Later in HS I had a welding class in ag. shop. Since I have been learning all I can from anyone I can find that welds and is willing to take time to show me something new.
Finnr

[Glenn]

Hammerkid
Weird is still remembering what the welds "should" look like and trying to slow down enough to make each weld as strong as possible. It is like opening a present when you chip off the slag to see if the weld is pretty enough not to require a grinder to dress it up.

Ox/ac is a beautiful weld when done correctly. But Ox/ac is still a bit of a challenge as mig has taken over for welding thin metal.

For me, forge welding is still magic, even today.

[Travis Covington]

I first learned to stick in Junior High. I started work in a body shop when I was 18. All any of the shops used then was gas. We welded many a car together with gas. Then went to mig. Now I.m a full time welder using stick, mig and tig. At home I have all but I prefer to use gas or forge weld.
Travis

[Ten Hammers]

Well Junior, I suspect I was about the same age as you were but different situation. My great uncle ( Dads uncle ) had a welder. Dad never welded or did any machine work. Took everything to town. Uncle Leo had a small shop but we didn't visit him that often. His welder is the same one I have in the shop now and it needs to be donated to a museum near here. It ( Allmond Bros brand ) sat on a wall shelf in a dirt floor shop. This welder was involved in the first time I was ever shocked ( bare hand on a rod into rod holder). Uncle Leo showed me a few basics. Later in High School I was taught in General Metals class ( stick and acetelyne ). Some were assigned different areas ( stick, acetelyne, lathe, foundry, forge ) and were told to write up some instructions to be used to coincide with pictures ( slide presentation ) taken by the instructor. I was very proud to have my presentation ( fusion welding with acetelyne) used in years to come. I had a SMALL amount of welding training in the Navy but not a lot. For a very large part these skills lay dormant for 20 years until I was in a friends shop one time. Smithing started shortly afterward and I started collecting tools. I wire weld for a living now and smith and weld at home. I still enjoy gas welding a lot. I might also add that there are places that I have worked that I could not make the grade to their wants but I have absolutely learned a lot.

[sstreckfuss]

I started playing with the MIG at work on breaks and such and eventually bought a millermatic 180 because I liked it so much, it is what got me interested in blacksmithing to be honest. That and a life long love affair with all things old....

[Pault17]

Being a carpenter before becoming a home inspector, I have never had the "need" to learn to weld. But, the desire was always there. I used to watch my dad fix his old rust-bucket of a van brazing with the little oxy-mapp set.

My wife gave me a "learn how to stick weld" class at the local community college, for Christmas.

the learning continues...

[hammerkid]

Hammerkid
Weird is still remembering what the welds "should" look like and trying to slow down enough to make each weld as strong as possible. It is like opening a present when you chip off the slag to see if the weld is pretty enough not to require a grinder to dress it up.

Ox/ac is a beautiful weld when done correctly. But Ox/ac is still a bit of a challenge as mig has taken over for welding thin metal.

For me, forge welding is still magic, even today.

Yeah its like Christmas every time you start chipping slag off a stick bead!;):)

[keithh999]

I took 6 months off of a normal life and went to welding school in order to pay child support,(welders made alot more than a mechanic back then). went out on the road and built power plants and factories and bridges and all sorts of things....taught several people how to weld....passed xray weld tests....built more big projects....and the funny thing was i knew how to forge weld before i could weld weld.
still building things and still forge welding... welding school was the best thing i ever did for myself.

[larrynjr]

I still haven't ever learned to weld. After I finally get myself a mig unit, I'll learn myself and try to make a treadle hammer, it will certainly be an experience!

[aametalmaster]

My grampa was one of the founders of Tee Nee Boat Trailers and i hung around with him at the shop. My dad owned a welding company that was in the backyard so i was there alot. By the time i was in high school i was a great stick welder and i helped teach the other kids. I took vocational Machine Trades and my senior year i tested out so i had to go get a job. I went to my dads trailer shop and started building trailer axles he made for another trailer company and equipment trailers. Then we started building woodburners when the energy crunch hit in the late 1970's. By then we had 6 mig welder machines to use and they were pretty rare in a home shop in 1977. I never formally had any training but i had some good teachers. The next 20 years i worked as a welder by day and a machinist by night. I worked 2 shifts for about 10 years. I now own a welding company and will gladly teach/show/let use any resource i have to help someone out. So just ask if you need anything...Bob

[youngsmith]

I first learned to weld while working on an old horse trailer with my dad. I was pretty good so he let me do some of the work on the lesser projects in the shop and now I'm the #1 welder/metal fabricater at Aardvark Performace.
Where we mainly work on road racing car, but specilize in C5 corvettes.:cool:

[Quenchcrack]

I was about 25 years old and the metallurgist in a plant in Midland TX that made drilling tools for the mining industry. I decided if I was going to write the welding specs, I might want to know how to weld. Every Friday, I came to work in work clothes and went out the welding shop and let those old rod roasters show me how it is done. In the end, we all learned some respect for each other. Now, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear so I am still more of a puddler than a welder. However, I can make a workable weld with stick or wire thanks to those real welders in the shop where I started my career.

[welder19]

My Dad taught me when I was 7 or eight, he owned a body shop in town at the time so he would take me to the shop in town in the morning and a woman who lived in town and had kids would then pick me up on her way to take her kids to school and then she would pick us up after school and drop me back at the shop. In the morning before school and after school I would help out at the shop, so it wasn't long before he taught me how to weld, ox/ac then arc and spot welding, there were no mig or tig back then, those I taught myself, well mig mostly not too much tig,

[11echo]

When I got out of the service in early 76 I decided to take some refresher classes in drafting so I could start looking for a job (already had the AA degree in drafting ONLY because it was easy for me ...no plans to work in the profession). Any way 3 years in the service MAKES you think about what you want to do afterwards. So I decide to try this drafting stuff and decided to take afew drafting classes on the G.I. bill, you get paid money to go to school, so I started looking at other classes I could take. And there was an introduction to arc welding at the local high school not 1/2 mile from my house. Started the evening class, and really liked it! So much so that half way thru the class I got my first credit card and I went down to the local welding supply store in Santa Ana, Calif. and my first purchase was a Lincoln AC welder. I still have it to this day! Now I'm not a pipeline welder by any means, but my welding doesn't look like bird cxxx either! *G*