young or old

[Bert]

"...well thought y`all may want to know J/K..."
Are we supposed to care??!! J/K!!!
Of COURSE I DO!!! Nice to see someone so young welding!!! I just hope you don't find other intrest and give it up! At your age, that happens a lot!
Well, I have 1 day free this weekend to weld (Other day is painting dad's house again)...So, I'll run a few beads on aluminum with my new TIG setup

[wireburner]

"...well thought y`all may want to know J/K..."
Are we supposed to care??!! J/K!!!
Of COURSE I DO!!! Nice to see someone so young welding!!! I just hope you don't find other intrest and give it up! At your age, that happens a lot!
Well, I have 1 day free this weekend to weld(Other day is painting dad's house again)...So, I'll run a few beads on aluminum with my new TIG setup

I still ain`t much count on aluminum , don`t belive I `ll lose interst ,as much green as I`ve spent on it ,plus I just LOVE WELDING

[Bert]

Happy to hear it!!

[wireburner]

in Oct. I going to give some more money to TSC( cheapest one i`ve find plus i don`t have to wait for shipping just take home and start buring some rods!) for a Hobart LX Stickmate 235 amp ac stick machine

[Jolly Roger]

I started learning at 8. I learned to weld with the torch before I was ever allowed to cut anything, by 10 I was actually getting paid to do it. About that time all of the oil companies were required to put up location signs. I cut the pieces with a chop saw, split them with a torch, put them in a jig and welded them out with a torch. I have no idea how many hundreds of those things I built, once I could consistently make a good weld with the torch I was allowed to start with the arc. By the time I was 12 osha required caution signs on all pumping units, pumps, you name it. I quite literally built a few thousand of those things before they had all they needed. This was all during the week, weekends I was the helper on a welding truck. By the time I was 13 we took turns, one day one did layout and cutting, the other welded. The next day we swapped. By the time I was 15 I was running the truck myself. All through high school I worked doing the same thing, made more money a day than my friends did a week flipping burgers and bagging groceries. I finally got tired of the oilfield and the boom and bust way it runs so I joined the Army in '86. I managed to get hurt and was sent packing at 8 years during uncle billy's drawdown. I went back to welding, got tired of the oilfield again (oilfield welding is a very dangerous job and my nerves were shot). So I went into construction building powerplants, then came 9/11 and top of that the great company I turned out to be working for wasn't so great after all. I still want to see the DNA results on Ken Lay's body. Yes my checks all came from Enron, and we went hunting a job. I used my GI Bill, got an AAS in Computer Science, had money coming so I went on and got my BAAS in Studio Art. All through this I kept on welding. Now I mostly do custom ironwork - stair rails, balcony rails, columns, doors, burglar bars, and quite a lot of repair work on existing stuff damaged in the flooding. I still do a fair amount of work on heavy equipment, which I have always really enjoyed (I like the challenge of designing and building things that take tremendous loads and just keep on working, or repairing things that have broken so that they can't break again. I do all I can to avoid pipe work and anything involving high pressures. I never really liked it much anyway. What I enjoy the most though is when I am turned loose to build ironwork of my own design. Well I can't say that now, what I really enjoy most is painting nekkid (you'll get that if you know who George Grizzard was) women. Unfortunately I still have to pay the bills, LOL. Anyhow, that's been my career more or less, details would take so much space I would be banned. I do consider cast iron to be a specialty, I like working with aluminum because of the special challenges, and the TIG just because I haven't been able to do it nearly as much as I would like.

To those who are just beginning, welcome to the art, because welding is much more an art than just a craft, and practice, practice, practice. And always remember, pay attention, because even the dumbest welder you ever meet will know a trick you don't.

[Bert]

"because even the dumbest welder you ever meet will know a trick you don't."
sounds like a man with PLENTY experience!!! Got pics of your work?

[odleo]

I guess I am one of th late comers to welding at AGE 42. I did have some exposure to stick welding while in college, but no type of training, just told to burn the metl togather. Read use lots of stick and pray.

[Bert]

Wow, I'm 46 now, been in the Ironworker's union for 2 years this August, and started the 2 year voc-ed program when I was 42 (seems like yesterday!). So I guess I started same as you!!! Welcome to the board, what kind of stuff are you welding?

[WelderBoy]

I was 19 years old.

[jonnymag]

Hey Bert,

Don't feel so bad. I'm 53 and just started welding this year. Took an adult ed class -- not even voc-tech. Learned to weld -- from you