"He who holds the gold makes the rules". In most cases the owner holds the gold or perhaps the golden check.
There are many reasons for the owner to insist on the welders being qualified by testing within a certain time frame. One of the reasons is that AWS only requires the welds to be visual examination, thus few welders are evaluated by volumetric means. Another reason is that many test reports are completed incorrectly. Why should an owner trust a proper qualification test was administered if the person administering the test can't even fill out a test report.
A common mistake I see where incorrect information is entered on a performance test report would be: "Progression: left to right or right to left". Now there's a CWI I would place my faith in!
The last and most important reason for requiring a recent test, or more importantly, a fillet break test specifically, is that the majority of structural welds are fillet welds. Most welders take the grooved plate test because that qualifies them for both grooves and fillet welds based on AWS D1.1 and most other welding standards. However, my experience indicates that most welders, even though they have passed the groove plate test, will fail the fillet break test due to incomplete fusion in the weld root. If they are successful in obtaining fusion to the root, they get overlap or undercut when they deposit a 5/16 inch fillet with GMAW or FCAW. As a matter of conversation, I reject more fillet welds for overlap than any other deficiency with undersized fillets running a close second.
As for the comment, "I ignore it". My response would be "Do you feel lucky punk? Well do ya?" :Q
It is funny the signature line is, "No one mourns the wicked." Is it truly descriptive of one's attitude, professionalism, honesty, ethics? I hope not.:)
I've been known to reject all the welds on various projects and send the trailers laden with the steel back to the fabricators for rework. I've also been present when the welders were qualified under a watchful eye because someone didn't pay attention to the contract.
Ignoring the owners requirements can be an expensive proposition. Hopefully it wasn't a CWI that made that silly comment. A CWI should know that his responsibilities include making sure the terms and conditions of the contract are fulfilled. If there are exceptions to be taken, they should be taken only with the full knowledge of the owner. Then again, if everyone did their job I would be out of work, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Best regards - Al