When the future looks too bright, cant be anything but right...wrong.
Waylon Jennings
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-29-2009 04:39
im going to have to dissagree i didnt know anyone who was a pipeliner when i started and i didnt start at the bottom i dont know how else to get in but to force my way in and thats what i did busted my first test they let a littel slide on my second try when i got on my first right o way they wore my boots off but i didnt quit or make bad welds ive been pipelining ever since but i dont know u & u dont know me so y would u say u deserve it more than me sounds to me like ur doing alot of judgeing of people when u should be helping them to get in to pipelineing not saying u deserve it more than they do . U CANT BE A P#$$@ & a pipeliner get out and get on or get over it i went an bought a brand new 300d for my first test had 10 hrs on it i looked green as all get out and i was u gotta learn somehow heck now im 798 who would have thought
That's why I said most not all.......
And I personally I know if they back up next to me to test they can't hang.........but even if the don't make it in the pipeline world they will weld some where else and they screw up not haveing any experience or training.........it gives every welder a bad name!
BTW Donkey your probably one of the hands sitting at home.... cause if I remember right I read another post that said your bottom of the list....
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-29-2009 04:58
mabey if u had given the kid some pointers to help him along he might learn something before he jumps in the middel of something he knows nothing about and if u got a bad name for yourself i would say its from bad welds not a 19 year old trying to break out .
Well we'll put it this way I told him right now was not the time to be trying to break out...... and maybe he should work as a helper for a yr or so or even try and find a fellow pipeliner to hang around.....but he was hell bent for election.
As for bad welds you wanna compare repairs per joints????? or miles? How about ut inspected welds on 20' seams???? you name it
I just figured if your so great foremen would be beggin for ya! And don't take this that i'm great or the best cause I'm just another welder
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-29-2009 05:19
i gotta go to bed im wore out from all this typeing i probly just got carpolltunnel i dont know if i spelled it right or not if i get time ill argue with u later in the week all i mean is theres plenty of room for me you and that 19 year old in pipelining more than likely that vantage he bought will be 4 sale for half of what he payed in a month from now cause he found out 3 bad welds means hit the pavement as for your welds all take ur word for it as for mine im ok not perfect just good enough to keep a job . lets make freinds not enimies . good luck to ya pipehead. PS who buys a vantage to pipeline anyway O CRAP NOW I REALLY GOT SOMETHING STARTED lol
By pipehead 
Date 10-29-2009 05:22
Edited 10-29-2009 05:29
Sounds good Donkey good luck to you too! hope you climb the wheel pretty quick.
btw now your gonna have cactus all wound up!
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-29-2009 05:20
i gotta go to bed im wore out from all this typeing i probly just got carpolltunnel i dont know if i spelled it right or not if i get time ill argue with u later in the week all i mean is theres plenty of room for me you and that 19 year old in pipelining more than likely that vantage he bought will be 4 sale for half of what he payed in a month from now cause he found out 3 bad welds means hit the pavement as for your welds all take ur word for it as for mine im ok not perfect just good enough to keep a job . lets make freinds not enimies . good luck to ya pipehead. PS who buys a vantage to pipeline anyway O CRAP NOW I REALLY GOT SOMETHING STARTED lol
Thank goodness you can weld.
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-29-2009 05:01
the very bottom to be exact unless something changed in the last hour when i posted that am i giveing u a bad name cause im at the bottom of the list
Mr. Punch,
C'mon, Brother, he was speaking of the absolute Greenhorns trying to jump in the middle.
I honestly think he meant no harm to the seasoned pro such as the man I know you are, breaking into a field unknown to him with his best foot forward.
Ya'll try again. :)
Thanks Rick
I think combined that kid probably hadn't logged 40 hrs with a stinger in his hand!
Pipehead he can always come to Utah I think thats what SJ is going to get with there latest move maybe he will love that 18 an hour and no sub pay. I agree with you this is the type of person who is cutting me and everyone else out of a job. And the oh well a welder is a welder attitude that all of the contractors have is as much to blame as all the green guys taking work while guys sit at home. I am all for a young guy making it god knows I was but I spent four years under a guy before I ever considered myself a welder. We should start a hack thread on here that would really piss some guys off oh right I already did that.
I saw alot of newby welders break out in 2006-2007 with a $40,000 Dodge Pickup, $5000 bed and $10,000 welder. They made $100,000 each year for 2 years welding for drilling rig companies in okc and woodward, ok. The oilfield dried up and they vanished!!! I have seen alot of welding trucks parked in bank parking lots with a big for sale sign. The sad thing, they didnt save any of the money they made. They had to buy the new boat, wife a new tahoe, and even a new 40ft fifth wheel. Now the bank owns it all. I saw slow times when i was a green horn, but i still could pour concrete, frame houses, build barns... a person will learn quickly to be deversified and save his money when he has it in his pocket.
Thats the story of every welder/Diver I know. Spent their money on liquor and women,sqounderd the rest. lol
I knew a guy he'd make about 2500 a week and the next week he'd barely have enough money to pay for gas to get him to work. I never could understand how and the world he'd blow 2500 dollars in a single weekend.
hey i'm with you DONKEY PUNCH!!!!1
He'll learn fast that he's in way over his head, probably wouldn't be able to pass a test anyways.
Best thing is to encourage him. The welding labor force is getting old not younger, no one wants to pick up welding nowadays. at 23 I remember being that enthusiastic at 19, however I had already been welding 3 years by that point and knew I hated stick welding and never wanted to pipeline for that reason. However I enjoyed my field and I was glad people encouraged me to stick with it and I'm happy where I am now.
Everyone has to start somewhere
So no one is supposed to have aspirations, they are supposed to crawl around and lick everyone else's boots hauling others leads and equipment around. In your post you didn't mention he had a job, you said He was asking how to get the job and you dummied up.
What makes you think he will get a chance before everyone else? Could it be he was young and full of enthusiastic questions. Weren't you that way once.
And You are telling me that because he is young and has only HS experiences he is going to mess things up and someway this is going to make it hard on the reputation of good Guys.
Pipehead
I too was once young and I too took welding in HS. I had a job as a welder while in HS working a half day in an industrial shop and went to school a half day. My next move was to head to Alaska after HS. But we had a thing back then that changed my dreams it was called the draft.
So instead of going to Alaska I volunteered and joined the Navy as there were less casualties in that branch of the service and I wanted to better my chances of survival.
After Boot Camp I went aboard ship and they wanted to put me in the engine rooms with all the other boot camps cleaning bilges and I told them I was a welder, they chuckled and I said no joke I could out weld anyone they had. More chuckling and they thought they would have fun with me so they took me to Repair division and I tested, To make a long story short I became the ships most called upon welder, and through my repairs both on piping and structures while underway we were able to maintain or commitments on the gun line in the Gulf of Tonkin. I had a tour of Vietnam and the Secretary of the Navy Achievement Medal with a combat action V and I was under 20 years Old.
Pipehead good luck in life, and the answer from me to your question is I don't see a problem that concerns you unless he bought the last box of electrode and that was what you went to the local airgas for.
I apologize if this post is crude but anytime we judge a book by it's cover we stand a chance of missing out on reality.
Respectfully
Marshall
pipehead,
Not everybody wants to be a welder. I want to be an underwear model but I'm too ugly.
I think some of you are missing pipeheads point or what I think his point is a least. The field welding side of our trade is being flooded with a huge amount of under qualified guys who are feeding off of the fact that contractors will hire based solely on the price there given. I would never hire a welder for any field work with less than four years experience in the trade he should be a helper first so he knows the trade first. There should be no shame in climbing the ladder and absorbing all you can on the way up that way whenever you do break out the risk is much smaller financially and from a safety stand point.
Your following me Johny....He probably won't get a job on a line or pass his test but some where he'll find a job that one of many rig welders could use right now because he doesn't know any better than run his rig for single hand pay!!! And once contractors hire one guy for little of nothing they think we'll all work for that then when we won't that kid or another one will slide in there.
Bad part is like johny said a welder is a welder to the contractor so even though they are paying pennies to get the work done they expect prime quality and they are not gonna get it......because the experience is not there! And then when you or I end up working for that contractor some day he's gonna ask if your gonna screw it up like the last guy......because he doesn't care that he hired a newbie or a RIGLET!
I don't have anything against young guys I am one myself (27)..... But I started young and on the bottom right out of high school.... but i learned and watched others and studied... I didn't just go buy a welder and try and get a gig!
All I can say for the kid is atleast he bought a quality machine for what he's trying to do! Not like alot of other guys that show up with a miller bobcat or ranger 250 ratchet strapped to there truck wanting a test!!!!
As someone that has just graduated tech college(at 38 yrs old). I have been around the younger guys that live under the illusion that they are going to jump right out of school an land a welding job in the field, and not have to pay any dues, They do not understand the competition that is out there. They do not understand they have been taught only the basics and they do not understand that starting as a helper will teach them alot more than school did, I'm not knocking their enthusiasm, but the real world will kick your a$$ if you live a dream world. Even at 38 yrs old with some experience in welding and red iron fabrication I know I'll have to start at the bottom and I wouldn't have it any other way.
LMAO!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS TO DAMN FUNNY MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! swnorris u da man
Wacco you your self just hit the nail on the head "while in HS welding you worked in a shop" thats a start and you prolly learned alot and made you what you were.
All I'm saying is 1 semester in hs welding is not enough to qualify ya to be a field welder! It takes years I've been in all aspects of pipeline for 10yrs working now and yrs before that because my family has been in it. and I still learn something everyday
It's alot different sitting in a booth burning rod on plate in a controlled enviroment then being on the Right of way in -10 or 120deg weather with the wind and dust.
Just a matter of opinion I guess
Pipehead
I know where you are venting from and I am sorry I went off on your ramblings. I ended with the main thought I had about books and covers.
I have been welding or inspecting welds for over 40 years, I feel a little different in that I had mentors early, as I suspect you did since your family has been in the business.
I know that if I had not had the mentoring and encouragement I would not have been as good as I needed to be.
Sincerely
Marshall
By strother
Date 10-29-2009 23:56
Edited 10-30-2009 00:01
I see your point, I'm not a pipeliner but I have been welding 20+yrs. everything from production to construction . you've gto to look at it this way either they will learn some hard lessons and work they're way up or just wash out and blame every welder or boss that expected them to be a welder like they said they were. My first real job as helper was working with an old timer he was probably 60yrs. look 70 and onery as HELL. He didn't cut me any slack and didn't want to be my buddy but til this day I'm still pulling tricks out of his bag . And I let my helpers no how good they've got it. LOL! BTW I'm still looking and learning.
Correct me if I'm wrong (it happened once). But isn't being on a pipeline starting at the bottom ?
I THOUGHT I was wrong once, but I was MISTAKEN. :-)
By DONKEY PUNCH
Date 10-30-2009 00:43
thats almost as funny as u calling yourself a welder .;;`!*):><~.' i thew some punk u ations in there for jonuah or whoever he was he said i needed afew btw cacto ur vantage threw a rod yet a ???
Hasn't thrown a rod yet BUT, it does seem to keep on producing $100 dollar bills at fast pace though ! And BTW, I know there will never be a welder as good as the Great Donkey A* oops Punch !
Who did you pipeline for cactus?
Who said I did ? I started in the middle of the ladder. I have NEVER understood the big deal about welding pipe. All a pipe is, is a round peice of plate.
Well you have said before that you dont have to pipeline anymore. A statement like that kind of implies that you have in the past doesnt it? Also if you have never pipelined how can you say that pipelining is Quote-"Starting at the bottom". A round piece of plate? That has to be one of the single dumbest things I have ever heard!
What I have said in the past is this....."I Dont have to weld much anymore. I never said I didnt have to pipeline. I dont pipeline because it doesnt pay that well. But for the record, I was welding pipe for Zaval-Tex when I was 17. I graduated High School and went to work for them
How do you figure that it doesnt pay that well? You can make $250,000+ and only work 8 or 9 months a year and not get woke up by a phone call at 3 in the morning wanting you to put a well head on. Last time I checked that was pretty good money. See I have done what you do. I've got those calls waking me up to go get the rig back on line, I've worked 16+ hour days in the fab yard cause the pusher says we need this rig yesterday then start driving home and get a call to go put an air bowl on an hour and a half in the other direction. I didnt like it so I decided to break into pipelining and I've never looked back.
OK Cactus here is the post where you were talking to Donkey and said "Im not pipelining because I dont have to anymore". Maybe you should go back and read your old post before you deny saying something. Does this mean you were wrong..... I guess it has happened more than once.
Well Donkey just maybe, besides being another one of the most premeire welders on the Planet, You should learn to read. I said "In My Opinion" and that is still my opinion. And another thing. I have been in this trade for over 28 years this year 25 of those ON MY RIG. I'm not pipelining because I dont have to anymore. And here in my yard my guys are welding XX wall high pressure pipe every day, all day. All of it is X-ray. The Vantages have no problem whatsoever. But then again I can see that your OPINION is that you have the best machine ever built. And all of the talking I do is from Experience ! Not because I read a book or heard some story somewhere. Remember this. A peice of pipe is just a round Plate. No big deal. Either you can weld or you Can't ! It just so happens I CAN. So I have a job that doesnt require me to prove myself anymore. It only requires that you prove yourself to me. Would you like to come and test ? Sorry to be so Blunt.
You also need to read the rest of the post..." So I have a job that doesnt require me to prove myself anymore. It only requires that you prove yourself to me. Would you like to come and test ? " If you are such a Hotshot then why do you spend all of your time trying to prove me wrong or argue with every thing I say. So, I used the word pipeline instead of weld like I thought I did. Whats your point ? And your remark about not needing papers in a Rig Yard. You must be in a Shi**y Yard. Everything I do is by API code which requires EACH welder to be test for the procedures set forth by the Engineer. ALL of our HP pipe is 100% Xray. There are plenty of guys in here that know me and have worked for me. Start yourself a new thread and ask them. I could care less.
Well if you dont beleive that pipe is nothing more than a round peice of plate I am sure you can find a video on You Tube about making pipe. OR maybe you think that when they make a peice of plate that it all starts out as a peice of pipe and they split it down the middle and stomp it flat with the herd of elephants they keep out back.
lol well u do have a point
Theres a sawmill in Georgia that used to do that with except they used old fuel tanks and D-8 dozer , or so I'm told may be stretch but makes a good story anyway
I must have worked for that guys brother we used to drive around the country and buy or steal rusty scrap for his sawmill. It sure is supriseing how good a guy really is when he finally has a chance to weld on new steel. We flatend ours with a skidder and a front end loader. lol.
Unless it's seamless :-)
Seamless pipe, extrude a round, run it through a piercing mill, then run it through a realler, sizer, and a few other steps and viola, a piece of pipe with no seam, and no birth as a plate.
So in theory, it does start out round for seamless, an ingot for plate, or a casting in the case of spun cast stainless pipe. :-)
By ssbn727 
Date 11-09-2009 02:35
Edited 11-09-2009 02:37
I concur Gerald! And that is what I was attempting to spell out to these gentlemen in my earlier post in this thread even though I posted it on page two of this thread! ;) I believe you did a better job at it than I did! ;)
Respectfully,
Henry
I've got to chime in on this one Cactus. You are correct that all pipe was once plate. But you have to admit that it takes a different set of skills to weld pipe. Usually a more skilled welder is required to weld pipe versus plate.
Like I have said many times before. Either you can weld or you can't weld.
Thats not necessarily true. My little sister can weld a bead on a piece of plate or weld two pieces od plate together but she is a long ways from welding pipe. So therefore "Either you can weld or you cant weld" doesnt hold up.
And Hence the Snotnose kid pipes up again !
What is it with you and calling anyone that challenges you on something a "Snotnosed Kid"? You really cant stand it when someone thinks your wrong can you? I refuse to kiss your A#@ like other people on here and it bugs you to no end. Why is it when I ask you a question about something that other people on here might want to know you dont reply, Like the one about this "new" rig yard your starting or the one about what kind of test you are going to be giving for said rig yard?
