Thank you. I sometimes think they try to make this stuff complicated to decipher. They refer to all the weldments welded for testing purposes as coupons not just the sections cut from them. In that same paragraph they say that for pipe coupons they are visually examined over the entire circumference of the pipe inside and out. That's what got me thinking about the entire plate surface and it said to not look at the sections marked as discard. It also says this is before cutting the test strips. So if you have already visually examined all the plate front and back and it passed and you are now going to cut test strips, why would you put this text in there again about the visual examination and not to look at the pieces marked for discard? I do believe a little a rewrite with some common folks on the committee might help curb some of the confusion.

Quote "Your code edition is 12 years old?   Are you required by contract to use that year?"

No, I'm just a state employed welding instructor that teaches high school students. We have a 6 to 8 thousand dollar budget each year if we're lucky, and we have to purchase metal, filler metals, gases, small tools and other equipment and supplies for up to 54 students each year. We simply can't afford to spend $500.00 on a codebook every two or three years. The ASME gives no educational discount and that's a lot of metal we could be welding on that year.