I don't write long posts very often, so read this one.........
STICKERS...... I've got a jackson hood w/nexgen lens that I use only on rigs because it offers more skull protection. It's got over a hundred logos on it. I DON"T ASK, they just give. As juevinile as it may be, It shows my reputation as being a good bastard, as they say sometimes - (not often) - in the oilfield.....
As for pipeline.... I made my own pancake hood with my waterjet, yes it has flames and such - But - they are all stainless and custom made - BY ME!
I agree with you jp2, welders should NOT be clean at the end of the day. It is work, period....
Maybe a common misconception about welders, (for young people, or complete -yuppie idiots-), is that as professionals we put our 8 hours in and go home. Sometimes certain companies actually portray the field as just that. How many of you, (self employed), go home at a certain time at the end of a long, hard day??
The fact is, (as Mike Rowe - 'Dirty Jobs'), will often say - "ITS A DIRTY JOB!!" - We are not sitting at a desk. We do not have air conditioning. We have umbrellas, and ice in the cooler. We do not have the luxury of a lunch break most times, nor do we ever know what time it is at 5pm.
How many of you have gone 2 or 3 hours past noon before you said to yourself, "man, I'm hungry!", or looked at the sun to guage what part of the day it was? How many of you often drink over two gallons of water and maybe urinate one time through the course of a routine summer day? How 'bout putting on spf50 sunblock, and still having a real warm neck at the end of the day?
My point is that of jp2welder's: It is function before fashion in this field. We are not winning any awards, or gaining any notariety by the way we look. We look rough because we are rough - rough and ready! We go out and do what many people in other trades can't do....... look at it, take measurements, and attack it! It takes more than running a pretty bead to be a welder. If you can't see something in three dimentions, and make a pertinant game plan in a matter of minutes - GO HOME!!!
This is what God chose for me, being a "steel artist"
No training, besides practical experience............who's with me? Better yet - who's against me?