Schuykill County, PA Hello my name is Jay Krout. Mike Fales from Mich. clued me in to this site, you guys seem to be the most helpful and courteous people I've met, and thats very refreshing after some things I've seen elsewhere.
I've been welding 26 years or so(NO I don't know it all and never will, and will never claim to), started my own portable welding biz about 3 years ago, things got slow around Thanksgiving , so I took a job welding for a small construction co I did some work for, so right now I'm just a moonlighter. Most of work I do is in the mining and timber industry on heavy equipment, but I've done fabrication for coal breakers, built a boiler from scratch, worked for farmers(last weekend I was knee deep in BS fixing a steer pen), built a backstops for little league organizations(that's normally mostly a donation), worked on trucks, trailers, you name it I've probably tried it.
To Mike Sherman: you're absolutely right, don't turn any work down that you can do, if you think you can't do it, sit down and figure out a way to do it, or talk to an old lad that's not afraid to to share some knowledge.
To arclyte; Best wishes, good luck, be safe, and God bless this is a great way to make a living if you want to work, sometimes you will work 2 or 3 days strait through, so get freindly with your thermoses full of coffee, and the gas pumps, and take a blanket along to catch a catnap on the back of your rig.
Thank you all for your time, I'll be here now and then, to ask a question or two, or maybe even answer one. Best wishes to all and God bless Thanks J Krout
From J Krout; Sorry, I meant to adress that one piece of sage wisdom to anglepoint, not arclyte1, sorry guys this secretarial stuff is a bit new to me hehe Take care
hey jay,
im from chester co, pa and have been doing side jobs welding for 4 + yrs. i love it and am trading in my miller bobcat for a new miller trailblazer 301g this week. i work for the family machine shop biz the last 21 yrs. i like welding better than being a machnist. maybe someday do it full time, but now got to give dad at least 40 hrs. keep on sparkin, Rich
Hello Rich, Don't know anything about being a machinist, unless using a grinder qualifies , however I wouldn't mind learning something about it if I could find the time, I saw an ad for one of those smithys or something like that, looks like it would come in handy for some of the work I do on equipment. I rebuild a lot of pins and I usually just make what I need out of it with the grinder, it takes a while but I get it there. But your right, welding is more fun from what I can see. I'm still moonlighting every night and every weekend, don't think it will be to long til I'm completely self employed again.
Was down your way this week with the construction outfit I work for, we went to Bridgeport to set some stairways and railings we made for a Dept of Public Welfare building we are building. Your tax dollar at work : ) Take care and God bless, and have fun with your new toy!! J Krout
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