Why I love welding

Date 03-24-2011 04:27

This is a bit weird but...
I rolled out 150 miles away to fix a 14 inch gash in a 1/4 aluminum hull on a 100ft boat about 1/2" above the waterline with no wind....it was windy as hell. Today I am modifying a cheap bicycle for an old guy with bad arthritis....figuring work on a party barge...get called out on a quick and dirty structural job over the the major fuel terminal in North Little Rock. 5 rig welders on the job and All is well in the man lift and and skyjack basket.....then oh crap look at all the welds missed on bar joyces and support crap....I had to start crawling and cooning iron...one foot on a ladder and leaning way way out for a two inch weld...wind blowing up 30-40mph welds going on above and below me...yee haw boys I am a weldor!!

I am just saying sometimes I think the crazy variety is what I really love about it....Been a long time since I hung around some Ironworkers...it was fun today and I got paid.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 03-24-2011 15:00

Nice to hear happy words... Made my day a little better!

Now... "cooning iron" ????

Splain :)

By kswelderman (**)

Date 03-24-2011 16:48

like a racoon

By waccobird (****)

Date 03-24-2011 17:30

Lawrence
I am sure I can't explain it as good as Tommy
But if you don't walk on top of the flange you generally are cooning the beam or walk on the bottom flange sorta gripping the beam with you knees.
Marshall

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 03-24-2011 17:32

Ohhhh!

I've done that!

I started out as an apprentice Ironworker back in the early 80's.... Saw three guys fall in the span of a week... My nerve got worse and worse, until the foreman finally called me down off the steel and said something along the lines of; "Son, you are going to make somebody a fine shop welder, but I'm gonna have to let you go."

By Skaggydog (**)

Date 03-24-2011 19:18

Lucky Lawrence! Your brake was so much better than the three others, betting that it opened doors to the kind of knowledge that you now appreciate.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 03-25-2011 01:08

Marshall I think you explained it just fine. Like Steven Wright I have no fear of heights, I have a serious fear of widths.

By welderbrent (*****)

Date 03-25-2011 02:47

And just think, they took all the fun away by making us wear a harness with double lanyards and two beamers so we are ALWAYS hooked up.

Go figure.

Have a Great Day, Brent

By Superflux (****)

Date 03-25-2011 10:44 Edited 03-25-2011 13:12

One must have the utmost respect for the deceleration trauma that results from terminal velocity upon impact.
My theory has been that for every 1 foot off the ground is that percent of death from impact. Say at after a 5 foot fall, there is a 5% chance of a bad landing that'll kill ya. At 100 feet, well, that's pretty much a 100% chance you're dead slimey spot for someone to clean up. gone johnson.

By welderbrent (*****)

Date 03-25-2011 22:51

On my first job for CBI many years ago we dropped two guys in six months from over 50 ft. Both lived. One was my wife's brother. He lives here close to us in AZ now. About 60 yrs old, BUT, on his 4th hip replacement, he has degenerative arthritis, bad knees, bad shoulder, and is pretty much a mess. And would you believe, he still does odd jobs but just a couple of months ago got put on full disability.

He has been retrained twice but the doctors finally said he just can't do it.

Have a Great Day, Brent

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 03-26-2011 15:22

I am way to old for that kinda work I think...I have really bad arthritis but thank God it is not in my hands yet. But the other day you could not tell me from any of the younger guys...I was unstoppable and I was having a really good time reliving my younger days for a moment.

Yesterday I had to weld a .010 SS tube to an ice auger housing that was about 1/8 thick with a scratch start tig off a little trailblazer....it was a chore just getting a suitable ground on the thing (surrounded by insulation foam and real tight spot). I forgot how much I love doing this kinda work...Something different everyday, never know what you will have to overcome..Got a box of free pizza and a coke as a tip to eat on the way to the next gig.

I don't want to talk about falls...I have seen a couple and I would rather not think about them.