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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / My new favorite quote!!!
- - By pipes (**) Date 11-10-2012 05:01
I saw this quote today and fell in love. I had to share it on here.

If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all. - Michelangelo

That has got to be the greatest quote I've read to describe welding. People think we have some sort of "magic". Little do they know all of the blood sweat and tears it took to make it look so easy!
Parent - - By Sberry (***) Date 11-21-2012 15:06
Mine are things people say. Usually when getting a quote.. My favorite,,,, I would do it myself you understand but I dont have the tools or know how,,, but other than that I would do it myself you understand.
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 11-21-2012 15:17
One of my favorites is the number of customers that come in and ask a price for some work then blow up and say...'I'm probably the best welder in this state but I just don't have my own equipment right now (got stolen, sold to pay house payment, etc).  That's way too much money.'

Right, just go buy another welder to do your $100 job.  See if I care.  I don't have time right now anyway, and they always want it while they wait.

Besides, if they are so good, who on earth would sell his money maker?  Sometimes I change machines at the wrong time and get in a temporary bind but I always have the means to complete the work. 

GOOD welders truly deserve a 'working man's PHD'.

Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-21-2012 15:47

>GOOD welders truly deserve a 'working man's PHD'.


I agree...nothing beats a good set of Post Hole Diggers, when you need them
Parent - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 11-22-2012 02:45
One of My cousins explained the degree letters to Me:

BS = Bull $hit

MS = More $hit

PHD = Piled Higher & Deeper

He has a PHD in Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering.
Parent - - By Sberry (***) Date 11-21-2012 15:59 Edited 11-21-2012 16:25
I also have a fair amount of redundancy built in.  I am a farmer, I am a welder by trade but this has taken over my time. I rarely hang out the shingle anymore but on occasion someone finds me. This has been a while but a guy calls, asks what I get an hour, at the time it was 50 or 60. Well he haws a min and says something to that effect,,, well,,, its something I could do in a couple 3 hrs if I was home, etc, its like a broken piece on boat trailer hitch but he is out of town so he finds his way over. First he says,,, oh,,, I figured more backyard than this, in 45 minutes I bill him the hour and 2 bucks for a used bolt, actually seemed kind of pissed.

There are a good share in somfacetet of this industry in one form or another, often it seems to involve "a laid off welder" from somewhere that are no bargain no matter what you pay them and I know some part timers handyman DIY types as good as any of us, they usualldon'tnt have the extensive tooling,,, well,, neither do.  Most missed the out of position stick class. Don't usually have a grinder it seems to get a booger or gob of rust out of the way or "its hard to do" no ****. Had a customer thought I would do a "temp repair" like the last guy did,,, or,, the last guy didn'tnt grind that off. Not only cant they weld like we can they cant cut and figure out how to make the grinder do what it will.

The one that says hose weld should have been first and the pic doesnt do the headroom justice, about 6 inches, to reach it had to be sideways and squeeze in at full arms length. I cleaned a little with a scaler and with a torch, no deal for grinding, I might have tried to pencil wire some, dont recall but it was over old repair where the guy had the right idea, even got some pieces clips tacked up in place till he figured he couldnt weld them in. At first the guy wants to reman etc this thing,,, ends up parked anyway like I figuredbut I reach in for a couple hrs and just weld over ****. fed arm thru the hoses, I didnt want to take it all apart and even then still couldnt reach it. Rust salt dirt in every crack. It was going right back to the dirt, didnt bother chipping slag but I knew it would work till it was retired.

It actually worked for the life of the unit, never pulled apart again. The original repair had the right idea, the guy just welded a couple easy pieces he could get at and skipped the rest. kind of like welding half way around the pipe and wonder why it don't hold water.
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Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 11-21-2012 18:33
everybody's uncle, cousin, brother or in law is a kick butt all knowing welder....if all the guys I hear about were what they are made out to be..... I would have way more competition around here then I could handle.  I think flying on your own separates out a lot of people and it is not a money thing either...I know a lot of folks that started out with virtually nothing and turned it into a way of life.
Parent - By Sberry (***) Date 11-22-2012 02:30
Usually it is a combination of things, a good share of them design related but once in a while its just plain the guy needed to be a better welder.
Parent - - By Oneatatime (**) Date 11-22-2012 02:42
I have only mastered the art of harbor freight 110volt grey wire welder thing, but i built a F*** ton a trailers.
Parent - By pipes (**) Date 11-22-2012 05:09
My "favorite" reply from a student,

"I don't know about that...my Grandpa(/uncle/brother) said...."

Oh that ticks me off! Then why are you here? Have your Grandpa teach you how to weld! Oh he's a tool salesman? Well then, that changes everything! I'm sure he has had thousands of hours of welding in the snow, rain and wind hanging upside down from his bootlaces with a mirror in his teeth on a jobsite in some Godforsaken one horse town in northern WI in February. No? Hmm....

Sorry, I got carried away.
Parent - - By Oneatatime (**) Date 11-22-2012 07:53
If you watch its double....
Parent - - By Sberry (***) Date 11-22-2012 13:03
I was sick the other day. near death and got a call from someone we know, a wood boiler with a "little leak" while the service man was there. I didnt say much but sent my brother over with big service truck, came back about 4 hrs later black. I am not sure how much a service type could do without being a welder but I already know by the sound of the call. I don't even want those anymore, tape a stinger to a rebar to try and fill a rust hole in the back of a stove, only better thing is if someone already tried to repair it.

  I am with a couple of those stastments too,, "someone told me",, "thats what I heard".   "I have been welding a long time, 20 yrs"  I got to ask, what electrode you using?    Electrode????    Ohhh,, the rod.. You know,,, the brown ones.  Does the machine have one knob or 2,,,, I think it has one.  I have a little trouble with vertical and overhead though. I tried t turn it fown to 70 but it font help,,, hahaha
Parent - - By Sberry (***) Date 11-22-2012 13:28
2 guys swearing, beating, its the machine, its junk, the rods are no good, ****,,, 5/32 and the dial on 70. , both of them swear up and down they are pros.
Parent - - By jsdwelder (***) Date 12-04-2012 21:05
I once heard my boss tell a guy a good one I'll never forget. The guy said to us the famous line " I've been welding for 20 years". My boss looked back and said to him- "That doesn't mean you've been doing right for 20 years". So true....
Parent - By Cumminsguy71 (*****) Date 12-04-2012 21:40
You guys that are welders think everybody is a welder, heck, you should have tried being a mechanic. You think everybody and their brother is a welder? Then your wrong, they're all to busy being mechanics first, welding is just their second profession!! LOL!!!
Parent - By Blaster (***) Date 12-05-2012 01:20
"A welder?"  "I used to be a welder..."
Parent - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 12-05-2012 05:44
"Don't believe everything You think"

I wish I could take credit for this one, I saw it on a bumper sticker.
- - By Paladin (***) Date 12-05-2012 02:20
Long time ago my foreman told me he was once cutting plate with a track torch. The torch hit a defect in the plate, an air pocket or lamination, and did not cut all the way through.
While Herb was hitting the plate with a sledge to break it apart, the owner of the shop came out and said, " Son, if you are going to beat it apart, don't be waisting my oxygen and acetylene on it."

Floyd
Parent - By pipes (**) Date 12-05-2012 05:20
HA! That's awesome, I'm so using that!
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / My new favorite quote!!!

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