Hello again frsmijr!!!
There are also alot of individuals that have achieved that level of success, who have worked for or are currently working either for the various branches in the military or the various contractors, and subcontractors that have never been recognized by any outside organization, at least in public records...
I would also be biased if i did'nt mention that fact that if you put these guys (with the exception of maybe two of those mentioned) in a power plant shutdown whereby they were forced into a "scenario" like let's say weld open root pipe or even with consumable inserts, go in there (Yes, in actual field conditions) in let's say - where the superheater tubes are located or any other tight fitting locations, without any practice whatsoever, and weld as good or better than some of the gentlemen out there that have done this for quite some time, I'm confident that in the end, their welds could not "cut the mustard' so to speak, and visa versa if the power plant people were put to the same kind of test in the aerospace industry!!!
After your "clarification" as to what you are really trying to ask the rest of us, I'm curious as to why you did'nt mention our past AWS president Earnest Levert??? I wo'nt post the web page because I presume that you already have it!!! I'm sure that if you in fact read up on all of your journals, and peroidicals, etc.. that you would've come across his bio...
One question I have is: why did'nt you mention any welders that have noticeable achievements in either Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America??? Correct me if I'm wrong but, did'nt you say, "the best GTA welders in the world??? I personally worked with some of the best in the military that have also written on this process for the military (USN), and this information is'nt available for public access... If I did mention some of these men and women (yes women!!!), I might be inadvertantly compromising national security!!! You mention Lincoln Electric alot, and I'm curious as to why you did'nt mention any of the other equipment/consumables manufacturers out there???
Also, If you put these people on such a high pedestal, then have you asked them who they think are among the top five in the world???
I'm curious as to what their answer might be... frsmijr! you still have'nt answered my question as to whether or not you have used a trailing shield before???One last question is: What is your background in GTAW, and your experience??? I think that it's only fair to ask you this since you started this post???
Speaking of posts, you mentioned now that you would like to keep it in one board, and not have our answers for your query posted in more than one board, then why did you post your query in more than one board????? Seems to me that " the cat's already out of the bag" so to speak... Oh by the way, I would tentatively agree with you on the fellow you mentioned: Jerry Goudy as being among the top five in your opinion but, correct me if I'm wrong, I saw a follow-up report on CNN about those weld repairs, and they meaning NASA, mentioned that they discovered new cracks after the article was posted in the AWS journal so maybe they need to re-evaluate their welding procedures???
There are alot of welding instructors out there that have'nt had the opportunity to have their names mentioned often especially most recently, that have some rather remarkable achievements "under their belts" also, that in fact do not do work for NASA or Lincoln Electric or have worked with NASCAR... To narrow it down to these five would be unfair to "Ask Elmer", and many other highly skilled, and talented people out there, just to name a few...
I also believe that other companies such as: Miller, Hobart, ESAB, Thermal Arc, Fronius, OTC, Jetline, Astro-Polysoude, AMI, MK, Magnatech, and a bunch of other well- known entities would also have a different opinion on this query so, to narrow it down to five would not be all-inclusive, but then again, that's just my opinion...
I think that if you include all of the industries out there, you could'nt just mention five because, some of the noteworthy candidates could'nt be mentioned in detail as far as their achievements, and the type of work they perform are concerned...
Nonetheless, this was an interesting query!!! Even though it was posted on more than one board...
Respectfully,
SSBN727 Run Silent... Run Deep!!!
I think this list, if generated, may end up very opinion oriented rather than factual.
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