Shielded Metal Arc Welding

Oh. Wow.

Wow.

Wow!

First night of welding school. Mostly we discussed safety. My fellow classmates are all guys. Some of them are there there for job skills. Most of them seem to be there because they're huge fans of a show called 'Orange County Choppers' or something, that focuses on building motorcycles out of scrap metal. (You bet your ass I'll be tuning in.) I now own a a helmut, welding jacket, welding gloves, and safety glasses.

And then, after a brief demonstration, we were set loose to learn how to strike an arc with 'shielded metal arc welding,' referred to as 'stick welding,' as there's a metal stick that is used as an electrode. Jeff, the instructor, moved his electrode (referred to as a stinger) smoothely across the hunk of sheet metal he was working with. When he knocked off the slag (a crust of impurities in the metal and a coating on the stick that protects the molten metal from the atmosphere), there was a beautiful bulge of steel in the path. Then, he made a second flawless path, overlapping his first by about a half. Continue that over the entire face of the plate of metal you're working with and you've increased the thickness. (And given it this really cool looking texture.)

Another interesting thing about welding. Those sparks, which are sparks of slag, have a way of finding their way in everywhere. And you get burned. It's part of welding. Jeff described it this way: "So a spark will find it's way on to the top of your ear. And then you've got the choice of shaking it so goes down your collar and burns you in several places, or just letting it cook in. Yeah. You get burned. And the next morning in the shower is when you get another surprise."

Cool, huh?

Well, I'd like to say that the first time I tried I was able to make those perfect rivers of molten metal across the face of the sheet metal I was working with, but that's not the case. Still, I took my piece of sheet metal with me. I want to keep it as a souvenir.

Welding rocks.

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