Man of Steel

In my welding class, for the past several sessions, I've been digging a likely piece of steel out of the scrap bin. Then, I slice it into thirds or quarters using the oxy-acetylene torch (I'm pretty good at brazing, as the cutting process is known, usually making the cuts with little slag and in a nice straight line), and then I weld the pieces back together again, employing different types of joints. After my venture into MIG, I'm all about stick welding. Stick is quirky. It's official name is Shielded Metal Arc Welding, or S.M.A.W., and it's called 'stick' for one of two reasons: either because the electrode you use is a fourteen inch long stick of metal with a coating of flux, or because of the propensity of the electrode to attach itself to what you're welding. In other words, the stick sticks.

I'm still finding my way. I'm getting to know the properties of the various electrodes available to us, the amperage that each one likes, the welds for which they're best suited. Make no mistake, if welding was Moby Dick, I'd be up to the part that reads, "Call me Ishmael."

But I've decided to do a Project. I'm going to make something. Not a gibbet. Not a set of shackels. No, I'm building a rack for firewood. The rack will go outside the backdoor. I'll fill the rack from the various piles of wood that I'm splitting, and from the rack, I'll keep the woodbox next to the fireplace stocked. The design I came up with is fairly simple. The base is in two pieces, each piece consisting of two 'feet' made from 1 1/4 square tubes of steel connected by a five foot long length of steel 1/4 inch thick and two inches long. These will be placed parallel to form the base. The two sides resemble a ladder with only two rungs. The verticals are one inch square tubes and the 'rungs' are more of the two inch wide 1/4 inch lengths of steel, cut to about a foot long. The ladder-like sides will telescope into the feet on the base, so you've got a rack with a bottom and two sides. It will measure 5'x5'x5'. That should be enough wood for at least a week.

So I'm making something out of steel. I'm making something practical and useful. And, if I do say so myself, pretty well designed. Elegant, even: sturdy but easily disassemblable. I've got some other ideas for things I'd like to build: a frame to hold the birdfeeders outside the picture window in the back yard. A frame to keep my butcher block cutting boards in place. And a nice set of shackels.

Now I have something to save my quarters for: a welding machine. I can probably get a refurbished one for about $800. My father has a two car garage, and only one car gets parked in there. I can set up a welding shop out there.

I've got plans, I tell ya'! Big plans!

We'll see. The best laid plans, as they say. And remember, I'm only up to "Call me Ishmael." But maybe one day, I'll be the guy I want to become: the Man of Steel. Whipsman, welder, writer. And since steel is pretty much eternal, there, outside the backdoor, will be the rack for firewood I built way back when I was just struggling to keep my eye on the weld bead.

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