Think you’re having a bad day at work?  Just wait until you hear about Marty Rice’s bad days, cuz he’s had a lot of ‘em…  And I mean, traveling uphill to work, both ways in the snow with no shoes on, kind of bad days.  Afterall, welding’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Learn your trade, pay your dues

Advice for new welders
By Marty Rice, Contributing Writer

Welding jobs may not be as plentiful as they once were, but welding instructor Marty Rice believes a lot of welding work is “waiting to bust loose once the economy straightens out, and there’s always work in welding, if you’re willing to pack a suitcase.” Rice has some advice for those embarking on a welding journey.

I’ve paid my dues during my long and crazy welding career. I’ve had good jobs and bad jobs, good bosses and bad bosses, and I’ve met good and bad people in the field. In my opinion, one good person makes up for a bunch of lousy people. Which do you want to be?

Starting Out

I began my welding career as a maintenance welder at an oilfield and agricultural machinery repair and rebuild plant. Actually, my title could well have been “gopher boy.” There was a bunch of older guys and I, the one young guy. The old hands were mostly World War II vets, and the only thing I had going for me was that I had just gotten out of the Army. Other than that, I was a greenhorn—a newbie, a guy who didn’t know squat, and a pain in the butt. So my job was doing the hard, dirty work no one else wanted to do.

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If you’re just starting out, check out Arc-Zone.com’s Starter Welding Gear Packages.  And if you’re in welding school now Arc-Zone.com offers School/ Student Discounts!
What’s your story? How did you get started?

What advice would YOU offer a newbie?

There is a new welding process, recently developed in Europe, that is said to not only improve welds but also lower the skill required to make them.  It uses a “manual and automated GTAW wire feed control combined with a hot-wire power source” that improves the wire feed, weld pool, and weld deposition and decreases gas consumption.

Enhancing the GTAW process

By Ed Craig, Contributing Writer
September 15, 2009

Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW or TIG), a popular process for high-quality manual welding, has its limitations and requires highly skilled operators. A process used in Europe addresses those limitations, enhances productivity and weld quality, and reduces the skill level required to GTAW.

For at least six decades, traditional gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW or TIG) has been considered the process of choice for attaining high-quality welds in any metal application. However, this process has certain drawbacks, such as the weld energy limitation influenced by the weld pool dynamics and typically slow manual wire feed rates. Manual GTAW requires highly skilled operators who possess the dexterity necessary to feed the wire. Manual GTAW techniques vary, and the weld-wire-to-arc and weld puddle placement are inconsistent.

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In our post Welding in Pink, we talked about the company called Tomboy Tools.  I liked the idea of their company so much, I tried to find out some more information for you all, so here’s a little interivew with one of Tomboy Tools’ consultants about their “tool parties”.  Enjoy!

“Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installation at the Douglas Aircraft Company plants, Long Beach, CA, October 1942.”

Photograph Courtesy of the Library of Congress