Three women at Butler Community College are working hard to dispel three myths – firstly, that women can’t be welders (obviously not), second, that welding isn’t as viable a tool as other art mediums, and thirdly, that there isn’t help out there for victims of abuse.

All untrue, and they’ve been able to make their stance abundantly clear through this one particular sculpture.

Women weld hope for those of domestic violence

Last Update: 10/21 6:20 pm
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BUTLER COUNTY, Kansas – Mary Coleman, Jessica Davis and Blake Rebholz – together they are helping dispel the notion that welding is a man’s job.

“When I first enrolled in the program I thought I was going to be the only woman,” Coleman said. “So it kind of scared me a little bit, but I was still going to go for it.”

It has been nearly eight years since any women enrolled in the program at Butler Community College – let alone three.

When El Dorado’s police chief heard about the trio, he contacted their instructor, Matthew Galbraith, to see if the ladies would consider working on a project to mark October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“To let woman know that they have other options,” said Rebholz. “Like us, going into welding.”

So for the last few weeks, they’ve been working on a sculpture with a simple message that in another week or so will be permanently placed in front of the El Dorado Police Department.

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Welding can be punny.  It can.  And just to prove it to you all, I have my handy-dandy-back-pocket-article right here, and it’s all about stud welding.  Just take a look at that title.  Yeah, I told you.  Punny.

Small studs, big impact

Change in stud welding material saves power plant millions

By Chris Hsu

September 1, 2009

Stud welding, an often-overlooked process, can have a significant effect on the life-cycle cost of a product.

Stud welding can be performed with a hand tool that is brought to the material. Photo courtesy of Nelson Stud Welding.

In coal-fired power plants, so much relies on the little things. Smooth, cylindrical studs 3/8 inch in diameter by ¾ in. long are placed in furnaces operating at 1,600 degrees F or more. The studs transfer heat from the hot side (the furnace) into the boiler tube.

A refractory coating, which protects the tubes from erosion, is applied over the studs. As the stud wears, so does the refractory coating. At some point the studs become so short that the furnace has to be shut down, the studs rewelded, and the refractory coating reapplied.

For decades plants have used 430 stainless steel studs, a material that has to be replaced about every 12 months. This can be an expensive endeavor, especially if unplanned.

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That article was “such a stud”.  Just kidding – I don’t think that was grammatically correct.  So, what do you think – stud welding – stud or a dud?

The Torch Queen. I’d love to have a nickname like that — well, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately (well, fortunately for her), this name has already been taken, and it belongs to Bonnie Wynn Ramirez of Indianapolis.

This Torch Queen lives up to her name by teaching her ongoing (and highly popular) welding classes in Indiana while still maintaining her Flameworks art studio out of Austin, Texas.

Local grandmother welds metal to dreams

Sep 14, 2009
Andrea Morehead/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis – The age-old art form of welding, before the hammering, soldering and sanding, requires the artisan to wear the proper gear. From the gloves to the goggles, this job is not for the faint of heart as the metal rain showers fall from the hands of The Torch Queen.

Bonnie Wynn Ramirez has been getting praise for her metal work since the nineties with commissioned work in the public and private sectors. The national recognition is the result of a desire for fire. It all began when she took a summer class.

“Summer in Texas, triple digits, welding, yeah. You sweat in places you didn’t know you could sweat,” Bonnie said.

The part-time course sparked a full-time interest for this grandmother. She then enrolled in the arts metal program at Austin Community College.

“It was my mid-life emancipation you know. No crisis for me. I’m like hand me a torch, I’m good,” she said.

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For more information about the Torch Queen and her ongoing and past projects, you can visit her website at www.torchqueen.com ->

There are jobs for welders out there:

Program Trains Welders For Shipyards

Welding Instructor: No Experience Required For Students

PORTLAND, Ore. — A local program is training a new generation of welders for Portland’s shipyards.

As part of the program, students first learn their skills at Portland Community College and the Swan Island Training Center. Vigor Marine, a ship-building company, hires the best and gives them on-the-job training and experience.

“You’re going to be trained to do everything: rigging, fitting, grinding,” said Mike Rasmussen, a welding instructor. “This program offers students to come in with no experience, knowing nothing about this trade.”

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It takes a special something to help women to enter the world of welding; many people simply don’t see it as an option.  Therefore, camps for teen girls, like this one in Decatur, Alabama, and free job training like that found at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, are just two ways that we can get women involved in what is primarily perceived as field for men.

Sparking an interest in welding for girls

Summer camp in Alabama provides peer-to-peer mentoring experience for high school students

PLE Staff — Plant Engineering, 6/19/2009 10:55:13 AM CDT

Even in the face of a recession, great careers are currently available in many technical fields, and throughout the nation efforts are under way to grow the workforce in those jobs through greater diversity.

Decatur, AL — A week-long free summer camp offered by Calhoun Community College is sparking the interest of area high school girls in non-traditional, high-tech, high wage careers in welding and electrical technology.

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In grade school, we were told to make a list of rocks and their degrees of hardness.  Talc was soft, diamonds were hard, and quartz was somewhere in the middle.  Then we had to compare them, almost in a rock-paper-scissors way.  ”Diamonds cut quartz.  Quartz cuts talc.”  And so on…

If you had asked my nine-year-old self if water fit in anywhere on that list, I would have said no.  And probably stuck my tongue out at you.  However, that nine year old self would have been wrong.

Water does fit in on that, list, and fairly high up as well, if only worked with properly.  Water-jet cutting is a fairly new technology and something that still astounds me, even though I’m not nine anymore.

Water can now cut through almost anything — titanium, marble, glass… — although abrasives will be needed to cut through the harder materials.

Cutting more than metal with a waterjet

Glass, stone, rubber are some of the possibilities

By Mike Burns and Dan Davis
December 15, 2008

With waterjet cutting equipment, shops are no longer limited to the world of metal fabrications. They can search for new business in areas that were once considered unrealistic.

Simply put, a waterjet is capable of cutting almost any 2-D material, usually up to 6 to 12 inches thick, but thicker materials are possible if the operator goes slow enough. The waterjet’s small-diameter cutting stream—approximately 0.040 in. to 0.050 in.—allows it to produce tight corners with very high tolerances.

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Do you remember the story of Flashdance?  Well, of course we all do.  Welder by day, “aspiring” dancer by night.  Wait a minute — that story sounds familiar.  In fact, it’s remarkably similar to that of the girl below — so much so, that they even share the same first name…

Dancer-welder’s life is flashback to ‘Flashdance’

19-year-old puts ballet on hold while she practices trade to pay for future

Saturday,  January 26, 2008 3:11 AM

CINCINNATI (AP) — Alexandra Harrill’s life as a dancer is reminiscent of the 1983 movie Flashdance, in which the heroine turned to welding to help support herself while she pursued her dream of becoming a professional ballerina.

Harrill, 19, has wanted to be a dancer since she put on her first pair of ballet shoes when she was 8. But she decided she needed another career that could pay the bills until she can make it as a performer.

“I need to be able to pay for myself, and get everything that I want by myself, so I needed to leave (dance) behind just for a while,” Harrill said, explaining why she chose to temporarily abandon dancing for welding.

Harrill had worked as a restaurant server while pursuing her craft. She spent three years with the Exhale Dance Tribe contemporary dance company and taught at another studio, but she found it difficult to juggle dance and work.

When her mother suggested welding as a backup career, she wasn’t enthusiastic, but she soon decided to trade her pointe shoes for steel-toed welder boots and enrolled in a three-week training course.

“I ended up being really good at it,” Harrill said. “It was pretty exciting, and I caught on pretty quickly.”

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You can read another article about Alex Harrill in Welding Magazine HERE –>

Laura Rose is a hull technician, third class, aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in the Gulf of Oman.  The job, she says, has taught her patience, maturity, and interpersonal skills, qualities that she will bring back to a career in plumbing when she returns to the states in three years.  In the meantime, she hopes to hone her welding skills onboard.

Goddard woman plumbs, welds, fights fires in Navy

BY BILL WILSON
The Wichita Eagle

Goddard native Laura Rose spent part of Labor Day thinking about how her life has changed in the past few years.

Rose, 23, a 2004 Goddard High School graduate, is a U.S. Navy petty officer specializing in plumbing, welding and firefighting on board the USS Ronald Reagan in the Gulf of Oman just off the coast of Pakistan.

In 2012, Rose plans to bring those skills back to the Wichita area to launch the career she didn’t expect as a plumber.

“I didn’t even think I’d be anywhere close to this,” Rose said Monday from the ship. “This definitely wasn’t on my list of things to do eight years ago.”

But two tours on the aircraft carrier backstopping American troops in Afghanistan have provided Rose with a career, in the U.S. Navy and when she returns home.

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The Crucible.  It’s not just a play by Arthur Miller –

The Crucible is an organization based out of Oakland, Ca that that trains people in the industrial and fine arts.

Ever wanted to learn how to weld?  Come to the Crucible.  How about blacksmithing?  Fire eating?  Enameling?  They’ve thought of everything!

My favorite is the Build Your Own Barbecue (BYOB) class.  You get to weld your own monster BBQ out of old scrap metal!

So, whilst I’m planning my move up to to Oakland (just kidding — although…), you too can get to know the Crucible with this video taken of a few of their welding instructors doing their thing at the Bay Area’s Maker Faire.

Get in the mood for Halloween with some… welding?  There’s no better way for the students at Pickaway Ross Career and Technology Center!

Pumpkin pyramid reborn for 2009

Pickaway-Ross students make improvements

By CRAIG ALLISON - STAFF WRITER

Published: Monday, October 5, 2009 2:17 PM EDT

The famed pumpkin pyramid, always located in the heart of the Pumpkin Show, has received a rework in time for the 103rd show. The job was a joint effort by the Pumpkin Show Inc. and a group of welding technology students at Pickaway Ross Career and Technology Center.

Under the direction of Tommy Collier, welding instructor at Pickaway Ross, students made a design, mounted the pyramid onto a wheeled trailer, fastened a towing hitch,  installed stabilizer jacks, and welded all the parts together for strength and durability.

Brandon Hart was the lead student on the team and was assisted by Burman Detty. Dakota Waggoner and Cody Hettinger assisted in the early stages of the project.

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What will you be welding this Halloween?  Share your ideas HERE.