Look what I found as I was browsing through the wonderful world of the Miller discussion boards!  If you haven’t read these already, you’re in for a treat, and if they’re not up in your shop already, well then… I don’t know what to tell you.

So, without further ado,

The 10 Welding Commandments

1. Thou shalt not weld on an unpurged tank, for the noise will be very loud when the tank explodes and thy friends will console thy widow in ways generally unacceptable to thee.

2. Thou shalt secure thy tanks, lest one fall on thy foot and transform thee into less than a graceful dancer when called upon by thy wife or other female friend.

3. Thou shalt clean thy work carefully, lest thy gaze upon thy work falling apart as it passeth out of thy sight.

4. Thou shalt place thy work in jigs, or other holding fixtures, for the eye is a poor instrument for the measurement of angles and great will be the wrath of thy leader as thou art doing thy task a second time.

5. Thou shalt not weld near batteries, compressed gasses, or flammable materials lest a spark from thy labors would cause thee to continue thy chosen profession in an open field or other such drafty place.

6. Thou shalt take great care of thy tools and equipment, lest thy friend who is in charge of such things smites thee about thy head and shoulders for being a wastrel and a knave.

7. Thou shalt not perform thy art without proper ventilation, for the smell of toxic gasses produced by the heating of primers, and plated or painted sufaces is worse than a bad cigar and will remain with thee until the end of thy days.

8. Thou shalt not weld without goggles, nor shalt thou allow others to gaze upon thy labors, lest thy employment, or the employment of others be changed to sitting on cold and rainy streets while selling pencils.

9. Thou shalt wear sturdy gloves, for burns upon thy hands are a source of great pain when thou art attempting to raise thy bowling average.

10. Thou shalt ground thy work, when thou weldeth with a machine of arcs, for thou art a poor conductor of electricity and the shock which thou shalt receive shall ruin thy plans for thy weekend.

• you’re in the truck and halfway home when it finally dawns on you that you still have you’re tig gloves on -2much2do
• when working out at the gym, you spend more time examining the welds on the gym equipment than you do actually using the equipment – NewMexSmoke
• you examine the welds on a car to determine whether to buy it or not - metalmeltr
• the smell of argon and scorched clothing are nostalgic – arc~angel
• you can tell what part of you is on fire just by the smell –  raserspeed
• your safety boots could be used for tap dancing because of all the molten metal imbeded in their sole -Bubblemaker
• your jeans are starting to rust – welderman23
• you measure the rods you’ve burned in tons - triggerman
• everybody at the weld supplier knows you by the sound of your voice when you call - BartsArcs
• when you see a fire your first reaction is to put it out with your hands – steel n bones
• you sit in the living room with a propane torch on the coffe table using it to make smores - turboglenn
• you get splatter/grind dust in your coffee but you drink it anyway - Gnarcissist
• you have the needed concentration to weld while wearing flip-flops! –  linas58
• your wife finds all of her pots and pans in one of your sculptures – welder_guy
• you’ve ever set your Boss on fire – MattT
• you can identify different stick electrodes by their smell – Marcel Bauer
• you have more welding hoods than your wife has shoes – GilaSlim
• you have done the one footed hop from the hot sparks that fell into your boot and down between your toes -jhwelder
• your clothes catch on fire more than once a day – richcharles
• you have a completely different meaning for “It’s Miller time!” – SkidSteerSteve