I remember standing in my old shop back in the nineties, surrounded by a mountain of twisted offcuts and rusted shavings that looked more like trash than treasure. A younger foreman walked in, looked at the mess, and told me Continue reading Managing Metal Scrap in the Workshop
I remember sitting at my bench back in ’84, staring at a piece of sterling silver that I’d just ruined because I thought I could manhandle the tool into submission. I was young, impatient, and convinced that if I just Continue reading Metalwork With a Jeweler’s Saw
I can still smell the ozone and burnt coal from my first week in the shop, a scent that sticks to your skin long after you’ve clocked out. I remember standing over a piece of glowing mild steel, my hands Continue reading Pursuing Metalwork Training
I remember sitting in a cramped fabrication shop back in ’84, the air thick with the smell of ozone and cutting oil, staring at a piece of thin-gauge steel that I’d just ruined. I’d been too impatient, swinging the shears Continue reading Fundamentals of Sheet Metal Work
I remember sitting in a cramped fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a kid try to hide a massive pocket of porosity by just running another bead right over the top of it. He thought he was saving time, but Continue reading Identifying Common Welding Defects
I remember sitting in a cramped fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a young apprentice toss a perfectly serviceable tungsten electrode into the scrap bin just because the tip wasn’t shaped exactly like the picture in some glossy manual. He Continue reading Selecting and Preparing Tungsten Electrodes
I remember standing over a piece of hot mild steel back in ’84, watching a young apprentice try to force a radius with a heavy sledgehammer because he was too impatient to set up a proper jig. The metal didn’t Continue reading Methods for Bending Metal
I remember standing over a heavy slab of mild steel back in the shop in ’84, the air thick with the smell of cutting oil and the high-pitched scream of a bit that had finally given up the ghost. I’d Continue reading Best Practices for Drilling Metal
I remember a job back in ’92, working on a custom heavy-duty trailer frame. A young apprentice, eager to impress but lacking any real sense, grabbed a batch of mild steel thinking it was high-carbon because the supplier’s invoice was Continue reading Understanding Different Steel Grades
I remember a job back in the late eighties, working on a heavy industrial frame, where a young apprentice thought he could “eyeball” a measurement to save time. He was halfway through a cut before I saw the look of Continue reading Accurate Measuring in Metalwork