I can still smell the burnt ozone and singed hair from the afternoon I decided to skip the face shield because “it was just a quick grind.” I was twenty-two, cocky, and thought I knew better than the old-timers, but Continue reading Safety Rules for the Metal Workshop
I remember sitting in my first fabrication shop back in the seventies, staring at a pile of scrap metal and feeling like a complete fraud because my beads looked more like a row of bird droppings than a professional weld. Continue reading Improving Tig Welding Skills
I still remember the first time I stood in front of a heavy industrial machine in my apprenticeship, the smell of cutting oil thick in the air and the steady, rhythmic hum of the motor vibrating right through the soles Continue reading Operating a Metal Lathe
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