Why do people weld?

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I was doing some welding yesterday and wondered why. Sometimes it's handy being able to weld to fix stuff, so that's a practical thing. But I reckon half the time I do stuff that doesn't need to be done. I go looking for jobs around the house that give me an excuse to get get the welder going. My wife commented on the fact that there's alot of steel structures around the place and that it's starting to look a bit like a factory.I had to agree with her. There are steel things that could have been done with other materials probably cheaper.And it's not as if anything I do could be called 'sculptural'.So I wonder what the attraction is?It's noisy, dirty, dangerous (when you don't wear shoes as I recently discovered).Even those of you weld as part of your job still want to talk about it on this site after work.I bet somebody has done a thesis on the psychology of welding.Scott
Reply:Smithboy  oh where are you!     Ok, Scott, heres the deal.  why do I weld.  Well for me welding is a trade or a craft.  But to be in this trade and to really excel and understand all there is to, yyou gotta really have the burn to want to do it.  Obviously you got that.  For me I dont usually do a whole lot at home...for the house anyway.   I do stuff at ome, but like its for neighbors, or for the shop up the road or whatever.  Sometimes i go to the borther in laws and work on the work he gets.  He is a soley contract welder.  He works in construction and to supplement he does a lot of contract work.  Tries to pull 50/50 basically.  I dont really consider the work dangerous, cause I do it all the time I guess I dont think about it.  BUt yeah I can see it.  I also like to help those who dont klnow and want to learn.   Sometimes I think its for our own egos though to share what knowledge we have.  Right wrong or indiffernt I believe that is a factor in coming here.  Anyway, its good practice regardless to do all this outta metal.  IF done rihgt it will last for everIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:I do it because i love to learn new stuff and i think its very enjoyable.  There is tons and tons of stuff about welding that i dont know about it and a lot i might never know.  But trying to learn as much as i can and be able to use it to weld it fascinating to me.  When i used to want something out of metal made i would have to find someone that could do it and usually pay a good chunk of money to get it done.  Not to mention the wait time to get it.  I just realized there isnt any part of this that i cannot really do given the right equipment and knowledge.  I bought some watched others and read, now i cant get enuff of it.  Lots of satisfaction in a project for me if i can do all the work myself.  It saves money and people always want stuff made.
Reply:Don't worry, TX, Smithboy is probably crafting his dissertation now.Blownova, I also like hobbies where there is a bit to learn. I didn't know quite how much there was to learn about welding, though, till I stumbled on this site. I tell people about this bizarre internet forum based in America that's all about welding and they look at me like I'm mad.Yes, there is satisfaction in doing anything yourself as opposed to paying someone else to do it.And yes, there is something in the fact that if it's made from metal and properly treated it will outlast us. Maybe we're making memorials for ourselves?
Reply:Blown brought up another good point,  or atleast made me think of it  hmmm Anyway, youre doing all these projects around the house Scott, well this is experience on something simple for when you have something really importnat you need done.  For instance you may say, oh geez that ole gate is givin up the ghost.  Now you might say, heck why not build a metal frame for it and attach pickets so it looks like the original wood on the outside but its stronger and wont sway.  Might need to reinforce other portions of the fence around the gate too, but you woul need to do that anyway.  Or perhaps you have a trailer and someone borrowed it and they jackknifed it tryin to back in and your tongue is all managled. Or maybe they drove off forgetting to raise the jack up all the way and bummmffff,  oh now your jack is all bent up and mangeled.   Or possibly the wifey says, dear you need to build me a wrought iron fence.  Or perhaps your catalytic converter is bad.  Its $700 at the muffler shop, but its $250 to buy it if you can do ityourself. Does this not sound like some good incentives.  And naturally your buddies findout about yuour new skills.   If your lucky, you can convince them how expensive it is to operate this equipement and they will pay you something.   Even if its onlky half of what the weld shop up the road charges, your still making some extra cash.  ANd if your a atv'r or a hobby farmer or a hunter.  I am sure youll think of all sorts of things you always wished you could have done, or modified.  Whatever.  Now you canWhat a wonderful thing welding isIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:Yes, being able to weld does give me some currency in the tax free barter economy. I've done the odd bits for friends who have skills I don't have e.g. electrician, mechanic.
Reply:I'd guess it goes back to caveman times, man's ongoing quest to harness fire.  Besides, it's a cool skill to know, even cooler to own the equipment and vastly alters your favor asked to favor asking ratio among family, friends and neighbors.There are no small projects
Reply:Why.....? cause anyone can put a nail through a piece of woodnot so many can take two pieces of metal and have them hold without failure yeah Im a metal melting demigod (lol)dawg
Reply:Here is one thing I like about welding that wood just doesnt give you.  Suppose you have two pieces of _______ 8 feet long.  You need one piece of _______ 16 feet long.  If these pieces were wood, well...you have to go to Home depot and get another piece of wood 16 feet long.  If it's steel, you just crank up the welder and make the two pieces...abracadabra....ONE!  I built my kids a batting cage from old sign posts like this.  The fire thing is also a big factor.  As a child, I was a huge pyro.  Welding helps hide that problem and actually make it look like a desirable character trait.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Any of you guys read Roger Welsch's books on tractor restoration?  He makes some valid points about hobbies in those books - that it is a matter of doing something different than what you do for your job.  That as a writer, he likes getting out to his shop and disassembling a tractor, welding, or whatever to get away from the reading and writing that is his job.  Friends of his that are welders, mechanics, or farmers like to get away from the physical stuff and just settle down to read the newspaper or a magazine.  For me, welding is part of the creative process along with woodworking and several other things.  After sitting in an office all day, it is nice to get out to the shop and actually make something with my own two hands.The points about bartering skills and having a somewhat uncommon skill are also some of the allure.  What got me started way back when was my grandfather and my great-grandfather.  Great-grandfather was a professional welder around the turn of the century.  Developed a number of the oxy-acetylene tips still in use today.  There was a picture taken for a magazine cover of him looking stern with an oxy-acetylene torch buring in front of him that made a strong impact on me as a little boy.  My grandfather had some land and had a stick welder in his shop that he used to fix things.  I had great respect for my grandfather's ability to do many things and followed in his footsteps.  No kids of my own, but my nephew is going to be tagging along to the shop with me before too much longer...
Reply:I weld for the same reason that I make stuff on my lathe/mill/etc... Because all day at work, I make decisions and designs on stuff I'll never see or be able to show anyone else what I did.  The problem with working in a purely information industry for me is that I like to have something physical or at least visible to confirm my work and skills.  Welding at home along with those other things helps me to have this at least out of the office and therefore I recieve some form of self gratification out of it.
Reply:I agree with you guys completely.  After spending a whole day reading and writing and working behind a desk, even cutting grass starts looking like fun.  At the end of really hard days at the office, I hit the shop.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:for me welding and metal working are relaxing so i have a job but no real work because i like to do what i get payed to and wen i get home i weld some morejust to wind down chuckoh yeh i get to use my brain on the layout and fit up i tryed to do a push the button and take the part out job that lasted one day and i could not take it any longer .
Reply:I too work in an office, but I'm the boss and it's a pretty relaxed work environment. (Young Kylie is about to get in trouble, though, because it was her turn to pick the music this afternoon and she's brought in a particularly bad 90s boy band compilation.)Welding is very 'blokey' - apologies to the women welders who are no doubt out there. That probably appeals to us wimpy office workers because it gives us the chance to prove (even if it's just to ourselves) that we are real men. And like most ofice workers, I make plenty of 'decisions', but it's nice to make something a bit more tangible (even it's not necessarily required).To take Dawg's point, welding is also a bit of a mystery to non welders, so that probably appeals to our ego - most people like to impart knowledge.Right now, there is a graffiti problem around where I live. It's limited to a few blocks, so the kids are obviously local. My neighbour keeps painting over the graffiti on the side of his house and naturally it appears again the next day. He goes purple with rage and can barely speak. I told him this morning that they'd grow out of it and that they're just 'making their mark'. It's probably what I'm doing with welding - making my mark.Like Smithboy, I also like to make things out of 'found materials' i.e. free stuff. Round here, when people want to get rid of junk they put it out the front of their house and ring the local council to pick it up. I can't drive past an old bed frame without picking it up. They're usually made from 50mm powder coated angle. My wife has a painting studio out the back of our place and all the tables and shelves in it were once beds. (I've got my eye on that studio because I'm running out of room in my shed.)Now, to get that boyband CD and toss it out the window....Last edited by scott brunsdon; 12-13-2005 at 12:42 AM.
Reply:Metal fabrication represents a creative outlet for me, mostly in terms of being able to engineer something and then make it manifest.  Being part of the Burning Man crowd, I can and have welded on "art" pieces and it just doesn't give the same fulfillment as engineering and building something that serves a specific purpose.  I've only been welding seriously over the last couple of years.  It's something that I've gotten in to since learning manual machining.  I tend to acquire skills pretty obsessively.  For my next thing, I think I'm going to learn sheet metal and following that I'll probably start doing CNC stuff that I plan to build myself.  I think I'm going to get a plasma cutter with a CAM interface next.  I'd like to build an X-Y table and a CNC tubing notcher to go along with it.-Heath
Reply:Right now, there is a graffiti problem around where I live. It's limited to a few blocks, so the kids are obviously local. My neighbour keeps painting over the graffiti on the side of his house and naturally it appears again the next day.I gotta hand it to you Scott, you've certainly taken the high road approach to the graffiti-istas.    Are all Aussies as laid back?     With the amount of time, effort and expense I've put into my home and properties, one of those little ba$tards would have "ellivsiuoL" permantently imprinted in his backside from one swing of my Louisville Slugger.There are no small projects
Reply:lmao imagineeer  had to do a double take on that...aixelsyd will do wonders on ya if your not payin attention  IF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:Ive never welded untill about 2 months ago but wanted to since I was 10. I love the idea of binding metal together with fire and having something to show for it that will last many years. It only took me 23 years to get one!
Reply:congrats ryan...glad to see a new face as well.   Its been a good trade and served me well...hope you continue to enjoy itIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:Imagineer, I'm getting sensible in my middle age - the idea of confronting half a dozen testosterone (and possibly beer) fuelled 16 year olds in a dark street doesn't thrill me.As for Aussies being laid back, I'd say we generally are. Though in the bigger cities we're less so. Certainly when you head out of the cities things get pretty relaxed. In the two biggest cities (Sydney and Melbourne) there are the stresses that face all people living in biggish cities - traffic, high property prices etc. And of course we now have the added stress of being a terrorist target because our idiot Prime Minister decided to get us involved in the Iraq fiasco. Before Iraq, we definitely weren't on the terrorist radar.Heath, what's the 'Burning Man crowd'?Scott
Reply:For every process and every material, there is a point.Wood is nice, it's easy to shape, easy to weld (it's called glue). It looks attractive, it's (relatively) cheap, but there are limits. It warps, it cracks, 'end grain' joints tend to be very weak, it doesn't bend well, etc.Metal is nice too, it can be molded, it can be bent, moisture may cause rust, but there is no danger of warping or cracking, per lb it is a much stronger material, joints can be created without regard to 'grain'.IMO, pick whichever process is appropriate for the task at hand. -David
Reply:Originally Posted by triffid_98but there is no danger of warping or cracking
Reply:What's not to love about welding ... fire, sparks, more fire, melted metal,beer, terrified but admiring women, did I mention fire?and a finished article that will last .....My angle grinder is my best friend!
Reply:There's that primal 'fire' thing again.I'm still curious about the 'Burning Man crowd'.Can't wait to get home from work today and make some noise, mess and sparks.Scott
Reply:I agree, I also love to work with wood, like everything it has its downfalls but its very fun to me as well.  The right tools and some knowhow you can make some beautiful things with wood.  Last saturday i watched a guy on tv in utah that owns a violin making school make a violin from scratch.  He used no power tools what so ever.  Took him over 200 hours.  I was astounded by his skill, made me want to sit down with him and see what else i could learn.  If this instrument was steel it just wouldnt be the same.I guess for me both steel and wood have their place and sometimes they can be joined together to make really nice things.  Dont wanna get to off track they will move me to the wood forum.wood has it place for sure. Im a guitar player and a metal guitar just wouldnt be the same. Fine wood looks better then metal too. I am however planning an amp stand built from metal soon.
Reply:Burning Man is an annual arts festival/alternate lifestyle gathering held out in the desert each year.http://www.burningman.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by PAToyotaBurning Man is an annual arts festival/alternate lifestyle gathering held out in the desert each year.http://www.burningman.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by elderthewelderI make a good living repairing cracked metal, and it certainly has a tendency to warp while welding
Reply:Ahhhh, so that's the Burning Man thing. I've seen pictures of that before. Thanks.
Reply:lets face it , part of mens nature is to create . another part of our nature is to subdue the physical world around us . we do this by crossing rivers with bridges , laying railroads , constructing buildings  etc etc .. welding is a means to make these other things happen . when you combine these aspects of our natures with our affinity towards   fire , electricity , POWER  etc etc  you can see why welding is very attractive to the average male . Do  you think we would weld if there was no outcome  ie. a project ,  ?   imagine laying endless beads of weld for no reason ?  so we weld for the attraction to the POWER of it combined with the need to  CREATE something usefull ...  thats my take on it ..everything is temporary
Reply:I weld because .....................Uhm, what was the question??-----Oh Yes!Now I remember!I weld because I like to work 24/7, and to have relationships with companies that 'needed it yesterday' and their Shop Foreman used to be a welder and could've done it three times as fast as I could...(Always wondered why he wanted to be a 'Foreskin, erm I mean uhhm, Foreman).Then after I finish repairing a Sand Chief on Location out in the middle of the BoonDocks @ 4am (started the day before on another job @ 5am) I get to enjoy a 125 mile drive thru the country (21 miles of it was a washboard, dirt road that was cut by a Dozer Operator that 'Used to be a welder', but went in for the position of 'Company Man' then got caught screwin the bosses wife...blah, blah, blah)Only to get home in time to kiss the dog and kick the wife, erm I meant hug the dog and kiss the wife- take a shower and go to bed, only to have Schlumberger call from Tyler to tell me that they need me to get over there to look at a job that they needed Yesterday.GOTTA LOVE IT!Miller TB Pro 350DMiller 12VS ExtremeMillerSpoolMatic 30AMiller Spectrum 2050MillerMatic 251Look Out for 79 Year Old Ladies Runnin' Late for A Funeral
Reply:I think it is a passion people have there are book clubs gardener clubs, brid watching clubs, etc.  you always can't find people who want to hear about what you learned or what you made etc.  So I guess this is a place where you can go where you can be heard and appreciated.
Reply:I only weld when I'm out of rivets..... I do it out of a need. If I'm repairing / building / modifying something and the need is there....
Reply:I weld mostly out of necessity and the need to create....and to save money. I do not weld for a living...only do it to repair or create things.I think it is relaxing and I enjoy the feeling I get when using something I designed and made with my own two hands and some raw material.
Reply:Kinda like what faster gun had to say (but I AM the dozer operator that never turned to the dark side of the company or got caught!) I used to run up and down the road 5'er in tow. Just got tired I guess. Found me one of those gov't jobs that needs stuff yesterday, got real tired of seeing all that money go somewhere besides my pocket. I guess what I'm trying to say is that when the hood goes down Iget to tune out ALL the B.S.
Reply:Why I weldI HAVE EMPLOYEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear my guys break so much equipment its not funny.  I spend at least one day a week in the shop fixing something.  Plus I now am the resident welder for three other landscape companies that I am a sub contractor for.  If someone sees your good work, they get this idea in their head, that you just got to repair their stuff too.  NO ifs, ands or buts. Also own a Dozer, must own welder.  (can't afford a dozer yet, so at least getting its maintaince tools is a start)And when I do get free time.  I love to just sit on the floor of the shop and build something creative.  Lets my mind be creatives.  So its kinda of calming.Lincoln 300 Vantage 2008300 Commander 1999SA250 1999SA200 1968Miller Syncrowave 200XMT350MPA/S-52E/xr-15Xtreme 12vs Millermatic 251 w/30A  Millermatic 251 Dialarc 250 Hypertherm 1250 GEKA & Bantom Ironwokers
Reply:employees can be frustrating....family is worseIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:gottobegreen,how about some pics of your trailers? I'v built a dozen or so and new ideas are always cool.
Reply:Originally Posted by TEKgottobegreen,how about some pics of your trailers? I'v built a dozen or so and new ideas are always cool.
Reply:I kinda figured A and G from the first post, F would apply to me too, and E doesn't really matter if you do it right. Ive built several landscrape trailers for a number of companies in my area and I was just hoping for some really cool custom ideas that I could steal from you. glad to hear your busy. Thanks for the link.
Reply:I weld because it is relaxing to me to be able to make something with your hands more so when people don't thing you can do it. I have always wanted to learn how to weld and really got my chance when I was working at Roush Industries looking at all the fun toys the fabricators had like the sand rails and stuff like thats when I said to myself that I really want to learn that and haven't looked back ( plus it puts a little extra cash in my pocket)Will   Supports Autism Awareness                            My ToysBobCat 225 PLusMillermatic 130Miller Spectrum 300 CutmateEverlast Power Tig 185 Micro April is Autism Month .
Reply:Originally Posted by TEK E doesn't really matter if you do it right.
Reply:Originally Posted by scott brunsdon ...It's noisy, dirty, dangerous...