2
Appreciation post: That old-timer at the union hall who convinced me to stop fighting the tape
I ran into Bill, this retired boilermaker in his 70s, at the local hall in Gary last Thursday. He saw me complaining about the inspector flagging my root pass and told me: 'Your beads look like you're wrestling the gun. Let the arc do the work.' I've been forcing the wire to look perfect instead of trusting the angles I already know. Has anyone else had a senior hand cut through your stubbornness with just a few words?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
hall.quinn8d ago
Honestly, I gotta push back on this a little. How do you know Bill's advice is actually good and not just an old guy's opinion from a different era of welding? The equipment and materials today are way different than what he used 30 years ago, and sometimes fighting the tape is exactly what you need to do when your settings are off or the base metal is junk. I've seen too many guys take advice from senior hands that ended up getting them flagged for porosity because the technique didn't match the modern wire. Trust your own eyes before someone else's nostalgia.
8