arc welding, that is.

and to shoot a pellet rifle. i was 5/7 on the rifle. not bad. see damage here:

but welding was the coolest! ross taught me. showed me the basics, gave me a disk break to practice on and set me to it.

fear not! i was properly attired:

here is some detail of what i did. as the afternoon went on, i improved greatly.

basically, you have to be aware of and respond to 3 different things while you are welding:
1. your arc – need to keep it small
2. your bubble of molten metal – move it forward slowly, while moving back over it slightly as you move along the seam
3. your rod tip – continue to move it closer to the surface you are welding, or the arc will get bigger, because the rod is melting down

it is almost as if there are 3 dimensions you need to be simultaneously aware of. it is seriously cool though. i probably went through 30 rods. now i am planning to sign-up for a course at ACC. that way i can just practice a bunch. that seems to be the best way to learn. i wish i had the “touch”, like i do with baking (cookies, pies and cinnamon rolls, at least…did buy a new cake cookbook), but this will have to be a skilled learned with time and sweat.

why am i learning to weld, you ask? well, i have always wanted to learn to weld. i want to swap welding for scooter work. and i just want to be able to say, ‘yeah, i weld. i speak farsi too.” (farsi is still pretty far down the road though….)