I joined the welding connect group this semester. We met on Sunday night. It was amazing. Jack Harrington is the instructor and a great encouraging teacher. We had a blast. I was amazed at how much I learned in one night.
I had no idea that the welding tool had different tips. I had no idea about the pressure needed in the gas hoses. I had no idea that the pressure was different for the different gases. I thought you just lit the torch and it worked. Its like a lot of things in life that some people make look easy, but is really hard.
After getting a safety briefing, Jack got us into a hands on experience. We started by cutting. First we needed to see the power. It was so hard to cut a straight line. My hands floated all around like quivering jello. I told them to stay still, but they disobeyed. I practiced it a few time and my final attempt was better than my first attempt. I would need to practice for months to figure out a way to steady myself.
Then we we began the process that leads to welding two pieces together. He called it, “seeing the puddle.” We changed tips, reset the pressures and then began to heat the metal. As it absorbed the heat it began to glow red. Then a small round pool developed and it became shiny and fully liquid. The experienced welders like Bruce Moore, who was helping, pushed the tiny puddle across the metal gently coaxing it back and forth across the metal sea. Theirs looked like gentle waves the beach.
It looked easy. I started. The glow came, then the puddle, then I made muddle of it. My attempt looked like a churro, lumpy and beaded up. I tired again and had a bit more success. It looked like elephant skin.
I imagine that so many people are really in the dark about so much in the world. We just don’t know, but somehow we think that if we read it on the internet, then we know the whole story. Too many of us think we are experts at too many things. I was on the bottom of the pile Sunday. I was glad I had a good teacher who was patient with me. We could all do better at listening and learning.