Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Welding

That's the issue I've ran into around here. GM combined millwrights, pipe fitters, tin bangers and welders into one trade (millwrights). I know who to trust with the welding I need done and who to run from if they've done some welding on parts I need to machine.

That's why I do my own

Welding and machining

I don't believe you can just "decide" to become a good Welder,

it takes skills that you may or may not have.

Also, every time I'm around Welders over the age of maybe 45 or so, I hear the same thing others have mentioned, the aging eyesight is a huge hindrance...

Teal, nothing personal, but real soon you're gonna have to figure out what you want to be when you grow up.

Welding is looking good right now and is supposed to stay strong as more welders are retiring than what are being added. I've been in the trade since the late 80's and I've never seen so many job openings. But on the flipside, there are lots of low pay welding jobs that will have you looking for something else real quick. If you want the big money, you have to hit the road for a few years.

Welding is a perishable skill also. To go through a couple years of welding school and hope to fall back on your skills if you're away from it for any length of time isn't a good plan if you want to get a good paying welding job. Passing a cert test of any difficulty isn't likely either if you don't stay sharp.

How old are you Teal? Welding is best started young when eyes and hand/eye coordination is at its best. I've also seen a lot of broke-down welders by the time they reach their later 50's.

Some of the CNC machining I've been around could be done by monkeys and the pay reflects it.

If I were to pick up another trade or start all over again, I might forgo welding and be a electrician. We ain't going away from electricity anytime soon and the pay is always good.

Operators are a dime a dozen. There is money to be made if someone has experience with set up/fixturing parts.

I used to mark the Cycle Start button "operator banana dispenser" till a boss told me I couldn't do it any more.

There isn't a thing in the world I can't learn. The point of the welding/CNC decision isn't a career change but to have options should I really decide to phugg the office life. I am completing a 4 year degree in 20 months with a perfect 4.0 while working full time and putting in approximately 5 to 10% of the recommended time for homework in my classes. I don't say that to brag but to point out - I'm no dummy.

The additional schooling is to simply learn something for the sake of learning while burning up the benefits I earned. I think it's ridiculous to leave them on the table. There's not enough there to get another 4 year degree (nor the desire to push as hard as I have the last year, it's really messing with my walleye and pike fishing) but there's enough to learn something new. But it makes no sense learning something that has little value down the line. Who knows - the right opportunity comes along and I go with it.

I'm good at my job, but there's little challenge. I'm busy but not challenged if that makes sense.

I've done home construction (HVAC, carpentry and insulation), run a 980F front end loader at a lime plant, truck driver, been a service writer for OEM Class 8 dealership among other things. I speak English, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, some German and understand some Russian. Learned those in less than a year. Serbo/Cro to native speaker fluency.

Point being - I've never figured on a career being who/what I am but just a means to an end and most end up boring me eventually - I see no nobility in doing the same thing for 40 years straight. I do what interests me.

I'll never be something when I grow up - I simply will do the "next thing that interests me".

Can't - blue/green and red/orange color deficient. There must be a billion homes wired by guys who were/are color blind before testing was normal but it ain't happening today.

Pick up a basic machining class and go from there. It isn't a cheap hobby...

I understand what your saying,,,,I think......

4.0 grades and speaking Croation means nothing when it comes to Welding, you have the physical abilities or you don't.

It just seems like your always bored, or unhappy with your current gig, If your gonna get "additional schooling", isn't there something that really ignites your interests, so to speak?

If you have to fall back on Welding at age 48 (example), your most likely gonna struggle, or fail. And you continually mention " having something to fall back on"...

I got a friend, also very smart, with a Masters degree and other various degrees and certifications,

basically he was a lifelong student with NO real world hands-on job experience,

In his mid-40's, he is currently working for a Armored truck courier, picking up the cash, pistol strapped to his side, and bored out of his mind.

I hope you find what ever it is that you are looking for..

I'm not necessarily unhappy - just bored. It's too easy. Think of something you do well - how many times can you do it over and over before you're bored with it? (professionally)

There's zero challenge. Even BS made up challenges. I'm good at it, it pays the bills but doesn't stretch the mind. Excel probably makes more people blind than anything. I've been in transportation my whole life. I was on the road with my uncle or grandfather, unloading trucks when I was 7. I've been a lumper, driver, shipping and receiving clerk, service writer, M&R specialist, intermodal specialist etc.

Taking the welding/machining classes - I hope to stretch the mind some. Be forced to figure things out that I haven't had to in the past. Whatever I've put my mind to - even things requiring physical talent - I've achieved. This is simply one more thing on that list. If I can drive an 18 speed, eat a burger and talk on the CB at the same time - I can learn other things requiring physical dexterity. That's not nearly as difficult as learning proper buoyancy control where you can hover 18 inches off the bottom of a lake, rise over an object and then back to those 18 inches without using your hands - only inhale/exhale.

I am always bored - sorry but what others find difficult, I don't.

Hoping that the mental gymnastics of welding/fab or machining would provide that - even if it's a short while and quite honestly, the classes are literally free for me.

I'm not quitting my job for this - just simply stating that burning the rest of my GI benefits on a tech degree/cert for cooking (as an example) makes little sense as there's zero chance I could/would fall back on it.

Skills - any skills, are always useful and I was here asking which of these 2 would others see as the most useful.

If forced - I'd probably go back to driving truck under my own authority before anything else.

I do have a huge broad base of life experience as everything I've ever studied or learned was OJT or done outside of work. I've never really been a full time student with nothing else to do. Always at night.

Was simply asking other's opinions on the 2 skills and what they saw/thought of them as full time work because like anything - it's fun for 45 minutes at a crack. A 15 hour day is completely different. Plan on the 15 hour day, be enthralled when it's not.

I'm pretty much going to always agree with my good buddy crossfireoops on this since his expertise in this field is second to none. By the way I went in for a weld test today . With what has been said, the more you can get under your belt the better. Steel/metal trades and construction based knowledge is great. Personally I'd also suggest getting a CDL and other certifications pertaining to the trade. To give you an idea, I am state certified and ABS/Coast guard certified in all positions (most of my work is done in the marine industry), have an AA in machine tool tech and about 8 terms of college welding. I am also state LBC crane certified. Every little bit helps in this trade, trust me...

Class A with tanker endorsement. Used to have Hazmat but let it go after 9/11 - wasn't using it and didn't feel like paying the $$ unless someone was paying me for it too.

At last count, a week or so ago, I had ~350 welders working on my project. The majority are very young and most all are very good. Just reached 65,000 pipe spools installed. It ain't rocket science.

The last "office job" I had wasn't exciting, but it paid north of $45 an hour. Sometimes shuffling papers in the air conditioning isn't too bad.

My daughter works for Miller. They just finished paying for her MBA. She's in the marketing Dept. for the Hobart division. I told her 4 years ago when she took the job she'd have to learn how to weld and she's pretty good. Doesn't have to do it for a living but she knows enough.

As far as manual machining goes, it is dead opportunities are few and far between. Everything is now CNC, operator pay is $18 and hour or so, somewhat more if you can set-up or program. In my 40+ year career as a Journeyman Tool & Die Maker I did some CNC set-up and operate work. Found it to be boring due to the volume and pace of the work, too repetitive. As a Tool & Die Maker I had reached the top of the scale with my employer making mid $60K which was in the top 1-2% of Toolmakers nationally. To make it possible to continue getting merit increases the company reclassified several of us at the top of the T&D pay scale. Since we were doing the work of Manufacturing Engineers and some of us had our CMfgE Certification we were bumped into the MfgE payscale. I was riffed when the economy tanked in '09 and after an intensive 18 month job search could not find work as a Toolmaker, largely due to age discrimination. I finished the last 18 months of my career working in Quality Assurance.

What's she working on there? Looks VW Bug ish but I know it's not.

Teal, if you're bored all the time you need an outside job.


Welding at -20F.




And if anyone needs a halfass weld done I'm your man!

Actually took welding in high school and got the basics down but IMO welding is an art. Anyone can 'weld' but a good welder is an entirely different story.

looks like a mustang fastback.

Sam I totally understand , I learned to weld at home at like 12YO than had welding class in HS AG classes . I've stuck lots of things together,some may look like a cow's ass sewed up with a grape vine but they always held together.