I've been burning rod most of my life off and on. I never had any school training but I've welded for a living at times and did machine maintenance most of the other times. I always wanted to get schooled at it but I finally retired. Now I weld for home projects. I love your videos because it teaches me some of the "schooling" I always wanted to get. You're never too old to learn new things.
What a humble man you are: "I knew I was worth nothing and that they were paying me to teach me". That's the way great men think of themselves when, on the contrary, they are worth every penny. Best regards.
Great way to see things. at 17, I worked at Jackson guitars and couldn't believe they were paying me to learn. 40 years later, i still use much of what I learned back then....
You have the best arc shots on RU-vid and have the prettiest welds all around. Bet you're good at anything to choose to be. You're a cut above. You're the Godfather.
anyone can be a "bench" welder. id like to see him try and weld out in the field in a cement or lime plant. thats how you seperate the good from the great. if he was really good the slag would be peeling behind his puddle
DynamicOperations ....Jody has paid his dues. I've welded in cement plants, fertilizer plants, food production, pet food plants, military ammunition plants, farm feed lots, nuclear plants 200 ft. off the ground, welded in the rain, snow, hot, cold, you name it, and repair welded earth moving equipment for a Cat dealership for 21 years. I kinda know what I'm talking about and I stand by my comment.
The big question is why you're even here wasting time watching his channel instead of posting up videos of your own badassery for everyone else to see. Too good for that huh?
@@Enviousttv I don't think he's ever claimed to be a great welder. He claims to be a good instructor who is always learning and started teaching bc he knew his body couldn't hold up long term and the pay was better. Seems about as legit as possible. Don't see any reason to hate on something he has never claimed. If you think his tips and tricks are bad then you have a legit complaint.
I just started going to Tulsa Welding School in Houston Texas, and a week before I went to school I found your channel because I didn’t know much about welding, and going on my 2 to third week now. And I want to thank you for being very instructive, having high quality video, and interesting stories. Thank you sir
In my early days I didn't even know I had a crappy job till I got something better. 65 years later I realize just how crappy some were! We all pay our dues to get in to the old mans club.
Alfonso Lopez e......After 45 years of welding, machining and fabricating oddly enough I'm the manager of a water plant and have a part time welding shop at home where I pick and choose the jobs I want to do. Couldn't turn down the money offered by the water district but I'll be welding and fabricating till the day I die. Heavy stick welding like this is still my favorite form of welding above all others........all is good under the hood!
I’ve been watching your videos for some time now and I’ve picked up a lot of info from them. I just got my first welder and laid my first welds just a day ago and I realized it’s not as easy as you make it seem
I love when some one is willing to take the time to master a trade, even more so when that person is willing and excited to share that knowledge to others. This country has lost the mentor-ship that it used to have....so these videos are awesome.
Im about to start welding school this summer and i just came across your videos and they are really really and i mean really helpful. I have no idea where to start learning or the terminology and i saw your other videos earlier and feel confidence starting to grow and ill be a step ahead with the knowledge you have shared with your audience through your videos. Thank You Sir. 🙏👍
For lots of 7018 work, I keep a brick on the table. Nothing fancy, just a square paver. I tap the rod straight down, and scrape it to the side so starts are easy.
Yep $1.68 ones from homedepot there kinga redish color or atleast the ones in my wife's flower bed if she figures out I'm the one stealing them I'm busted
I was dual shield welding with 1/16th wire today, and I had my hood on the maximum darkness of 13. You are totally right about how bright it gets at higher amperage.
landed my first welding job! started school at 19(still attending) 22 now and I'm doing production welding(mig) haha it's a sweatshop environment but man feels good to be learning and getting paid for what I wanna do better than my last job haha mcdonalds.
Like you, my thoughts were; whenever there was a crappy job (and they are a part of even the good jobs!) it was always nice to take away something positive as well as the pay check . That positive attitude gets you through the day and brings out the silver lining on any pile of dung. Cheers Jody!
Really enjoy watching your videos, brings back memories of my time in the pressure vessel industry especially this particular video with multi pass E7018 electrodes. The only issue i had with the Low Hydrogen electrodes was the final pass on a fillet would often leave you with a shoulder but I remember my charge-hand telling me that because of that shoulder and the increased chance of undercut being visible he would say use a general purpose electrode to finish it off. I remember saying but we have got to do ultrasonic tests on the fillets and the metallurgy of the weld would be compromised. How little I knew as he explained the dilution rate of the previous welds having a single pass from a E6010 would have no effect and with regards to undercut you just made it disappear plus the multi fillet pass was then a perfect mitre of equal leg length. Keep up the videos I enjoy watching them, I no longer am in the industry finishing some 26 years ago, but i keep my hand in as i retired 4 years early than my government retirement age in doing steel gates and panel fences along with flat truck floor repairs with my Thermal arc 3-1 Fabricator 181i invertor which i really enjoy using
Caravan Tuggers Hey, you got words of advice for a new welder? I think my boss is kinda Asshat-ish. But the job is relaxing, we do anything from high rise staircases in NYC to 1700 artwork repairs for top antique traders. It’s a great job in that sense, but I want a kind workplace. With fun/ lighthearted people, can I find that welding? Or in a union?
Working at a pipe yard helping boost production for a project. Welding 49” flanges, putting down 1/2” fillets, and 7/8” fillets. We’re burning about a 50lb can per flange. Talk about some hot stingers, some hot whips, and plenty of practice planning ahead on beads!
I'm 66 now went to Vocational School in high school. First job I got was in a shop that manufactured blast furnaces and hot metal cars. If you didn't average 50 pounds of welding rod a day they considered you slacking off. They weighed your welding rod out and you had to turn your stubs in at the end of your shift. You're right you get to the point to where you don't even think about what you're doing, 7018 vertical up 8 hours straight and it was mind-numbing but it earned me a good living to have such a skill. I would recommend that any young man learn a skilled trade. Beautiful weld by the way.
7018 rods are one of my favorite rods to weld with! I am taking a college welding class and our shop has every welding rod 6010, 6011, 6013, 7014, 7018, and 7024. Thanks for the tip Jody!
I remember learning and working as an apprentice and doing the stick welding. Can not tell you how many times I got hit with a welding helmet for going to fast and not cleaning up the weild . Thanks that brought back old times
I know about sweat shops, my first welding job was at a foundry fixing castings, was burning rod for 10 hrs a day, 6 days a week. You had to stay in your "cell" as they called it until break was called or you were fired on the spot. Had the the 2am to 12:30pm shift and it was the roughest job I think I ever had. Did that for 3 months and moved on. Learned a lot in a very short time, it was truly a trial by fire.
At 60 I’m amazed at how the stories from my past seem to come to mind from time to time. I’ve always loved welding and even during my career as a physicist I spent as much time improving my bead as I possibly could. I use it all the time on my sheep farm now and it saves me many thousands of dollars every year!
Jody, you are a great asset to the welding community and a roll model for the future generation. I really respect how free you are with your knowledge and you don't discriminate between brands. I got a good chuckle seeing you in an ESAB hood, Lincoln gloves and a Miller jacket. Keep it up.
I totally agree with everyone that said something along the line of: You, J.C., are so kind & thoughtful, always doing your best to help me and millions of other aspiring welders & fabricators!! Thank You So Very Much , J. Diresta said it first at Fab-Tech, you’re our very own GODFATHER of WELDING and I think I can speak for all of your fans/friends; We love and always appreciate you for everything you’ve given back!!!
I've got around 5 almost 6 years experience(now I haven't been able to find a welding job so it's not what I'm doing now) but I still find myself watching alot of your videos still and it's crazy you have videos for everyone and even your beginner videos I learn stuff from them and it's nice
I had a job like you describe, welding fuel oil tanks for residential use. All Cold Rolled material with no cleaning so there was plenty of oil to burn through. One Lap Joint, two edge joints for the end caps and 5 fittings for the piping. 5/52 6013 just to fuse the joints. It sucked because it was so dirty but I got very good working with dirty metal at high current, this came in handy in my real job for an Electric Utility work when I had to close up the boiler skin after a wall tube repair in the Generating Stations.
Another great video. Very instructional - I especially like how you do not assume that your viewers know the meaning of terms or why you are doing what you're doing. Things like the "toe" and so forth, or a dry run for stick angle. I'll even give you kudos for the dentist joke: "tooth hurty," (230 amps). Good one. Also, the speed up to illustrate stick use is a clever way to demonstrate that. Thank you.
I’ve had the scrape burr. It dulled with heavy usage. Can still sharpen it but I didn’t think it was worth what they ask for them. Also they don’t lay flat on a table. I prefer a cheap Stanley 11” by 3” brick chisel for chipping slag and scraping bbs :)
So I'm learning SAME at this place called Schenck Job Corps and I've been kinda moving slow in the program. Been here for about 7 months and having a hard time making efficient progress. Then this one man who comes here, who's only welding like 3 or 4 times in his life blows everyone out of the water, makes me and my peers look really slow. He's been here for like 2 months and he's starting is G3 V-Grooves in a few days. I kept asking him how he pulls this stuff off. He told me to look up this RU-vid channel
Nice welds and advice Jody. I've been in the industry for about 3 years now and have had 5 different jobs. The first was mostly MIG welding auto parts. Tedious work and very repetitive, 60+ hours a week with low hourly pay and no benefits. From there I moved on to fabricating scissor lifts, which taught me a lot about measuring and layout, welding techniques, running saws, grinders, milling machines, etc. The pay wasn't great, but it was valuable experience that helped me get in the door at better companies. Where I'm at now I've run MIG, TIG, stick, flux core, and even a bit of oxy fuel. I also do some occasional machining and assembly. The crappy jobs I worked definitely helped me progress as a welder, and I got a lot of the really stupid rookie mistakes out of my system on non-critical jobs.
My grandfather told me to never turn down any job even if you didn't know how to do it. You will figure it out after you have to redo it ten or twelve times. Thanks for the great instruction videos. I have been burning rods for fifty years but never professionally.
I've had that same Slyde light for a couple years now. Great little light. Should mention that the end of the light actually has a nice strong magnet on it too. I've had several other small lights that have a magnet on the end, but its nowhere near strong enough to support the light when you hang it upside down. I've used this light countless times when I'm working under cars.
Better than my first welding job! Short circuit mig welding mufflers😒 basically not even true welding. Lasted 6 months, total nightmare! Now I make transformer tanks which also sucks lol they tolerate all the undercut in the world. Good way to learn bad habits!
I appriciate the positive attitude and genuine advice. I'm getting ready to graduate from high school. Trusting I keep my hood down hopefully I'll be able to pass my 3G smaw test at the welding class I've been taking since junior year and enter the field with some basic certs and experience. These videos help and give me some good examples of both technuiqe and mindset as I get ready to put food on my own table.
Very good insight! I never went to school for this so I am thankful for those sweat shops to get that seat time. I started out at Bise Welding and Fab back in 2000 in Houston Tx for 9 bucks an hr. I worked there 2 years and I got 1.50 in increments throughout that time. I was mad back then because the owner pulled up in a brand new Camero SS that he baught cash. Not sure what the record is now but 6 years ago, Kelly Bise (owner of the shop) built the Worlds fastest twin turbo Camero to run the Texas mile at 263.2 mph. The video is on gearheadficks racing channel here on RU-vid. You made a good point in one of your earlier videos about having a goal when you get into welding. Get in the game and move up the ladder. You dont want to be in your mid 30s or early 40s(in my case) crawling up under pipe or on your knees for 10 hrs on the day welding. I appreciate you sir and sorry for the rant.
I'm always amazed by the amount of thermal distortion in even the heaviest sections. That lower plate dished right up into a shallow bowl! How would you even try to control that if you needed it to stay pretty flat?
If say he was making two of those part he could tack them back, or tack the piece to a table and don't cut the tacks until it's cold. Same idea as a restraining bar also known as a tack bar.
Hey Jody, just graduated Tulsa-Houston. Many companies building pressure vessel skids are testing on a 6g 3” xxxl MiG root and hotpass, FC fill and cap 👈 Idea, there ya go🤙
Thanks so much for doing these videos. I am teaching myself to stick weld and literally learning every time I strike an arc. Even ur comments and stories are helpful. Preciate it man!
Currently working my first welding job. Sounds very similar. I knew nothing about spray mig I had only done pulse. I'm adjusting well though. Its the greatest place to get experience, but I only turned 19 this week. I have time to learn
That's a nice weld. I have seen other videos that the welds are terrible and without a fume extractor. Well explained. I love my trade of 35 years and 10 of retirement.
Good note about things to watch. I think that you could go into more detail on that. One problem with watching your videos, is that we usually only see when it's done right. I need you standing over my shoulder telling me when I'm doing things wrong. I do very much appreciate what I am learning from you and will continue to watch and learn and grow. Also, that slyde light is awesome. It has a magnet on the end and I have left it hanging under a car and took it for a test drive and it was still there. But get the rechargable one.
People keep telling me “welding will get old” but it just can’t I think. I weld all day at work, and on my brake I do some more welding (adding security bars to my trailer). Had fun with both.
Those welds look fabulous Jody. I enjoyed hearing about your 1st job experience also. I'd love to try one of those Esab welders. They look very nice with lots of nice features and seem to weld as good as anything else out there with a skilled guy under the helmet. I have an older Syncrowave 250 at the house and have built a 50 amp welding outlet in the garage for it. I have welded my entire life but never went to school for it. If I had it to do over again I would have went to school. Learning stuff by trial and error takes much longer. Having someone tell me to use 6010's for the bore casing I was welding is one of the best things in this world I'd learned. I'd been using 7014's and they just don't seem to like vertical welds or anything but flat really. They make a beautiful smooth flat weld but I'm not sure anyone could use those to weld verticals or overhead. Maybe there's a way but I never found it. 🤣 🤣
Thank you for this video and all the videos you make sir, I, myself, am a welder too even though I stopped welding a while ago. This video made me rethink going back to welding or at least perfect my technique, which I never did, I hope to be one day as good as you 🙌
I did the same thing when I was going to weld school. 2nd shift production welding , oh boy ! But it did give me some experience and I learned a few things in the process. I thank god that I went to weld school and got my career going ,otherwise I'd still be installing brick patios.
You honesty adds great value to your product Jodie. I really appreciate that and the variety of work types from Mig, stick and Tig. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
As always, great and informative video! I too have had a few "sweat shop" jobs. If nothing else, those jobs will teach a person where they don't want to work. 🙂👍
I used to like about 280 - 300 A for my 316 flat, usually 230 - 260 on the 5/32... usually 14 on 1/8... undless outta flat... loved keeping it as hot as possible on the flats.... depending of course on the position and alloys... looking good though. Fun vid. Thanks.
Yep, it pays in the end to do the hard graft, I'm a joiner it's the same in my job, when i was younger I took jobs not just to earn a living but to learn, one job on a student housing estate i hung 750 doors, planing, chopping hinges in & fitting locks, by the end of 2 months i could hang a door blindfolded 👍😉
"Get right back in and restart while it's hot", are you saying you can restart without cleaning the slag off? I had a chance to use an ESAB machine at Fabtech, my first run with dual shield. I loved it, thanks to you and JD for enlightening me on the process.
I'm taking my first welding class, and this evening I welded a metal file to the leg of my work station so it's always handy. It kinda blends in with all the spatter and crap. I'm wondering if the instructor will notice... It sure is useful right there.
LOL "the black booger club"...yes, I did some electrical apprenticing at a coke oven at a steel mill...black booger club indeed. Great channel, keep it up!
I have always followed the "light up ahead and burn back into your last bead" technique but after getting a job at a nuclear navy facility in Barberton Ohio the proper way is too light up about 1/2" in the last bead and burn over your stop and keep going. But that's very very picky!!! Lol never seen such strict codes until I started working there!
