First impressions of welding!
hey guys. just a quick update on things with me. so. i started welding. so... sort of. classes started a few days ago but we havent really welded yet. we tried for the first time today and i fuckin suck. like... really.... omg.. i just.. had so many problems for some reason. for instance... you have to wear safety glasses all the time even when your wearing the welding helmet. i wear glasses so i had to get ones that fit over them. well the safety glasses barely fit under the helmet... and they come off my face whenever i lift the helmet up.. my helmet doesnt like to stay up...or theres a screw thats not tight enough or i just look down a lot.. or... something. idk. im borrowing Carmens husband Charlies.. and because im borrowing it i also didnt know if it worked. the helmets now are auto darkening. meaning they're clear until you start to weld and they auto darken to whatever shade you have it set to once you start welding. they're also solar powered and have to be 'charged'. i charged mine for a few hours.. but like... i didnt know if it actually worked and theres no way to know until you weld. so i basically walked in and could have been flashed..but.. it worked fine so thats cool.... ive never welded before.. so i have no clue what im doing.. basically today our teacher set up the equipment, gave us a little piece of metal, we got our gear on and he just let us go. no instruction... just... weld at whatever level you are at right now. they werent graded welds its just for us to look back on our progress at the end of the year. so.... i get my gear on... i take the metal into the booth... theres the welder... the extent of my knowledge was you had to press the button.. and obviously move it across the piece of metal.. so.. i try... but like ..it kept getting stuck.. and i was obviously doing something wrong... and my safety glasses kept falling off my face because im stupid and didn't realize i could tighten them.. and then the stick came out of the welder itself so i had to get my teacher and ask him how to get it back in... and i set the welder down on the table.... but the welder is hot and you aren't suppose to do that... and my helmet was falling down... and i looked fucking stupid... and the guys behind me... idk... it was just awkward.. and sad... and ffffffffffff..... it just...didnt work out too well... WELL... then we did book work.. and i learned that you arent actually suppose to touch the metal stick to the base metal.. the welder heats up the stick and as it melts it melts onto the base metal.. so the whole point and hard part is getting a steady hand to move the stick just barely above the base metal... without actually touching it... i sorta already knew that... maybe its obvious.. maybe all of you knew that too... but ... in the moment... i just... i had no fricken clue.... so... that was my day... also... its really... really hot out... and we have to wear jeans, a hat, our helmet, long sleeve shirt, leather sleeves, gloves..... yeah... so... its REALLY really hot.. which... is annoying.... more then annoying.. i fucking hate it... and i keep asking myself why im doing this... im obviously bad at it, i hate the heat, i dont look like any of the guys in my class, all of them have like... farming jobs.. or they wear shirts with brands of beer on them.. half of them smoke or chew... some of them smell like cow shit... most of them drive trucks or sit there before class talking about engines or something... and here i am... a girl with short hair who has never welded a day in her life, who is liberal and doesnt drink and has never spent much time on a farm, who knows nothing about cars, who doesnt smoke, who drives a neon that has a bumper stickers that read "we are the 99%".... i am not the typical welder... and i find myself a lot just... wondering what im doing... but then... i read the text book about welding and i understand it. ive gotten my homework back with 100% on everything (only 4 assignments so far.. but still..) and last night i couldnt help but smile at the thought that today id actually get to weld... idk why... but welding.. just seems like so much fun. and i think its something i can learn to do.. im not the only one in the class who has never welded so thats nice... i think this is something i am capable of doing... and im trying really hard to just enjoy it... i keep telling myself.. that im only here to try it out.. that its totally fine if doesnt work out... that even if i just cross it off my list... that at least i have one more thing crossed of... im trying not to take it seriously or put too much into it or read too far into the weird looks my classmates give me. im trying not to give a shit what they think about why im there... im trying to forget how much money its costing me or how much the books and tools have cost... im trying to just... take each day for what it is...and enjoy and learn as much as i can.. and just... see where this will take me.... but... i CAN say... that if this does work out.... im moving somewhere reallyreally fucking cold... because fuck wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt in 90 degree weather..... welders are batshit crazy.... :)