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Talking to a 30-year welder changed how I look at prep work
I was on a job site near Toledo last week and got paired with this older guy, Frank, who's been a boilermaker since the 80s. He noticed I was rushing through my fit-up on a drum section, and he just said "slow down, the iron will tell you where it wants to sit." At first I thought he was being dramatic, but then I watched him spend 15 minutes just cleaning a joint with a grinder before tacking anything. That hit different because I realized I've been treating prep like a chore when it's really the whole job. He showed me how a little extra time on cleaning and fitting saves hours of grinding and rework later. I've been trying his method for about 3 days now and my beads are coming out way cleaner. Has anyone else had a veteran drop a simple tip that totally changed your routine?
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danieltaylor1mo agoMost Upvoted
That old guy would lose his mind watching me do prep work with my students on a school project.
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Lol "the iron will tell you where it wants to sit" sounds like some zen shit until you try it and realize you've been fighting your welder this whole time. I spent years rushing through prep and wondering why my beads looked like a drunk spider did them.
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