Last night was my second welding class. Last class was all safety and a tour of the facilities, but this class we actually got to weld! And it was so much fun!
First we cut ourselves a bunch of pieces of steel. They were shaped like isosceles right triangles without the hypotenuse. Then we watched the instructor demonstrate the welding, and then we ourselves did it. It's not a short process, and a steady hand and patience are a huge help, but it's still a lot of fun! After most people had done their first weld, the instructor proceeded to show us to weld using a filler wire, which is a copper coated steel wire (The copper is used to protect the steel from oxidation. It burns away as soon as you heat it up in the flame. If the steel wire oxidizes it can weaken the weld) that you use to fill in gaps in the weld if the two pieces of steel are too far from each other, which happens since we're not always welding straight edges or perfectly cut steel.
I think that this class will absolutely be worth all the difficulty of getting into Boston every Tuesday after a cross country meet and not getting home until after 10.
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