Page 30 - HIWT Fall 2011 World of Welding

THE WORLD OF WELDING http://www.welding.org

Then, after you get your tools in place, you have to pull your
letters to tHe editor
lead, (sometimes a couple hundred feet of 500 amp lead.)
Then after getting set up and working your backside off, you
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have to complete a position pipe weld of X-ray quality with a
time constraint, doing all this with a boss usually pushing for
production and watching your work as you go.
I have two of your DVD teaching series and use them all the
time; like your school, they are second to none. We would The welder gets hot, sweaty, and aggravated. Sometimes its
have many more of your training series, but with New Jersey’s so loud and noisy you cannot even hear the 9" angle grinder
budget we are lucky to even have gas and metal at this point. whizzing at full speed in your hands while working out of a
bouncy JLG lift basket. These are the fun times. I have had
It’s been a wonderful and fulfilling 30 years, I’m really blessed and even more experiences chasing jobs around the country
to find something I love to do and at the same time help others when top pay was 11 bucks an hour with no per-diem. So we
- I’m proud to say that I have about 80 students working in men folk that are welders that had to chase those hard money
the trade and staying out of jail. Unfortunately education is jobs, low paying jobs, and jobs full of hassles and hard times
not a priority in New Jersey’s Department of Corrections and are on a skill level that women can never touch.
funding for it is next to nothing. It’s sad because the welding
field is such a perfect fit with ex-felons, partially because it’s a If it was that easy or if they were that good, women would
good paying trade, and employers aren’t as concerned about be racing to get in the field. But when they realize they have
a welder’s past history as they would be for other careers. I to pull that lead, tote their tool buckets, climb those A-frame
spend most of my energy now just keeping the program going ladders and make a weld off the top at 45-ft. with it swaying,
a few more months. Had the funding continued, I would have then that does cut the wanna-be’s from the real welders that
happily worked another 15 years. through sweat, blood, and hours of hard work made it. Can
she pass the 70-lb. lifting test??? (Those are the real welders,
Thanks a lot for the poster and the brochures, both my not someone that came up in their daddy’s shop and eventually
students and I will appreciate them and thanks for all your learned some skills.)
great writing. One of my students was just talking to me today
with great enthusiasm about an article he read in The World By the way, I just wonder who dished out the $3,000 or so,
Of Welding. Thanks for all you do! ~ C. Cramer, so she could take that inspection test? Did she chase jobs
Teacher 1 Welding, New Jersey Dept. of Corrections
for years struggling to save or did her daddy also pay her
way? I am just speaking out for the very hard working men
Dear Ma’am/Sir.
out there that have put the welding industry where it is today
without any recognition. I hope you put this full article in your
About that article with Ashley McElwain, (World of Welding, magazine for others to read and realize as a welder it is very
Spring 2011, page 5) it sounds nice how her family had the hard work. That’s why women don’t choose it, in my opinion.
resources to teach her a talent as she was growing up and she They would rather have an easy office job as an inspector
eventually picked up her welding skills. I agree, some (few) pushing a pencil instead of a 3/16" 8018 at 350 amps...
women do make it in the welding industry.
right? ~ B. Inman
I also taught for 7 yrs. and only had two women out of about I just received my copy of the Summer 2011 Edition of the
350 male students. In the article it stated women make World of Welding and it took me awhile to quit laughing after
excellent welders because of the ability for detail and often reading the poem “The Saga of Lefty” that was submitted
have a better eye. Well, as a 30-year experienced combo-pipe Wheatland High School Welding Instructor Jeff Magill. And
welder, I disagree with that statement.
Jeff, just so you know, it isn’t just high school students. As
a former welding instructor at the collegiate level, I have
Yes, some men are colorblind, true, but look at the metal smiths seen many, if not most, of the students I have had the great
in this magazine. Most are men with awesome creativity and opportunity to work with, on any numerous occasions using
very high skill aptitude and ability to convey their imagination their left-handed glove to do exactly what you mentioned
into their art work (where are the female metal smiths?)
in your poem; many of whom have been in the welding and
metal working profession for many years. And as far as all
As far as having a better eye, I disagree with that statement. I the “lefties” out there, you are not alone. There is even a a
have worked on many paper mills, chemical refineries, power smaller minority known as the “righties” and some of them
houses, large heavy metal fab shops and other sites. All the have the same problem the majority of lefties do, so keep in
while as a welder you have to usually strap in a 5-pt. harness mind you are not alone. Thanks for the funny poem and keep
& hard hat, climb up a 40-75 ft. series of ladders, walk on up the good work. God Bless. ~ Randall M. Rueff
beams, etc.

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