Page 5 - HIWT Fall 2012 World of Welding

hiwt@welding.org HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY

THE IMAGE OF WELDING

By Biazzio Giordano Jr.

What does the image of welding mean to you?

Some time ago, that question may have been answered with

“dark dirty shops, dirt floor…maybe in a barn or outbuilding.”

My first exposure to metalworking was just that. The farmer
across the fi eld had horses and did things the old way. Being
a young boy of 9 years old, I found that to be very interesting.
He operated a forge in the barn and would make almost all of
the things he needed, or repair them to use again from a pile
of steel under an old pecan tree. If he needed a grader tooth
he knew which piece of steel would work best, and though
I know now I was probably a pain to him getting his work
done, he always took time to explain why he would select a
particular piece.

Now the old farmer had a couple of sons who, while they
respected their father and his ways, also realized that tractors Biazzio Giordano Jr. in the weld shop where he inspires others
and arc welders were the way to go. I would watch them to choose a career in welding at Parkside High School,
arc weld in the barn yard… me barefoot in shorts, holding Salisbury, Maryland..
a beater weld shield that looked like the beginning of a
Frankenstein monster, and like their father, I asked them a
hundred questions. As I got older the farm shop lost some of
its interest as perfume and gas fumes took a bigger part of my
time!

But then I was selected to attend the weld school at our county
Vo-Tech. I soon realized that welding and the equipment had
advanced in the years since the farm shop. Upon graduation, I
entered the US NAVY and was assigned to a submarine repair
facility in Guam, Mariana Islands. It was here that I began to
realize that welding was not just for farm equipment in a dirty
shop, but that weld procedures and qualifications were a big

part of our trade. I saw and learned about high pressure pipe
welding and the importance of base metal preparation prior to
welding. I began to see that my earlier image of welding was
now taking on a new perspective.

Upon my discharge, I went to work in a fab shop that
reminded me of the farm shop…cold, dirty and no procedures
or quality control. Having seen the importance of welding
in my travels, my new wife and I went to work for a major
nuclear contractor in California. Once again I was working
with what I considered to be extremely high-quality welding,
with conditions not found on the farm. There I worked as a
field engineer in reactor and turbine-building, performing

post weld heat treatment on piping systems, and keeping the
hundreds of records necessary for any nuclear construction.
(Continued on page 7)

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