I was just reading WG's posts in the buggy section "buggy plans for custom ride" and his mention of mirror welding and sub welding brought back a couple of memmorable welding experiences.
I was building big caterpillar type watertankers that go on construction sites to keep the dust down. Installing the plumbing in the back required someone to crawl into/thru the rear wheel support structure. I would worm my way into position and hold the pipes while my partner would reach thru everything and tack them together. While I'm holding and he's sparking away my sleeve catches fire , I yell at him to hurry up , he flips his hood up and starts laughing. I start cursing him to get it tacked because I'm not about to let it go and start over again. Finished the job sleeveless with minor burns.
I had to repair the support structure on a bucket truck that required me to crawl between the decks of the utility box and reach up into the lift to weld. I got the fire extinguishers set to go , tied a rope to my ankle and told my helper "when I yell pull me out I mean it , get me out of there." Overhead weld with mirror with the truck on fire hoping the kid was'nt too stoned or stupid to do what I needed him to do.
God I miss welding!

I remember back in the late 70's and early 80's welding for a company at Hanford, Wa. Inside the containment vessel of Hanford 2, the outside temp was 117 degrees and inside the containment vessel was 135 degrees. We are preheating the outside shell to 500 degrees to stress relieve weld the area next to the main penetration. Which was the asbestosis lined opening that supplied the fresh air to the containment was breaking down due to the large amount of fresh air that was being pushed through.....
Oh how I hated welding, and sorry to say, I do miss it too.

yeah pre-heating sux,especially in summer. I have thought about writing a book o stories from the shipyards,but I'm not sure how that would go over. With all the security clearance stuff and the fact that some stuff would seem made up.(only real life could generate some of these stories)
Here's a good one. A shipfitter I work with is known as a "safe cracker" now. Cause ,while working on a "spy" ship. He was installing let's say"very special kinds of safes". The factory guy was down in the space finishing up his work. And there was a conversation about the safe's combo being under factory default still. So ,my buddy get's the I dea later to show off in front of all his cohorts. "Yeah, let this Craddock boy school yall on how to open a safe. So he goes at the "factory default combo. Bam !safe's open.. They are all joking him that it was already open. So he slams the door closed and spins the dial,ensuring all that it was indeed locked. And he goes at it again ,he's turning the dial and turning the dial Bam! it's open... That is when he felt the .45 at his back....Sir come with me.... It seems he tripped a silent alarm on the safe, and they came a runnin' and gunnin'...

Not over yet... a few yrs later, while working in a different yard that the company also owned. The FBI showed up and took him to an office ,where they interrogated him for several hrs. It seems someone cracked the pursers safe on a cruise ship in Dry dock at the main yard. He wasn't involved at all,but he's got a great story to tell about why you don't play around w/ security stuff.
One day maybe, I will write that book after all

I was down in South America at a mine, welder was chipping slag from a weld with ahammer. He has his safety glasses on, but on the back of his head. I ask the mine's health and safety guy, who was taking me around, to ask why he has his glasses that way. The worker's reply was he did not want the flying chips to scratch the lenses.
S

I did some work this past summer for a friend that has a rock crusher. He accidently dropped a chunk of concrete in with a piece of pipe in it. Sheared all the bolts off that hold the kick-plate in place. So I wormed my way in with the leads and welded nuts onto all the sheared bolts so I could get them out. The fun part was I was laying on my back less than 2 feet from where I was welding, It was about 98degrees and I was covered is sweat before I started! The first weld went ok not much slagg drop and the apron was still ok. By the 4th one the apron was on fire I was burned in several special areas that I'm attached to. And my friend Pete who owns the mechine was about uncounsus because he was laughing so hard. In the end I was ok and we have a fun story. And I charged him for all the cloths that got ruined and he gave me a couple hundred extra for pain and suffering!! I worked the rest of the day with an apron on because the front of my pants were burned out!!

Roc that would that would be the AU NATURAL look , very sheek , not all welders can get away with that look.

Pat as I said before, I'm a sexy dude!! But in reality I was burned a lot and not happy.