Economically speaking, it's been a grim year. Few industries have escaped the repercussions of the downturn, and ours—metal manufacturing—is among the hardest hit. It was under a heavy cloud of concern that a stressed, worried industry came together at the 2009 FABTECH® International & AWS Welding Show, including METALFORM earlier this week. Exhibitors wondered if attendees would come.

Would companies that are making drastic cutbacks spring for the cost of sending people to the show? Would those who came buy?

They came, they saw, and they bought. (TRUMPF sold four machines the first day.) FABTECH 2009 exceeded exhibitors'—and editors'—expectations.

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It's the waiting that drags you down.

With our unemployment rate edging near 10 percent, many are waiting for companies to finally rehire. I can imagine them shaking their heads when they look at the Dow's ascent in recent weeks. Somebody's making money, but it certainly isn't them.

I'm not sure if welder Charles Salak has been paying attention to the Dow, but he's been busy with home improvement projects, occasionally working for a relative, repairing farm equipment. He isn't sitting still. In August he was laid off from Katana Summit, a wind tower manufacturer in Columbus, Neb. The company had no choice. Katana is awaiting the go-head for a 200-plus tower order. Wind energy is capital-intensive, so even today, with the promise of government help, it takes time to get the green light. If and when Katana finally gets the go-ahead for the order, Salak may get his job back. But for the past few weeks he's been waiting.

New York Times reporter David Segal visited Columbus and used Salak as the centerpiece for his article, which appeared yesterday on the front page of the business section. Segal also visited Behlen Manufacturing, a metal fabricator specializing in farm products, machine tools, and custom fabrication. Especially poignant was Segal's description of idle equipment on Behlen's plant floor. Tony Raimondos Jr., son of the company president, gave the reporter a tour of the expansive, 850,000-square-foot shop floor. (If you need space, Nebraska has it.) Riding with Raimondos on a golf cart, the reporter recalled:

"Every minute or two, you come upon a couple of guys who are galvanizing metal or fabricating tubing. Mostly, it's quiet.

"'We're hopeful,' says Tony Jr., driving past an unused ... steel punching machine. 'But it's really strange to see it look like this. The other day I looked through this window in a door to the factory floor, and it was dark. During second shift.'"

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Last week, I attended the Schweissen & Schneiden International Trade Fair Joining Cutting Surfacing, commonly known as the Essen Welding Show, in Essen, Germany. The show comes around every four years and attracts thousands of attendees, primarily from Europe and Asia.

This was my first time attending the show and my first visit to Germany. I'm on sensory overload from both firsts. Here are some highlights from the show and my observations about the venue.

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The metal fabricating industry is made up of highly skilled, hard-working individuals who are passionate about their work and proud of what they create. But every now and then, along comes a slacker who does a half-backside job and creates all kinds of problems. Such is the case with the Northrop Grumman welding inspector who falsified some inspections on eight U.S. submarines and an aircraft carrier. "Welding Wire" readers had plenty to say about this incident and how it came to light.

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My last blog post was addressed to Crook County (Oregon) High School officials and others who could help decide the fate of vocational and technical programs in the U.S., which often are the first items on the chopping block when funding for education is tight. It featured an item from News/Talk 1110 KBND, Bend, Ore., about a high school metal and welding class that likely will be cut in next year's budget. The Oregon State champs (pictured) in the Skills USA Competition came from this class.

That post ended with a request to forward it to those who might be able to help preserve voc-tech programs not only in Crook County, but all across the U.S. In one of those coincidences that remind us just how small our world is, one of my colleagues received an e-mail yesterday from the Crook County High School metals/welding instructor quoted in my post. His current students have a more immediate need than preserving the program. Maybe you can help.

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Crook County High School, educational institutions all across the U.S., and Congress, we're addressing you. Please listen.

Last week's "Welding Wire" newsletter featured an item from News/Talk 1110 KBND, Bend, Ore., about a high school metal and welding class that likely will be cut in next year's budget. The Oregon State champs in the Skills USA Competition came from this class.

Teacher Dan Holland is concerned because the metal and welding skills the kids learn are applicable for many of the jobs that stimulus money is providing. He reportedly said that "if the [school district] sees community support to keep the class, there is a good chance that it will stay. "Welding Wire" readers throughout the U.S. and Canada agree with Holland and support retaining vocational-technical (voc-tech) programs.

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As many do before heading off to work each day, my husband and I turn on a local television station to check the weather forecast. This morning, the two items we heard before the weather segment were about a gunman who shot several people in California (can we go a day without something like this happening somewhere?) and a 31-year-old male sex offender who posed as a 12-year-old and attended several Arizona schools for two years. This deviant was sentenced to more than 70 years in prison yesterday.

My husband said, "I'm sick of this. We're always hearing bad news. Why can't we hear about the hundreds of cyclists who braved the elements in the Wheels O' Fire ride to raise money for a good cause? Tell me something good."

After getting past the initial free-association thought "tell me something good" brought to mind—think Rufus and Chaka Khan, or Pink— it hit me. I would write about something good in today's post. If you are suffering from good-news deprivation, read on.

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Are cracks in welds ever acceptable? Is the term 'crack' a misnomer for linear indications, hot tears, lack of fusion, and other weld characteristics, and are these characteristics acceptable?

A recent issue of the "Welding Wire" e-newsletter featured an item that originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article, "Questions over welds delay Bay Bridge project," described how inspectors hired by the California Department of Transportation to monitor the fabrication of steel girders being used in the project reported finding cracked welds. The newsletter then posed the questions: Are a few minor cracks in welds for bridge components OK? Can inspectors be too strict?

Welders responded quickly. Here's what they had to say.

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The sky fell over the weekend. Well, not really. (What would the sky falling look like anyway?) But some stuff did fall from the sky. A Russian and American satellite collided, and in another apparently unrelated incident, a giant fireball streamed over Texas.

The stories read as apt metaphors for the gloomy economic news of late. I talked with business owners last week who heard stories of customers not paying bills; the credit crunch has spiraled into a cash crunch. When a company can’t get credit, it doesn’t pay its bills, and the late payments trickle up the supply chain. To put it mildly, it’s not a fun time to be in the metal fabrication business.

But don’t tell that to Don Begneaud.

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Not too many people know the tale of Holslag, the elf welder who saved Christmas. Ol’ St. Nick and his merry band of flying reindeer get most of the press, but the tale of ol’ Holslag deserves to be shared for all to remember and cherish.

You see, on this particular frigid Christmas Eve, St. Nick’s sleigh had a major problem: The golden runners underneath the cherry-red sleigh had snapped off under the weight of all the presents to be distributed across the world. The head foreman elf overseeing the loading project that night claimed the sleigh collapsed after loading all the DVD copies of John Ratzenberger’s “Made in America” first-season television series, but that was never substantiated.

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