The craziest welding jobs

Vitalij Sova / iStock / Getty Images Plus

My mind is forever wandering, and sometimes wondering. It might be focused on cute dog videos, the future viability of nuclear-powered cars, why we let politicians play the stock market, or on my never-shrinking list of things I need to do by yesterday. Today I was thinking about how many incredible stories must be out there, ripe for the telling, concerning the sketchiest, wildest welding jobs y’all have experienced.

I want to know what locations, weather, heights and depths, materials, positions, or projects made you say, “That was crazy!”

My experiences are tame compared to many, but they were always fun.

As a millwright at Chrysler, I had to stick weld inside a stainless steel 3.7-L aluminum head washer. While I squeezed my arm and head and contorted myself to find a position where I could move my arm a little, my partner had to hold my helmet in front of my face as I shakily repaired a joint we could only view with a mirror. But success was ours.

There were other times in the plant we’d have to reach a spot using a scissor lift or genie boom. It wasn’t usually an issue, but occasionally the bucket or basket wouldn’t stop swaying, so I’d use my left arm to hold onto the structure. My right arm would try to keep synced with the movement while thrusting the stinger at the weld joint.

In the General Dynamics Land Systems prototype shop, I’ve done some wild things with a welding power source, much of which I can’t talk about. However, watching tanks and Strykers get blown up at the Army Proving Grounds and then welding them back together is, as a rule, pretty rad.

However, a three-month trip to Baghdad tops my list. I traveled to Camp Taji to repair the Iraqi Army’s battle-damaged Abrams tanks. Without America’s well-oiled tank crews, the wrecks they towed back to our shop were outrageous.

With extreme heat in the Middle East rising above 125 degrees F for weeks, I’d sweat through my clothes, coveralls, and welding jacket (sometimes my Kevlar vest) within the first 45 minutes of the day. Then you don’t want to stop working. The sweat helps keep you cool; when you “dry out,” it’s miserable. But if you keep going and drink a lot (A LOT) of water, it’s not so bad. The work, however, was incredible, as were the dudes I worked alongside. We were taking good parts out of inoperable tanks and grafting them into a savable machine. Not something you get to do every day.

So, what about your craziest welding jobs? Have you worked underwater gigs? In extreme conditions like Antarctica? On a mountaintop in a national park? The antenna of a skyscraper or up on a turbine? Built a storm-chaser truck or a lion cage? Below a city? On top of a suspension bridge? I want to hear your stories.

Email me or hit me up on Instagram. If we get a good response, I‘ll share your tales soon.

In 2017, Josh Welton spent three months in Baghdad, Iraq, at Camp Taji to repair the Iraqi Army’s battle-damaged Abrams tanks. Josh Welton