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Knowledge is key for tradespeople to doing things the right way

It’s not enough for skilled workers to just recite procedures, steps, or rules; critical thinking is a must

Illustration depicting critical thinkings

It’s not enough for tradespeople to be able to recite a procedure, steps, or rules. Way too many unique circumstances exist that require adaptation and critical thinking. Knowledge is the key to both. Getty Images

I’m a big proponent of doing things the right way. I know that seems like an obvious statement, but I think too many people equate the right way of doing something as the only way of doing something, which is usually their way of doing something. I’ve worked with plenty of “my way or the highway” guys in the past, and it’s a truly limiting mindset. There is almost always more than one way to cook an egg. The key to having options is knowledge.

First you must understand the process thoroughly. In my career I’ve had a few skilled-trades instructors who got that, and I’m a better tradesperson for it. One of them was John Kacir, who was the head of the welding department at Macomb Community College. Another was Tom Soley, who worked at the UAW/Chrysler training center.

It wasn’t always easy to stay awake in either of their classrooms. Every person in there just wanted to get out to the weld lab, strike an arc, and melt metal, as is the case in pretty much every welding class ever. But they were both adamant that we understand the why behind what we were doing. When you’re in the real world, situations change and you need to adapt. You can’t adapt without reason, and you can’t reason without fundamental knowledge. Just reciting a procedure, steps, or rules is not enough to be a tradesperson. There are way too many unique circumstances that require critical thinking to have a one-size-fits-all mentality.

John spent a lot of time on wave diagrams, welding theory, machine programming, and even the history of welding process development. At a minimum it gave us a context for what we were doing. And for those of us who really got it, his lessons provided a base of information we could dissect and apply as we gained experience. One example I often share is a simple bit about tungsten grinding.

I’m not afraid to admit that I never thought much about how electricity travels from the tungsten to the workpiece; I just knew that the taper needed to be smooth. As an apprentice, I was aware of the rules. Use a dedicated grinding wheel. Don’t use a sander. Make sure any grinding marks are parallel with the tungsten. Things like that. For some reason it wasn’t until John broke it down and drew a large diagram of a tungsten and the flow of power that it dawned on me: The electricity doesn’t flow through the electrode, not exactly; it flows along the surface.

Now I knew the rules and the reason behind them. It’s not just about the tip and the taper, it’s about the finish of the tungsten from the collet to the tip because any imperfections will throw off the flow and mess with the arc. I know it sounds like a simple concept, but you’d be shocked at the number of TIG welders who think the only important part of the electrode is the tip. With this insight and under less-than-ideal conditions, I can make the best with what I have.

Maybe I’m on a job and short on tungsten and I goober one up. I can’t just cut it short or grab a new piece. Or perhaps I slip a bit while sharpening the tungsten and the side gets roughed up. Rather than using an ugly electrode and having the arc jump before it gets to the tip, or tossing it out and looking for a new one, I’ll spin it in a drill motor and sand it down with an angle or die grinder. If it’s rough, I’ll start with a sanding disc, then polish it with a Scotch-Brite pad. It’s not ideal, but it works. If I don’t have a Scotch-Brite pad, I know that a light touch with whatever sanding disc I have will usually be good enough. The main thing is getting that surface as smooth as possible. It’s problem solving, and it’s difficult to solve a problem you don’t first understand.

Tom created a metallurgy course for Chrysler specifically geared toward welders. As millwright apprentices we took metallurgy classes, but they were science and chemistry explaining structural transformations that would take more than a semester at trade school to master. Tom’s class gave me more exposure to metallurgy than most welders receive. In more than four decades as a welder, Tom had seen so much downtime and wasted energy because of fundamental misunderstandings of how the welding process affects metal that he was compelled to build this course.

There was a lot of theory, but it was always tested and dissected. Rather than tell us which filler rod not to use to weld this metal, he explained what would happen if we did and why. Down the road there were times I didn’t have the correct rod, but in a pinch could layer multiple kinds to simulate the desired outcome.

Or if a specific metal required a certain postweld cooling process, instead of telling us that it needed to be cooled in a temperature-controlled oven, or buried in sand, or quenched in oil, he showed us why those were the recommended solutions. That really helped me when I repaired tool steels in the factory. I calculated that I could use sandblast media, a fire blanket, or motor oil in place of textbook methods.

Welder in a fabrication shop

Image provided by Josh Welton

Outside of race and politics, if you really want to start an argument among welders, ask them how to weld chrome-moly. You’ll get five different answers from five different people, and each is convinced they’re right. And they might be, but the issue arises when they think theirs is absolutely the only way to weld chrome-moly.

During my time at the training center, I helped Tom certify TIG processes for chrome-moly. In all honesty, it was because he wanted to build an aircraft frame from the material and needed to make sure it wasn’t going to crack up. We did it eight different ways on 3⁄8-in.-dia. tubing, changing up variables like the pre- and postheat treat and the filler. He then sent them all out for destructive testing and every one passed. Some passed by a little and some passed by a lot, but they all passed. From that, and other experiences since, I’ve developed theories as to why, but the big thing is not to throw a method away just because it’s not the way you learned to do it.

Rather than tell me I couldn’t do something or hand me down a hard-and-fast rule, John and Tom would tell me why my idea might not be advisable and what the challenges of the task were. Then they’d ask me to try to make it work anyway. Heck, sometimes finding a wrong way to do something is as impactful as finding a right way. Pass or fail, it added to my bank of knowledge much more so than sticking strictly to a textbook solution.

Knowledge and reason, wielded with skillful hands, can be a powerful guiding force. To me, the right way is the application of this force.

Welding process

Image provided by Josh Welton

About the Author
Brown Dog Welding

Josh Welton

Owner, Brown Dog Welding

(586) 258-8255