This part is the most unpretentious result of my work, but I am the most proud of it and it has a funny story behind it. It was measured and cut, then welded by the arc welding process (111) using ESAB E7018-G 3.5mm electrodes.

I studied welding in Finland (Vaasa) in a school that was called VAKK at that moment and now it is known as Vamia. The welding training is mainly done in Finnish till these days. My Finnish was at the level of evening schools training – I could distinguish milk from piimä (kefir or sour milk) and manage very basic conversation.

When I started the welding school, we had the first meeting with an old welder-teacher. Before he started explaining anything, his first question was whether we were welding before. We were a group of 6 guys at the moment and all other guys have risen their hands. Hesitantly, I did raise my hand too though I have never touched an electrode holder, nor a welding gun. The teacher went in details about the welding machine, welding processes, currents and material thickness relations. He was good and very visual showing everything he talked about. After about 4 hours of his talk, he turned to us and said: “Now, that you know everything – go and make some welds”. I was shocked because I realized that out of all of his long talk I managed to understand about 20-25%. How do I weld with those fragmented ideas in a foreign language? After some trials and errors, Youtube guides, some stuck electrodes and flash burns, I produced this. The thing does not look anything special, but for me it means the risk and reward of exploring the new, ability of subduing the rudiments of the world and stepping in the unknown yet being able to produce something useful. Magnificent feeling! Continue reading “First finished welding project – 111 Arc welding process”