"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas writes:

"Joe Pfeiffer" wrote in message
...
Sorry to hear your class is spending as much time as it is on
generalities/safety, and not as much on practical applications.

The one I took struck a really good balance really quick: a good dose
of safety and a list of materials the first day, melting metal by the
second. After that, new book-learning on techniques was matched by
practice.

I hope yours speeds up!

I, on the other hand, am glad you have an instructor who values your fingers
and eyes as much as you do. There's a lot of ABC's to be learned before
writing essays, as there is fundamentals before welding.

Very true, and I didn't mean to imply otherwise -- we got what I
think was a thick dose of safety (and I don't mean to imply this is a
bad thing!), but didn't spend a lot of time on "generalities" before
getting into specific techniques. It was the latter I was really
referring to.

When I was in training to be a diver, I asked what the big deal was about
learning to rig correctly. One of the old guys asked, "What the heck do you
think you'll be doing underwater, watching fish?"

You are paying for this. Learn all you can, even the simple stuff. It's
all valuable, and if it keeps you from having one fire or losing one finger,
it's important.

Absolutely (and my father had nine fingers due to using a tablesaw one
day when he was distracted).