"B.B." u wrote in message
news
Well, technically, day two, but today was the first day we welded.
My first bead was terrible. Actually, that's an insult to all the
terrible things in the world. Nothing about it was really right except
the amperage, which my teacher set for me.
But after a few hours I had nice, straight, regular beads. Somewhere
in there I switched helmets because the one I had was pinching hair out
of my head. Turns out helmet 1 had a ****ty lens in it and helmet 2
improved my welds a hundred times over.
But there was excitement. A tiny bit of hot crap got into the neck
of my shirt, I jumped and dropped the electrode right on the table.
BOOM! Sparks everywhere.
After getting laughed at by the class and hammering the electrode
loose from the table with my instructor explaining the best angle to
strike it from I went back to work.
I can't wait for next friday!
The status on my anvil project depends on how well I'm doing in a
month from now.

Train arm muscles. Get a simulated electrode and hold steady distance over
work. Make passes forward and back, do this for an hour. Practice at home.
If you can get instruction with oxy/fuel torch, get it. Learn to weld with
gas. More flexible than stick in the home. Learn to braze. Go to the library
and get a different text to read for variety