Well, my son Patrick has welded up his first set of floorboards. I showed him what to do and not do, and after getting the polarity right for flux core, I gave him the job of doing it himself. I am impressed at the work he did, much better than I had expected. He did little stitch welds all the way around, and it is really solid. I liked his work and felt some encouragement was in order, so I gave him my Hobart. He is 16, and even though the welder is at least as old as he is, they both did a fine job, well done boy.
It is great to see young people pick up the torch, so to speak. My two nephews each started hanging out at the shop during the summers when they where in their early teens. Taught them to weld , shape metal , paint and do chassis and mechanicals. They can do most anything now and are avid gear heads. Unfortunately I could not stop them from crossing over to the Dark Side! I do not know where I went wrong but they are devoted slammed custom Mini Truckers! And to make it worse they tell it is okay because their trucks are over 20 years old and have hobbiest plates!! LOL They are now 30 and 25 years old and when they are not working for a living or keeping the wives and the babies happy, They are out in Jims home shop working on their trucks and showing Jims two little boys what their Uncle Larry taught them. And Jims oldest daughter Jacy has become one hell of a great wet sander at the ripe old age of ten!! Keep passing on the torch!!! Larry
Welding floorboards is about as tough a job as it gets, paper thin metal, rusty on one side, hunched up on your knees in a cobbled up position and like to have forgot to crack open the argon. Good job!
The Jalopy Journal
