Hay! Ewe! Root for the Farmers!: Monday January 17

Our group spent the morning learning how to stick weld and MIG weld. I'm borrowing photos from Kiyoshi because I didn't have my camera with me this morning.

We returned to Ron Mott's shop to learn how to stick weld. Welding is melting metal onto other metal in order to create a new form or repair a tool that has broken. Soldering is similar, but easier because the solder metal is very easy to melt and doesn't create a structural bond. The whole process reminded me of using a glue gun but of course, very different in scale and use!

First we used a "stick weld" technique. We had this huge machine with knobs and dials and switches. there were two hoses coming out of it--one with a very large, spring-loaded clamp and another with a handle. The clamp was attached to the welding table. The handle had a place to insert this white-ish stick (reminded me of a incense stick with a metal core). The big machine generated electricity and a circuit was made by the clamp through the table and into the piece that needed welding. The other part of the circuit was the "incense stick" on the handle. When one touches the stick to the metal to be welded, the circuit is complete and a LOT of electricity flows through, heating up the stick and the place where it was attached. If one just touches and keeps close this tricky stick, then an arc of electricity jumps the gap, still full of heat but the circuit is controlled as is the melting of the stick. Well, I'm going to use the word "control" very loosely, here, but I felt like I didn't have much control. I was in the running for Queen of the Sticks (the stick gets attached to the metal being welded and one is stuck. )

There is a substance that coats the stick--making it look like incense--and that is the "flux" a substance the melts and pushes away the oxygen that might make little bubbles in the metal stick as it melts and attaches to the weld. I think we breathed a lot of that flux in, today.

After we each had a chance to try welding an object together, Ron brought out the MIG welder (MIG standing for metal inert gas--also known as a wire welder) which was actually MUCH more like a glue gun than the stick welding. There is also another very large machine with dials, switches and hoses coming out. The clamp to make the circuit was the same but the handle was different. There was only a handle with a trigger of sorts. When the trigger is pressed, a think wire comes out (like a glue stick) from the hose and becomes the welding material. This was easier to use because one didn't have to control the electric arc to start the melting. Our next session with Ron will be back on the farm where we will do some practical applications of these skills.

Fiber arts,

My wool, picked apart and ready for carding.

Our afternoon session was again with Jill Winterberry. We each brought our 3/4 of a pound of wool which had been dyed, for the most part. I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, so my thousand words will come in the photos with little captions.