1. I am mortified that her welding skills seem to exceed mine
2. She will get the last laugh; that’s well into four figures at either an art gallery or a truck show when the pandemic is over
A welder who owned a small shop told me that you won’t get rich with welding skills, but you will never starve.
“A welder who owned a small shop told me that you won’t get rich with welding skills, but you will never starve.”
I used a welder for some small stuff. We would get to talking. Often I would have to wait (which was fine) due to his many trips. African safaris, South American fishing, etc.
I finally asked him how he could afford to do that - I couldn’t imagine that a welding/ machine shop brought in that much.
“No - the shop is just to keep me out of trouble and pay for ammo. I used to be a diver in the Navy. Then did under-water welding. Made all my money on the big dam sites.”
I had heard about those guys - answered my question! He finally did quit the business when leasing a place (Seattle) got too expensive.
He was a smart guy.
One time I was dropping something off he was telling me about the part he was working on. I’m just ad-libbing, but it sort of went like this:
“Yeah - so I got this drawing for a pump fitting (shows me the drawing). Navy ship going out next week. But that ship uses a 1-inch fitting, and the drawing calls for 3/4-inch. I tried calling them, but can’t reach anybody. But hell - I’m not following their drawing. A 401-60 pump uses 1-inch fittings.”
I asked him about it when I picked up my piece.
“Yeah - they had sent out the wrong drawing. No matter - they had the right part on Monday morning.”