On 4 Aug 2006 08:41:37 -0700, "Joe" wrote:


Frank Boettcher wrote:


Not worried. Haven't seen any girls riding them down here. And when
I was welding women were not. That came later.

Oh come on now, many many of the welders building liberty ships in WWII
were ladies.

Yeah, but they quit after the war and went to having babies. I went
back to work for the Company for which I was a welder after I finished
school. Was there in the mid seventies when we hired our first female
welder. What a disaster. She was a very good welder but also good
looking. Productivity went to hell in a hand basket. And cost the
company a bundle to provide "facilities" for what was a previously all
male shop floor workforce. After spending all that money we never
attracted more than a handful of female welders and pipefitters for
shop floor work.

Sounds like you have an excellent background in welding. I'm thinking
on going to a night school in Texas City to get up to speed on modern
methods. Seems no one uses rods anymore.

And when I was welding, all the major oil companies, our customers,
wrote the "modern" processes out of the specs. They didn't want and
GMAW (Mig) or FCAW (flux core) used on their platforms, particularly
on pressure components.

I still think SMAW (rods) is the most versatile and reliable because
you can change characteristics with a rod change and you don't have to
worry about the wind blowing your shield gas away. Plus it is simple.
You don't have to worry about "bird nesting" your wire feeder.

Uhhh...and Frank, Scotty's right, the sportster is indeed a girley
bike, many girls ride them here.
Get a fatboy, or go with the Buell.


Joe