Welding Merit Badge...kinda different :-)

[Scouter.]

I wish I could have done this merit badge before I aged out.

 

http://scout-wire.org/2012/03/29/bobs-blog-launching-the-welding-merit-badge/

 

Ok...so I'm a geek. No personal attacks please.

 

Thoughts?

 

Peace...S.

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

My favorite welding story dates from my first day working on a street crew for a natural gas utility. We were going to install a new gas service for a house.

 

This involved breaking up the pavement up the street in front of the house over the gas main and digging up the gas main at a depth of about three feet. It was a steel gas main 2" in diameter under about 50 PSI pressure.

 

The gas fitter got out his welding torch and got down in the hole with the steel fitting he proposed to weld on the live gas main.

 

He got the gas main WHITE HOT in order to weld on the fitting. Of course the gas main was white hot on the INSIDE of the gas main, too.

 

The gas fitter explained me that as long as there was no air mixed in with the gas, the gas in the main could not burn or explode. There WERE rare episodes where a slug of air might start a fire or explosion inside the gas main.

 

Also, he explained that the gas main was 3/16" thick. He only needed to get the outer 1/8" of the steel main good and liquid in order to weld on the fitting needed to add the new service. That left 1/16" of still solid steel between him and the burn unit at the nearest hospital.

 

I thought that was the most AMAZING thing. Still do, really.