Things to do before making your first weld - Part 2

Ok. Great! You’ve gotten your welder, and read and reread your manual right? No? Well, please go back and read the previous blog and read your manual. But even if you have read your manual, noted it and done everything we recommend to do, you are not quite yet ready to weld if you’ve ignored the safety section and neglected to put into action. Sorry, but we need to take safety seriously and if you have skipped over some safety facts and not prepared yourself and your shop for the possible problems that you may run into while welding, then you are not ready to weld. While it is impossible to make a comprehensive welding safety tutorial here, there are a few broad-spectrum safety items we need to discuss. First, have your prepared yourself and your shop for the possibility or the eventuality of a fire? Do you have adequate fire extinguishers nearby and in good condition. Admittedly some forms of welding are more prone to fire than others but even TIG welding, the least spark producing and most controllable form of welding does produce fire hazards. Trust me, I speak from experience. It’s a good idea to have a “watcher” especially if you are welding in your garage for the first few times, who will stay with you to keep a vigilant watch on stray sparks and make sure nothing is smoldering, including yourself!  This can and will eventually happen where you will catch yourself on fire, and sometimes you are the last to know about it as flames can catch slowly but pick up speed before you notice it.  

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