Slag hammer technique I learned working in Gary last month

I was grinding a bead on a 3/8 plate for a job at the power plant in Gary and the old guy next to me said I was chipping my slag wrong. He showed me to hit the slag line at a 45 degree angle instead of straight on and I swear it popped clean off in one piece. Anybody else been doing it the hard way for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifersmith26d ago

My buddy Mike tried for years chipping slag the hard way working at a refinery in Whiting. He'd hit it straight on and end up with sparks flying everywhere and half the slag stuck on. One day his foreman grabbed his chipping hammer and showed him the 45 degree trick, popped it off in one clean piece. Mike said he felt like an idiot for wasting all that time. He called me that night laughing about it, said it changed his whole day.

caseyclark26d ago

Yeah, "changed his whole day" is putting it lightly. I bet Mike felt like he'd been clubbing himself in the foot for a decade. You spend years doing it the hard way, breathing in sparks and fighting with stuck slag, then some guy walks up and shows you a simple angle and it just pops off. Makes you wonder how many other things in life you're doing completely wrong. Probably the same guy who insists on using a dull knife to cut tomatoes.