Vent: told my welding beads were "too pretty" on a pressure vessel...

Last month I was welding up a baffle on a feedwater heater at a plant in Gary. This old boilermaker walks by, looks at my beads, and says "you're laying jewelry, not welds, that's gonna crack under the cycle." I was ticked off honestly... spent 20 minutes grinding it out and redoing it with a colder travel speed. It looked rougher but the UT test passed first try. Has anyone else dealt with being told to ugly up your work just to make it hold?

2 comments

2 Comments

leobrown9d ago

Gotta love that old school logic, right? "Too pretty" is just code for "you're making the rest of us look bad." Real talk though, I've seen dudes grind out a perfect bead just to have the foreman nod at it, so I feel your pain on that 20 minute redo. Honestly, welding is like the one job where doing it ugly can actually save your ass. Your UT test passing is the only pretty thing that matters anyway.

the_tara9d ago

Hang on, a 20 minute redo on a weld?