Not very good welding

[TomG]

Welding is a learned skill that is acquired with practice, LOTS of practice. And when you get to the point where you can produce good consistent welds, you need to keep welding to maintain that skill. It's not like riding a bicycle. Once you stop, the skill quickly goes away and the only way to get it back is more practice. I used to torch weld 4130 tubing on the job and I got to where I could produce wonderful looking welds, but to do that now would require quite a bit of practice to get it back, not as much as it took the first time, but quite a bit just the same. The same thing happened when I restored my Chevelle. There was a lot of sheet metal welding and it took quite a while before I could make a warp free weld on sheet metal that didn't require a ton of grinding.

In short Dave (and Ed), don't get frustrated. Get yourself a bunch of scrap steel and weld it all together. Don't practice on projects because that will only get you frustrated, practice on scrap and when you get comfortable THEN weld on a project. Your welding and your confidence will improve with practice, practice, practice.

Tom