I’ve been welding for more than 40 years. Yep, sounds weird to say it to me too. I’m 50 years old now and welded my first thing, my initials made from wrought iron fence scraps, while sitting on my grandpa’s lap in his garage when I was 6. He helped of course, by steadying the stinger because I was doing this with a stick welder. I welded off and on occasionally over the next 9 years and then really started getting into it when we, meaning my grandpa, dad, mom, and I, built a steel pole barn on our property all by ourselves. There was lots of well casing pipe to be welded, much of it overhead, and I was the dude to do it. Since then I’ve welded everything known to man when it comes to automotive welding, and have also done structural welding all the way up to red iron in buildings.

At some points of my life I welded literally every single day, and other times less frequently. Today I consider myself a good welder, although I haven’t stick welded in a long time. I also TIG weld far less frequently than I would like, so when my shop is done I’ll definitely be tuning up my TIG skills. But with a MIG welder, I can lay a bead of various shapes and sizes, depending on the application, and look that is trying to be achieved. Whether you want “stacked dimes”, smooth beads, or something in between, really depends on the technique you use.

In this video, we are going to get some tips on the technique used by Mankandy on his Garage Fab projects. Check them out and see if you can use any of them in your own shop. And let us know if you’d like welding tech to be on the list of things I cover in videos from my own shop.

And remember, nothing on the planet is more effective at making you a better welder than welding. Seriously. Practice, practice, practice. Practice with some scrap, and then practice with projects that aren’t going to hurt someone if they aren’t structurally perfect. Build a fire pit, a workbench, decorative items for the yard or house. Whatever. Just weld stuff, and try different movements and settings and before long you’ll feel comfortable and have good-looking stuff. DO IT!

Video Description:

I have no business making a welding video. But my viewers asked to see my techniques. I can’t let them down, so here it is! This video will guide you through the steps I took to learn to weld the way I do. Follow these tips at your own risk. Your car will most likely fall apart. Good luck!