Taught a young fellow how to weld this Summer

Hi, a very good friend of mine's Son is kind of adrift... he dropped out of University last year (now his Brother has also dropped out of University) and just doesn't seem to have a direction in life. He is very bright, and is interested in things, but just doesn't seem to have a goal. He seems to fancy himself as a Renaissance Man, and would like to learn some of the Manly skills. So I figured I'd show him a thing or two and maybe spark an interest in something.
I got him driving my tractor (at 23, he had never driven anything with a clutch...) and he mowed a bit of one of the fields. Then I showed him how to sharpen and maintain a chainsaw, and how to drive a dirtbike (I was surprised to learn that he had never ridden a dirtbike in his life). A clutch lever, and a bit of fixing later and he was pretty good with it...
Then I figured he should know how to weld, so I made a welding table out of a scrap of 1/4" plate I had around. I welded a scrap of pto shaft on it so it will go in my outdoor vise, allowing it to adjust for height. It worked great ! Should have thought of that a long time ago... I thought you might like to see it...

After he got pretty good with the welding, I got him to do some welding on a road drag I was working on. I don't think any of these things actually caught his attention much, but at least he had some exposure. His Brother doesn't seem interested in even trying these things. I think it must be a sign of the times. Maybe related to the technology and social media of today. The World's a changin' , and I'm not sure its in a good way. It will be interesting seeing how Society evolves over the next several years/decades...
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Bye for now,

Troy

Glad to hear you took the time teaching him, most people wouldn't do that . I need to do the same with my 9 year old grandson real soon --if I CAN GET HIM OFF COMPUTER long enough . As for the future , there will always be something broken to fix and someone to fix it .

Larry --ont

"The World's a changin' , and I'm not sure its in a good way."

What is it your not sure about? Young men not wanting to work is and EPIDEMIC in this country and it has been going on for a couple decades at least. Back in the 1990's my clients who do construction began to complain of high turnover in their mostly young white male work force. They would work a week or two, start to not show up and then drift off without a word. A lot of these young men had children with one or more women and had never been married to any of them. In desperation my guys would hire what we referred to as "south of the border" crews. Excellent work ethic. They would hang around a year...get fully trained...and then buy an old truck and some used equipment and start undercutting your customer base. I really don't know what the future holds for a boy 18+ years old who has no interest standing up and taking on life. If you want to teach someone to weld who is actually interested and wants to learn...email is open...but I'm no kid!

Young guys want to sit at computers instead of do manual work - but how many can make a living that way??? Kinda like sports; in school many want to be athletes, but very few of them can get a job that pays good money.

If those guys got kicked off welfare, life would get tough for them all of a sudden and they would have to learn how to do something.

How would most youngsters aquire any skills these days? Most of their parents probably have few if any skills,they grow up in apartments and subdivisions.Labor laws keep them from doing any so called 'dangerous' work until they are 18.That plus they don't even teach writing in most schools anymore.So the result is a group of young folks that have no practical skills that can't even write but its not their fault really youngsters have to be given guidance and direction to amount to something.Most kids I meet these days that are really on the ball have been home schooled or are Mennoite/Amish.

I have taught quite a few kids to weld. One now has a very impressive metal fabrication business. Think millions of dollars and 20+ employees. Have taught several of my sons' friends how to rebuild engines and they really appreciate it.
I will not put up with laziness or lack of desire to work around here. Had someone show up the other day that I knew was worthless and sent him on his way.
The kids that spend all their time with a phone or pad in their hands are in for a rude awakening when things get tough.
Richard in NW SC

Don't worry. Our President unilaterally declared that anyone who doesn't want to get up and go to work is "disabled". Get on disability and the government sends a check or two every month courtesy of all of us who pay into Social Security.

Close to two million formerly able-bodied men and women are now disabled and out of the labor pool - you can tell how effective the policy is because the unemployment rate is creeping down as the number of people on disability goes up. We sure wouldn't want to elect a new president who would reverse that trend, would we?

Have you ever tried to get on disability? I think you will find out that it is not that easy. You will also discover that the S.S. people lie about everything, especially the "doctors", who are very good at doing physicals from twelve feet away. They will ask you questions and if/when you are allowed to see the papers, your answers are what they decided to write, not what your answers were. You ever wonder why there are armed security guards at the door to the S.S. offices, maybe they aren't really there to help you.

Now, now, now you guys. Thanks to my company's training, I now recognize that I must embrace the differences between myself and ALL others. I cannot treat anyone differently according to, but not limited to: race age creed color etc etc OR WORK STYLE!!

If your style is just sit in the brief room thumbing your phone whlilst I go redo what you weren't interested in doing right the first time, plus all of my work, I AM THRILLED BY IT!!!!

Richard
One of the things that brings me the most enjoyment is the young kids that hang out in the the shop with me in the evenings ( most are in their early 30's ) I have taught a few of them to weld and how to repair things including those big 4x4 trucks they all seem to have. One of them has turned out to be about the best mechanic that I have ever come across. I'll spend the the time to show any of them how to repair something if they show some interest in learning how to do it themselves. If they they don't I will not waste my time with them. I always think about who's going to show them how to fix things when all of us are gone?

Just got a call from a 28 year old friend that I helped repair a corn picker.
He is bringing his new to him cattle trailer over tomorrow afternoon so we can do a little patching on it. Told him come on and we will put something on the grill when we get done.
My wife and I were sitting in the shop when he called and I had to get her a long sleeved flannel shirt of mine. It is getting chilly.
Richard

Welders will soon be getting very big money. I just recently heard on the radio how few young men are getting into welding and how many are retiring. The schools are no where near keeping up with the demand.

I wish it was cool enough for a long sleeve shirt here!

My high school had metal shop, wood shop, and a FFA class. All those classes are gone now. I got a introduction to welding, machine shop tools, and a good use of wood working tools. These skills I learned in school helped me a lot later in life.

Local news reports a lack of teachers.

I've also heard there is a lack of cops in some areas.

Many schools have done away with traditional industrial shop classes.

I wish my son had learned a skill. I tried to teach him. But he found it more fun to chase the women and party with the drugs. Last party killed him
at 35. My nephew lives with me now. Even with his mental problems.He is willing to learn.Give him a job and it gets done. No worrying about if it will
be done or not.If you tell him to be on the job at eight. He will be there at seven thirty waiting on you.

Wish we did NOT have the need for that shirt here. Friday evening comming home had to turn heater on in car, yesterday morning had to turn furnace on in house. 46 degrees here this morning, Not long befor the freeze comes

I've never applied, but I know someone who works in the claims office so I have a pretty good idea what the applications look like.

The bottom line is that at the end of 2008 there were 7.4 million people on disability. By the end of 2014 there were 8.9 million. Over 2.2 million people added in only six years, think about that.