The big truck left last night. It took a little longer than anticipated but that's typical of both a high school shop and an owner that kept adding things to the list. We also had to wait a few days for the new driveshaft. Regardless, the job was completed in a very professional and safe manner. The students involved really learned a lot and their skills improved tremendously.
If you have the desire to learn welding, you get in the booth and practice and you'll eventually get pretty good at welding practice plates in the booth. When it's time to put those skills to use on a job like the big truck, then the story's a little different. The pieces no longer fit perfectly, you have to lay on your back or some other position, and you have to be able to know without the slightest shadow of a doubt, that the weld is going to hold. None of the "I know it looks a little rough, but it'll hold". No. It needs to look good and be good. This is not practice. It is a real job with real liabilities associated with it.
The two guys who were the primary force on the truck did a fine job and I'm quite proud of them. Like always, however, about the time they get pretty good, it's time for them to move on. Next year the cycle will repeat itself and by the end of the year I should again be turning out some people that are well on their way to becoming pretty good craftsmen. That's always the hope, anyway.
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