Mace

 

Photo shows the completed mace. Initially, I won't have the weights on the end of it. Hell, I might never get to that point as far as that goes, but I think I can work with this thing, improve my shoulder and arm strength without aggravating my chest too much.

Going along with this, I've got a 4x4 that I believe is cherry. I picked it up several years ago and I want to make a pair of Indian clubs out of it. I'm not much of a woodturner but I've got a small pair that I can use for a pattern, I just have to scale them up. Making one will probably be easy enough, but making the second one to match might be tricky. If I make a pattern to follow I should be OK. Not a pressing job by any means, but one of the many things that has been on the back burner for years. Once again, having a heart attack brings things into focus and I need to get some things finished or get them gone. Making a pair of Indian clubs should be fun and someone will be able to use them if I don't or after I pass.

 

Tornado

 

It's going to be tough to smile for a lot of people in my neck of the woods for a while after the storms and tornados that went through the area on Tuesday night.

West of me is the little town where I go for my ham radio club meetings. Lots of tornado damage to houses, the gas station and the Dollar General. Two people lost their lives.

East of me are solar farms. They took a big hit as did several houses and farms. I was lucky in that the tornados didn't touch down by me. We did have lots of thunder and lightning, small hail and a loss of power for a couple of hours.

 The generator kept the lights on, I pulled my little transistor radio out of the Faraday bag and I was able to pick up the repeater the radio club was using for the emergency with my little handheld. Pretty nice being equipped for emergency communications.

My heart goes out to all those affected by the storm. I can guarantee you the communities will pull together to get people shelter and help rebuild. I went through the big storm that took my almost finished barn down a few years ago but that's nothing liking losing your house and all your possessions.

Anniversary today - 55 years with the old girl. No big plans since she's still recovering from the shingles, but just real happy we're both still kicking and together.   

Shop Work

 

We had a couple of real foggy mornings last week and when I went into the shop Saturday, everything was dripping wet. There's always a lot of condensation in there every spring when the frost comes out of the ground, but this year it seems to have been worse than normal. I fired up the heaters and fans to help dry it up some but yesterday it was warm, sunny and breezy and that did the trick. I spent a little time wiping things down, oiling them and then dragging more tools out again.

The 1" threaded rod in the photo is the beginning of an adjustable mace. I don't see me adding much weight to the top of this thing, but I think using this will help with my upper body strength and flexibility without hurting my mysterious chest affliction.

I started wiring the trials bike - not much to it. However, the wires coming off the kill switch are tiny. I went ahead and soldered them in but I'm not so sure they'll carry enough juice to do the job. While the tank is off I'll finish welding the mounting tabs. There's a few other little things that need finishing. but it'll get done soon.

Since I'm retired, the time change doesn't bother me too much. I pretty much operate off my own daylight time anyway. But here in Indiana, it would be nice if the whole state was on the same time at least half the year like it used to be - thanks again Mitch!

Welding Ships

 I received my new issue of the Welding Journal yesterday and there was a blurb in the News of the Industry section that Marine Group Boat Works received from the Navy a grant to certify welders for the ship building industry. The graduates from the program will be certified to NAVSEA standards, which I was not at all familiar with. I did a search for the standards and the whole package is 137 pages long. As a former Certified Welding Inspector, I'm somewhat familiar with the certification process, at least as far as the American Welding Society Structural Steel D1.1 code goes. The American Bureau of Shipping code is quite similar in its requirements as is the Canadian Structural code. The Canadians offer reciprocity to American welders with the D1.1 certification. Also, when taking the CWI exam, you can use the AWS code book or the API book. So regardless of the code you would be certified to, there are a lot of similarities.

Keeping our discussion here to just stick welding, more properly known as Shielded Metal Arc Welding, the process has to be certified first thing. This starts with the electrode grouping and material grouping. E6010 and E7018 electrodes are in the same group, so they can be used either individually or together on the same weld test. Likewise, a material such as 1020 or A36 can be used. The code book specifies material thickness, edge prep and weld position. After the weld is completed, the parameters are recorded and the test plate has "coupons" cut and bent. If all goes well, the test is then used to certify individual welders.

The NAVSEA test is basically the same for mild steel but the plates are all subject to ultrasonic or radiographic testing. The welders must retest every three years or after a three-month layoff. Because ships use a lot more material types than just mild steel, the code lists most every other material and welding process that is required in shipbuilding, as well as requirements for groove welds and fillet welds, pipe welds, inspection and record keeping requirements.

Obviously there's a lot required for an individual and their employer to maintain NAVSEA certification. The article mentions Marine Group Boat Works has a 92% retention rate, so I would think the working conditions, wages and fringe package are good. I went to their website but didn't come across anything as far as employment. 

It is good to see the Navy is addressing the issue of bringing more qualified people into the welding trade in order to build and maintain their fleet. $633,005 seems like just a drop in the bucket if they are really serious about remedying the situation. However, things might be changing.

John C. Phelan
Secretary of the Navy

The Honorable John Phelan was sworn in as the 79th Secretary of the Navy on March 25, 2025. Secretary Phelan oversees the well-being, readiness and development of nearly one million Sailors, Marines, reservists and civilian personnel in the Department of the Navy and manages an annual budget of $263.5 billion and balance sheet assets totaling $922 billion. His departmental priorities focus on strengthening shipbuilding and the maritime industrial base; fostering an adaptive, accountable and warfighting culture; and improving the health, welfare and training of our people.

 I wish the Honorable John Phelan all the best. It's not going to be easy to erase that thirty-year backlog on fulfilling the contracts for new submarines. 

Long Neck

 I finished the bike radiator job Sunday afternoon. A little tricky but not near as bad as I thought it would be, especially after struggling with the radiator itself. The piece I machined up to make the transition worked as designed. I did get a little melt thru on the inside of the top piece, so I chucked it up in the lathe to clean it up before welding the completed part onto the pipe. Hopefully everything works, because I'd just as soon not have to fiddle with it again. However, I'm pretty happy that I'm still capable of doing this type of work.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

 

More death and destruction started yesterday - when will they ever learn? If this is going to be the start of WWIII, I don't want to play. 

A shot of the bike radiator with the heat sink putty applied. I had to work some water into it first, but it did the job.

Not the prettiest job ever but it should work. There's a couple of spots that look a little iffy. The one on the bottom is a crater, not a hole. The other spot by the outlet might actually be a leak. I had one hell of a time getting things clean enough to weld. I sanded off the radiator tank with a flap wheel, hit it with some emery cloth, wire brushed it, and rinsed it off with some aluminum cleaner. Once the heat sink putty was on there I couldn't wire brush it any longer. Being able to brush it would have been a great help. The aluminum tank has been anodized, and I thought I had all of that removed but most of the trouble might have been coming from residual anti-freeze inside the tank or grit embedded from the abrasives. Anyway, it's done. I'm going to check it over real well today when I attempt to weld the filler pieces together. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that done with a minimum of struggle, but I doubt it. 

Aluminum Work

 

It's nice having a decent collection of CDs to play in the truck, especially for someone like me who enjoys a wide variety of music. I had this one going yesterday morning and then rehab had oldies playing as well. Hard to beat "The King" on a beautiful late winter morning.

I postponed machining up the parts for the bike radiator project due to the weather. When I saw there was a 60-degree day in the forecast, I decided to wait for it and work on my taxes instead - good trade-off. I finished up the taxes and machined the parts when I could have the big doors open in the shop.

Next up is the welding. I'm not too worried about welding the plugs in the radiator, but welding the filler neck is liable to be a stretch. Wish me luck on that one.