Just a vase of flowers.

[one_rod]

A week before Christmas my eight year old nephew, Joshua said that he wanted to make a special present for  his mum.

He's done bits of stuff in my shop before, seems to really enjoy it and picks up practical skills very quickly.

Time to learn to weld, then.

Got him kitted out in suitable PPE...
20181208_141431 by Mick, on Flickr

20181208_141443 by Mick, on Flickr

Took about twenty minutes practice to get the basics of MIG technique down.
Then it was time to sort through the scrap pile for some suitable bits to work with.

All the welding is Josh's, I just provided a little "creative input".

20181208_141600 by Mick, on Flickr

20181208_141507 by Mick, on Flickr

Obviously the welds wouldn't pass nuclear inspection standards, but some of that stuff is tricky material to weld, and I wanted it all to be his own work, not just him standing there watching me do it.

So I'm calling it pretty good, for a first try.

[SwarfnStuff]

Great to see a youngster doing stuff in the shed with Pa.   
Hope mum was impressed with her vase of flowers.
Wouldn't want to drop em on the feet but.

Did he get to paint them??
Regards,
John B

[tom osselton]

Tell him good job! So is he thinking about a next project yet?

[edward]

I'm 45-and-a-half and he can already weld better than me! Excellent stuff, kids need to learn this stuff young so they'll grow up practical people. My 8-year-old has just built a bike up from the frame with me for very similar reasons. He gets to ride the bike himself so he had better have done a proper job

[RotarySMP]

O my god. How shocking. How irresponsible to expose a meer child to electricity, heat, UV, metallic fumes and heavy objects, not to mention dead cow hide and individual expression.

Shame on you.  Can't you see the poor little bugger grimacing in agony. Better get him back inside in front of a screen before his fragile psychy is scarred for life.

 

Mark

[WeldingRod]

My daughter's first weld was at 5 years.  It was really important that her little plastic bear got to watch, but it didn't need eye protection...  Weirdly enough, they sell ladies XXS tig gloves that FIT my daughter!  The biggest problem (from her side) was that the gloves looked too boring.  Markers fixed that ;-)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[PekkaNF]

You guys should have seen the baffled hardware clerk when my daugter was checking the resiprators and he came to ask "May I help you?" and she said that you have very limited choise in PPE for children.

Pekka