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A vet showed me a trick for checking a weld bead with a dime
I was on a turnaround at the old paper mill in Kalamazoo about two years back. This guy, Frank, who had been doing this since the 70s, saw me squinting at a fillet weld. He pulled a dime from his pocket and said, 'Run the edge of this along the toe. If it catches, you got undercut.' It was such a simple, quick check before breaking out the gauges. I still keep a dime in my pocket for a fast look. Anyone else have a weird little tool or trick like that they use on the job?
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mary7682mo ago
My old foreman used a nickel to check for slag inclusions in a groove weld.
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That dime trick sounds like a great way to scratch the weld and miss real problems.
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morgan4101mo ago
Honestly that whole debate is just people looking for a simple fix. It's like when someone finds one life hack and tries to use it for everything. You see it with tools, cooking, all over. A trick works for one specific thing in one specific case, but then folks treat it like a universal rule. Next thing you know, they're using a nickel to check a weld that needs an x-ray, scratching up good work and feeling smart about it. Real skill is knowing which tool to use and when, not just having one trick.
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