by
REX PASSION
What first attracted me to this welder was not the light from his arc, but the high-pitched sputtering hiss coming from his workroom.
He was working on a broken boom from one of the offshore oil vessels docked near the shop on Water St.
ST. JOHN'S WELDERS # 9
The hissing sound resulted from using a plasma arc to cut away the ragged edges of the broken boom
before welding on new parts.
Like writing computer code or writing a novel,
welding is a solitary endeavor.
A welder spends a good part of his day living in a world about half an inch in diameter.
His entire focus is on his bead at the tip of his welding rod. What is happening there annihilates the rest of the world.
All relationships, all fears and worries, all hatreds disappear because he has to get the bead right.
Nothing else matters for a wonderful five hours a day.
But every so often the welder has to step back and
look at his work. That is when he emerges from behind his helmet and becomes a person.