THE QATSPY® From the Kerosene Cowboy Journal Perception
By: Charles W. Boatright
THE QATSPY® Welding & Manufacturing T-Shirts– True Grit, Sweat, Hard Work of Welders that helped built America and Defended Her. Show your PRIDE as a Welder that just wants to earn a living burning rods, smelling flux, and enjoy Heavy Metal.
There is nothing that is more iconic than a welder with a welding hood and electrode rod or wire welder drawing an arc using heavy metal in manufacturing or construction of our Great Country. To help celebrate how you have Made America Great Again, wear a T-shirt that highlights the importance and need of Vocational Skilled Trades, like welding.
College and University degrees are no longer prestigious institutions as they once were, especially that of Liberal Arts Degree and the skyrocketed cost with minimum earning potential. For the fraction of the cost and of time of earning a college degree, people of all ages, any backgrounds, or gender are turning to VOTECH Trades, like welding. In a matter of months, not years, people can learn a trade to make an above starting wage as their main career, or in my case as a second career.
A trade like welding provides people with an exciting career opportunity with challenges and satisfaction that you could never have imagined allowing you to achieve the American Dream of becoming your own boss and running your own business after just a couple of years gaining experience on the job with pay.
I was a Grid Engineer for a transmission line utility for 33-years and decided to take up welding a couple of years before I retired in June of 2015. I used welding as my second career. Welding has provided me with a second career that I thoroughly enjoy; because I can work when I want to and on what I want to that provides a much needed service to others.
Welding has helped me transition into my retirement as an enjoyable lifestyle instead of a life just existing with health issues, cognitive decline, and boredom. I have never been busier or enjoy my life more than welding in my welding shop. Welding is actually my Therapy as noted on the Welder’s T-Shirt.
Welding has a Low Start Up Cost
Basic start up equipment and tools can be purchased for under $3,000.00 that you can add to your tools and equipment as you become more experienced and proficient at welding. That is better than taking on a student loan in the neighborhood of $125,000 or more. Like most professions, computers have made what was once highly skilled work accessible to more people, including WOMAN. Rosie the Riveter has become Rosie the Welder.
For example, the biggest advancement in welding is the Plasma cutter that has replaced the cutting torch that uses Acetylene, as a fuel, and Oxygen, to increase the cutting temperature of the flame. Manufacture of both welding machines and plasma cutters has made welding accessible to even the novice.
Earning Potential of Welders
Welding provides people with the potential to have The American Dream of a career and owning your own home and starting their own business that can reach as high as $95,000.00/year plus.
To speed up your welding projects, there are steel providers like Metal Supermarket that will cut to your specifications for pickup or delivery to your shop. Their website allows you to enter size for various shapes with an instant quote before you purchase.
That has been a significant benefit for me in my recent project of a 16- inch diameter x 30- inch Grill/Smoker that is heavy duty for better results in grilling or smoking meats and/or vegetables. If you look at professional pitmasters, they have custom built heavy duty grills/smokers for professional results that their customers demand.
You can’t even celebrate a holiday or special occasion, like tailgating, without people thinking of grilled/smoked meats or vegetables associated with these occasions. It is in our DNA as a national that is as natural as football, baseball, and apple pie.
Below is an image of the P-40 B Grill/Smoker welded up and ready for prime and paint.
One significant advantage that I had doing my drawings was that I had experience preparing shop drawings as an engineer where I was able to detail dimensions and size of all my steel members to build a Bill of Material. But learn your math, be able to read a rule or tape, and take a drafting course if you don’t have a background in drafting. Available in our online store next month is our WELDING T-SHIRT:
This Welder’s T-Shirt will be available starting in July of 2024 that comes in Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, 2X-Large, and 3X-Large. This is printed on dark charcoal 100% Cotton T-Shirt ##