Customer Reviews

Monster Garage: How to Weld Damn Near Anything (Motorbooks Workshop)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What do you expect to learn about welding from a book? If you're like me, you know you can't learn to weld by using a book, but you expect to pick up some useful information to help you along. I guess you could say that this book had that.

The intro states that this book will "tell you, step-by-step how to make perfect welds every time". I didn't find that to be the least bit true. In the entire book, which has chapters on selecting equipment, prep work, gas welding, TIG welding, MIG welding, and jigging, there were NO step by steps. I don't think there is anyway you could go buy a welder and even begin to learn to use it with this book. I don't think the book should make that claim.

I liked the fact that he does not dismiss oxyfuel welding as old fashioned, but the subject is totally glossed over- there's no info on tip selection, starting a torch, startup or shutdown safety, welding or cutting techniques, etc. He offers some tips on rod selection for certain metals and fuel pressures but that's about it. If you want a good book on oxyfuel welding get Kevin Bodwitch's book.

The TIG and MIG sections are the same- there were some tips here and there that may help you in selecting equipment and torch size, wire speed, etc, but by no means is it the whole picture.

The main gripe I have with this book is the stick welding section- it's three pages! The first page completely dismisses it as a viable welding method for anything but "barbecues and angle iron". Give me a break! There's a great number of certified SMAW welders that would probably disagree with Finch about the viability of stick welding on ANY project. Just like with TIG, MIG & oxy, SMAW has limitations, but to dismiss it like was done in this book is scandalous. If it's not a good option, why is it practically every welding class out there starts with SMAW? Why don't these classes teach MIG instead? Besides the fact that a monkey could learn to MIG weld, it's because MIG has more limitations than SMAW (when you know how to PROPERLY SMAW of course), the only reason it's propogated here is the ease of use and cost effectiveness compared to TIG. I do like the fact that he points out all the drawbacks in MIG, unlike other books that claim it's the only way to go. He also says that there are only two rods you should be concerned with: 6011 and 7018 . That's not true, they make rods for every kind of welding you could imagine, those two are only the multipurpose rods. Besides, for serious DC SMAW welding, 6010 or 6012 is a much better multipurpose choice, 6011 is for AC machines! I think Finch should drop the chip off his shoulder and realize there's a whole new world of welding out there, his information seems quite outdated on this subject. Throughout the book he talks about debunking old wives tales, but in this chapter he starts a whole new one- that SMAW is a process you should dismiss. Wrong!

The book looks to me like an almost complete repackage of Finch's "Performance Welding", which I saw at the local bookstore. Only that one is in B&W. So, if you get either book this would be the one. He touts all the updated info that makes this book the best, but I really saw none of that. Square Wave machines have been out for years now, and he says about MIG "this emerging process is quickly gaining in popularity because it is easy to operate and relatively fast". Emerging process?!?! That's not up to date!

One of my favorite lines from the book is a caption next to a cluster of tubes that have been MIG welded, "try this cluster several times before you attempt to weld a serious project on an airplane fuselage". I hope nobody that reads this book alone will attempt to weld an airplane fuselage!

Is it worth buying? Yes, it has some good tips, but do not expect to learn welding from it. For the price it is worth it.

I was checking this out at the bookstore today when after a few pages I realized that I have read and seen these same images somewhere before. Then I saw the Author was Finch and realized that its the same book as his "Welder's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Mig, Tig, Arc & Oxyacetylene Welding". Whew glad I didn't buy two. Still some usefull info though.

This book was written to explore advanced aspects of welding, mostly as they pertain to high-strength welding, especially for race car chassis and such. If you are a hobbyist or just loved the Monster Garage TV show, this isn't the book you are expecting it to be.

The main gripe I have about this book is that it clearly has little to do with the kind of welding one sees on Monster Garage. 90% of the welding done there is on plain vanilla structural steel, probably with exhaust systems as the main excepion. I don't doubt there have been a few projects with some aluminum, maybe the boat, some tanks or maybe a rad.

What I associate with Monster Garage is a) Jesse is a bike builder; b) the projects are mainly simple metal, sometimes some pretty big parts. In this book the focus is on welding thin section 4130, and aluminum and magnesium. This just isn't bread and butter for most folks who will respond to the title.

The book as you find it is about performance welding these high-tech/thin wall materials. And claims to introduce production techniques from NASCAR (and airframe construction), which it is said has revolutionized frame welding because new production MIG techniques are used. This is an interesting subject but again, not the focus of the kind of one-off buiding MG buider's do, or many workshop types. Where it may pay-off for the average welder is in the techniques for MIG on AL, which at least get coverage.

Also, some of the jigging information may be of value to the one-off builder, it's interesting to see airplane wings constructed on wood jigs versus some of the behemoths often used to weld simple frame parts in the small shop. A lot of weekend welders take their lead from set-ups used in production frame shops, for instance, and might get some simpler ideas here.

I'm pro stick myself, but the fact is it has little use in this environment of .065" wall 4130.

I think new welders will find the equipment selection information up to date, it captures the trends, though some of the photos are a few years old. (Update, welding gear is changing fast. Inverters for every price range, for one. And like a lot of other stuff there are credible products starting to come from China, whether one likes it or not. Check online for latest info)

Very good coverage of tube welding , motorcycle/bicycle/aeroplane type tubing including some on vacuum chamber welding titanium.
Not much coverage of stick welding , It does say stick welding has been obsolete for aircraft welding since MIG and TIG processes were invented in 1955 and 1945 respectively.
I consider it the most valuable welding book I have ever seen, and I've read lots.
If you are a beginner and you just want too piddle around and make a trailer frame or the equivilant don't buy It.
If you actually want to make front suspension A arms for a car from 4130 tubing for 200 mph use buy it. If you actually are wanting to build an airplane frame or a serious motorcycle frame buy it.
It mostly covers MIG and TIG somewhat equally possibly leaning towards TIG , and it repeatadly points TIG's superior welds . One has to be a really really good MIG welder to even think of equalling what can be fairly easily done with TIG.
If you want information on stick welding don't buy it. There is lots of stick welding being currently on structural projects bridges and skyscraper building frames. More tons of bead d eposited every year with stick than any other process, but. . . this is because MIG doesn't work well where air currents blow the gas jacket away. Stick is largely irelivant for motorsports and aircraft welding.

Poorly written in a kind of stream of consciousness style, the book is a repackaging of Finch's "Performance Welding." Don't buy both.
It certainly won't teach you to weld; the information is loosely organized and anecdotal. The book needs a serious editor's touch. It is enjoyable to read for recreation (for the most part), but not a serious text, and therefore more than a bit disappointing.

It is a very good reference for non serious beginers, It has a lot of pictures but not hands-on explanations. It really doesnt teach you how to weld and it has a contradiction with one of the other books of his series, Here it says TIG Weling is the best for beginners and in the How to fabricate Damn Near Anything, "the experts" say it is MIG the best option. Recomended as a weekend reading if you are curious not serious.

Ok this is the first book I have purchased on welding and I have never welded before. Figured this book would be on the same track as me since I wanted to learn about automotive welding. So if you're like me and you buy this book expecting to learn the ropes on that stick welder in your garage than this book is more like a gateway. Trying to read about welding from square one with this book made me feel like I lied on a job application and was in over my head. After reading the sections that pertained to what I would be doing a couple of times, staring at my welder, and scratching my head for a while I started to form some questions as if I knew what I was talking about. So after much searching and reading from other sources I finally bought a small box of welding rods and some scrap metal to play with.

Overall, if you plan on learning to weld from this book then you better be real good at developing a base knowledge of something on your own, and after that it contains a lot of useful information about specific supplies you should buy and other technical details. So by no means do I regret buying this book, but it's not written for somebody who didn't know what flux was or what the gas was for in a TIG welder.

I purchased this book used. I mean what could be so bad about a used book, nothing right? well that part is true however the material covered was less than what I was looking for. this book gives only two rods to use and strike an Arch how difficult could that be. If you are looking for the why's and what for's this is not your book. It answers a few questions but leaves a lot more.

.....NOT a good manual for learning to weld.

This is a book thrown together to leverage the success of MG and Jesse James. It is jammed with pics, most of which just showing projects from a distance and various equipment. Super light on technique and practical "how to".

Buy this for a fun bed time read and as another welder's experience shared but definetely not as a instruction manual, at least not a first one.