Customer Reviews

Welder's Handbook: A Complete Guide to MIG, TIG, Arc & Oxyacetylene Welding

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This was an excellent beginning welding book. It covers the basics of most types of welding and does so in a reatively small number of pages. The book is clearly written and easily understanable to the novice. It was a little lacking in the following areas:1) specifics of metallurgy and nominclature of metal labling(ie what metals and alloys can be welded together and what are all of the alloy and wire/rod/ect classifications are used for/ect). I can hardly fault the author for this since he does give some information in this regard and the book is designed for the beginner and I would not expect that level of detail. 2)characteristics of good welds, there is a good explaination/diagram of penetration but they really need more photos of proper and improper welds showing some of the problems that are briefly mentioned by the author. With 2 extra chapters devoted to the subjects I mention this book would go from great to fantastic. Also, I would recommend that you buy it before you purchase any equipment since there is a good description of the pros and cons of each welding method and what features to look for when purchasing equipment for your specific application. You can then talk more intellegently to the welding supplier that you buy your equipment from and most likely end up with equipment that better suits your needs.

I am interested in making metal furniture as a hobby but I never have welded before. I purchased "Modern Welding" which I found confusing and probably more suited as a text book in a trade school. "Welder's Handbook" was perfect for me - Peter Finch did a great job in discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each type of welding process. I now know exactly what type of equipment I need to purchase.

Beginners! For all of the simple to advanced projects, this book is the answer. The author explains things in a very organized and straight forward manner. For example he starts with metal basics and heat control, and then moves to welding equipment and safety. Fitting and jigging is one of the very important aspects covered in a chapter. After wards, each type of welding, cutting, brazing, and soldering is explained in a chapter.

This book helped me understand what are the difficulties I will face in my welding project of a race car. For example, Titanium is not easy to weld regardless of the method of welding that is used.

Keep in mind that this book will not go into details about metal spraying, electrical requirements for big shops, or ways to weld gears to shafts. This book is only for the beginner, and maybe fun to read for the pro.

As someone who had never used a welder before, this book was invaluable to me. I found this book to be simply written, with no-nonsense information and graphics. There is also little of the author tooting his own horn; he presents his past projects to show you what you could do in the future, not to impress you with his vast knowledge. The book is designed to get a new welder up and running, but not so fast that they are just bad welders. There is an emphasis on simple exercises to get you familiar with your tools before you start on big projects. The science of welding is presented in very simple laymans terms, no calculus or physics required. I will say that I actually started backwards on the 'lessons' in this book; I started with a mig, then went to a buzzbox, and am now ramping up on oxy/acet. This is exactly reverse of what the author recommends, but I worked with what I had access to at the time. I recommend you start out with this book and the sci.engr.joining.welding newsgroup; you will be very happy with the results.

Instead of being a useful reference, this book ends up being a sugarcoated overview of the trade, with little really practical information.

If you were completely unfamiliar with welding, it would probably give you an idea of the various processes and theories involved, except that it is riddled with inaccuracies and incorrect information. I was very disconcerted as I started reading it and came across one questionable statement after another.

For those of us who are seeking tips for improving our welding skills, it's almost completely useless. The book misses the mark on several counts - for example, the last chapter, "Welding Certification and Training." The lead sentence in the chapter says "The reason for including this chapter in the Welder's Handbook is to give you a taste of what high quality welding should look like." Yet the chapter goes on to picture a welding truck, a red iron erection project, and a few line diagrams. There is nothing whatsoever to give you any idea of what high quality welding looks like.

I was amused by the projects section too - after the author spent the entire book touting his credentials as an aircraft certified weldor (sic), the welding table project described how he had to take the materials to a commercial welding shop to have them pre-cut to length for him. ???

My 25-year-old college lab manuals from my metal fabrication engineering courses continue to be a better reference than this book. I'd hoped for some insight into the latest technology, such as inverter machines, but the author sweeps such topics away saying they are too complex to cover.

Pretty covers with glossy photos from Lincoln Welding - but that's about it. Pass this one by.

While some of the information contained in the book is useful, the reviews given here by beginning welders to beginning welders is potentially misleading. For example the author fails to provide proper information on the basic gas welding set-up. He starts with opening the valves and skips to lighting the torch, completely by-passing the installation of the regulators and properly leak checking the complete OFW system (bottle valves, regulators, lines and torches), not to mention the importance of blowing out the talc new hoses contain. This is just the OFW side of the book and there isn't enough space here to cover the MIG/TIG side.
Wanting to learn to weld? Save your money and when you buy that Victor kit you've been wanting you'll find that it comes with a small welding and cutting manual that has far more information and is far more clear, concise than this book.

Yes, I agree that this is an excellent beginner's book. I bought this book, went out and bought an acetelyne welding outfit, and was cutting, brazing and welding immediately. It has just the right amount of technical info for a beginner and covers all the basics.

I am a female artist with no previous welding experience. I am taking a short-term introductory welding class at my local vocational college because I would like to branch into metal sculpture. As the only female in the class, I have found that I am more lacking in basic knowledge than even the most unexperienced guys in my class, because they have osmotically gleaned knowledge from their dads or buddies. The instructor of the class has been very good at demonstrating safety and technique, but I felt I was missing a lot of info that was "common knowledge" to the others. This book filled in the blanks for me and has answered many of my questions. It has given me the background I need to intelligently pursue my interest in welding and I will use it often for reference. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a fundamental understanding of welding, and as a companion book for anyone enrolled in a night-school welding class.

I purchased this book as a complete novice who knows nothing at all about welding. I was taking a welding class in a few months, and wanted to get some background on the terms and techniques. I would recommend it, but not with great enthusiasm.

After reading it, I am not sure who the target audience is. The author goes over some extremely basic techniques, but often uses expressions or references that he has not defined (such as what is meant by a "bead", or what "MIG" stands for.) The order of the book seems quite random, with advanced topics never before mentioned tossed in along side basic introductory information. Overall, it is lacking in examples. For instance, he would talk at length about poor welds, but then would only show pictures of good ones.

This lack of coherency was very annoying to me at first, but by the time I finished the book, I found that it included most of the information I needed. I guess the author knows more about welding than organizing and editing.

Very good information on the welding processes for the beginner. This book is great especially if you're taking an intro to welding class as I am. I practice in class then go back to the book for a good practical understanding of what I did. Another review suggested a couple more chapters would be helpful, I second that opinion. Maybe one on Metalurgy and a better chapter on Projects. The Project chapter is very vague and the drawings are not very detailed. References at the end of the book would have been nice. Overall, a good book for a conceptual understanding of the welding process.