My 3rd year apprentice made me question my whole welding setup

Kid walks up and says my preheat torch placement was leaving cold pockets, and he was right after I checked with the temp crayons, cost me a rework on a 6 foot seam last Tuesday. Has anyone else had a greenhorn catch something you've done for 20 years?

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baker.christopher25d ago

Damn, that would flip my whole day upside down. I mean, you spend 20 years doing something a certain way, you get set in your habits, and then some kid who's still got sawdust in his boots points out something so basic you almost want to argue just on principle. But the temp crayons don't lie, right? That's the scary part, once you actually check and see he's right, you gotta sit there and redo 6 feet of seam and wonder how many other little things you've been missing all these years. It's humbling as hell, but honestly, I'd rather have that kid speak up now than let me keep making the same mistake and cost the company a real big job down the line. Makes you look at your whole rig different, like you're suddenly second guessing every angle and every inch of your torch placement, even the stuff you know is solid. Good on him for saying something, but man, that's a hard pill to swallow when you've been the one teaching everyone else.

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