Using an arc welder in the garden

[Dave54]

I haven't tried welding any very thin stuff using that mask yet. It's a Parweld, on offer at the stockholder when I was getting some steel, and they stock spares for it. Last I did was about 2mm, and it was fine on that. It would be from what you're saying John. Ah well if I suddenly start doing a lot I'll have an excuse to upgrade!
And yes, using an auto mask is a revelation!
Peter the secret to good welding, as you probably know, is practise. I can't remember now, but when we did the welding training we had several days to practice both gas and arc welding before making our test pieces. Get some scrap offcuts from a stockholder who shears sheet to practice on.
I used to have a mate who could stick weld Mini sills on, used to run a lovely weld too. But he had worked at a place where they stick welded sheet all the time.

 

[Peter.N.]

I used to do diesel conversions before you could buy decent diesels so I got plenty of practice making up mounting brackets and cross members. I even managed to successfully shorten propshafts that still balanced and made exhaust front ends from my assortment of lengths with various bends obtained from the scrapyard welded together, they didn't look to bad but I have not been successful making neat welds in body panels.

I had an arrangement with our local scrappy, I rented him a TV free of charge and helped myself to the bits I needed, in the '70s and 80s I practically lived down there. Very interesting place, it bordered 'River Cottage' and covered about 30 acres just outside bridport, you could get almost anything there. Long gone now sadly as is the proprietor, they have built posh houses on the site.

Peter

 

[Dave54]

I'm there teaching grandma how to suck eggs again!
As I said I've not welded any really thin stuff that mattered. A few small patches underneath on previous motors which were stuck on OK, but were cosmetically a bit rough!

I think we ought to knock down these ugly estates and build a few nice, un-environmentally friendly scrappies.
I wonder what happened to the scrapyard in the Midlands somewhere near Chaddesley Corbett IIRC, where there were loads of 50s and earlier cars you could walk around. Houses I expect. . .
And the bloke who used to have a barn full of British bike spares somewhere out the back of Clent somewhere. Always got a cup of coffee there. Forgotten his name. . .

 

[Burnerman]

I just remember cars teetering five high, half starved German shepherds tethered by Titanics anchor chain and Neanderthals sitting in a wooden hut
Mind you, we're 'ard as nails up 'ere
John

 

[Burnerman]

.....not forgetting the oil soaked ground!
John

 

[Peter.N.]

The Bridport scrappy had pre war cars at the extremity of the site, down by the river, they got newer as you got nearer the buildings. It had been a flax mill until the '60s, just before I first learn't of it, and was powered by a turbine using water from the river to provide electricity for the factory. It was like being in a different world.

He had a picture of a German Shepherd on the gate and a notice that said 'survivors will be prosecuted'.

Peter

 

[Dave54]

I just remember cars teetering five high, half starved German shepherds tethered by Titanics anchor chain and Neanderthals sitting in a wooden hut
Mind you, we're 'ard as nails up 'ere
John

Sounds like parts of the estate where I grew up!
(I kid you not! )
I used to take my missus with me sometimes to the scrappers, and if the dogs looked mistreated she'd give the blokes a right rollocking!

 

[yottie]

Hey, I'm so glad I started this post, all very interesting stuff for a beginner to hear.

 

[Dave54]

The Bridport scrappy had pre war cars at the extremity of the site, down by the river, they got newer as you got nearer the buildings. It had been a flax mill until the '60s, just before I first learn't of it, and was powered by a turbine using water from the river to provide electricity for the factory. It was like being in a different world.

He had a picture of a German Shepherd on the gate and a notice that said 'survivors will be prosecuted'.

Peter

There was a scrap yard me and my mates found when exploring in the mid to late 60s near Brierley Hill. Probably where Delph Lane is now (just had a look on Earth)
Pre-war cars piled 5 high in there, they looked as if they'd been there for a while. Victims of the "Ten Year Test" I expect.
All gone a very few years later.
All houses there now.
I used to have a GS here. He was our family pet, ran free here and would let visitors in through the gate, and escort them to the front door.
I heard him bark one day, unusual, and went up to the gate find somebody hanging around outside looking shifty. The dog was growling at him. Unheard of!
"I was just resting a minute. Can he get over the gate mate"
"Only if I tell him to!"
"I'll be off then. . ."
"Good idea"

 

[Peter.N.]

We have a shepherd, one of a long line starting in the '60s, we had two for a while.

I went to the yard at Bridport one day and Brian was bulldozing all the pre war cars into heap, I said they ought to be worth money, he said 'so I've been told but nobody has offered me any' and that was the end of them.

Previously a friend of mine from Holland who was restoring a Citroen Light 15 went there looking for a radiator grill for it, and found one he spent the rest of his holiday here polishing it.

Peter

 

[Dave54]

They're great dogs. I told my mate about it. He's an ex police dog-handler. He said that the dog knows the bad 'uns as well as you do yourself!
The stuff that must have been bulldozed though! Apparently, when Standard Triumph closed they sent all the spares to landfill!

 

[JohnD]

One of my colleagues told me that when she was a little girl, she used to go to the scrapyard with her dad, and while he was negotiating over a Cortina part, she'd run down to the end and play on the pile of submarines.

 

[Peter.N.]

That sounds like my sort of scrapyard.