I was just thinking about this dying art. Does anyone still have a machine with an intricate design on a bucket or edge? I'm looking for an image I could include in a book I'm writing.
Hmm.. can;t really help you on this :/
If I remember I’ll snap some of the various patterns we use on augers, core barrels and mud buckets. We get creative out of boredom sometimes. I’ve been known to leave a message or two in my pattern
Nice! yeah dots and lines get old
Find some pictures from the Stoody hardfacing guide book. There's a shovel bucket with a herringbone design on it that must have taken quite a few hours.
Not my work or anyone I know. Just lifted off the net. Welders are very proud of their work , when it looks good. Lol
When I started doing hard facing it was all about two ideas. One was to trap fine dirt between the facings to let other dirt wear against that instead of the bucket. The other idea was to rise above the base material and channel hard rock to flow to the back of the bucket. All that stuff was about getting the weld on as quickly as possible and get the attachment back in the dirt. The rod or wire is expensive, the welding machines cost money to use and the labor is intensive and double expensive. I love the work done in the photo as the pattern is pleasing and shows plenty of thought in doing it. If I were running the shop I probably would have told the welder he could go join the starving artists living out on the streets in Seattle.
Like "Henry" In Seattle... Always liked his stuff. This is one by the canal in Ballard. You could sign me up for that bucket hard facing... I would even buy the barley installation fluid to help the bead flow!
This guy had a message for us. He also signed his name.
One of our welders is nicknamed Fourleaf. He built a mud bucket some years ago and welded a Fourleaf clover on it like he had done on many other things over the years. Well....he made a mistake on the mud bucket and had to repair it. The next thing he built he decided to omit the Fourleaf clover. One of the owners saw the new tool without his signature and made the comment “I see you left the clover off. After your last ***k up I wouldn’t want anybody knowing it was my work either”. Ouch!!
Haha Good stuff! Yeah it is a a fine line between practical work and artistic expression.
I'd guess the guy that did that bucket probably has the skills that it didn't take him much longer than what the average guy would do. Great welders are like artists. Most of them have drug or alcohol problems.
That's a pretty general comment to make. I've worked with some true craftsmen and they didn't have any drug and alcohol problems. The pic. funwithfuel posted is exceptional work. Looks like it was done with Mig and they put their initials/name on it on the top left.
A. It was a joke. B. Sadly, there's more than an ounce of truth in it. When your welder doing pot to come down off the meth they did last night to get everything done...well...what more can I say? The guy did good work and my partner had to deal with him...but yea...not a feel good story. The other one we had was unreal skilled. But showing up was always a dice roll...
... and you're basing this on 2 welders? It wasn't a joke, it was a dumb comment to say most welders have drug and alcohol problems. Make the comment on the Welding Web and see what kind of response you get. There's people in every industry with drug and alcohol problems but certainly not most of them.
Funwithfuel’s photo is great . Can’t see boss paying for that.
It may not have taken as long to do as one would think. My guess would be it was drawn with soapstone and an obviously highly skilled welder just followed the lines. With Mig it would be way faster than stick. Still an expensive job to do but it will add probably 2 1/2 to 3 times the life to the bucket.
Here is what we do for our place mining buckets.
How long do those blocks typically hold up. Not wearing through, but getting knocked off. It kinda looks like since they're so close together they would support one another and trap material nicely. Last thing, that is nice work.
They stay on until they wear off. That will last one season in the harsch abrasive material we work in. We’ve have tried many different things and it’s been our best so far. We tried many different products
I especially liked how you didn't ignore the sides where the lengthened side cutters would cover. Great work.
Thank you. I will be sure to pass your compliment onto my welder who deserves it. . We will be rebuilding a bunch of buckets this winter during the off season, I will be sure to post pictures of the projects. That bucket was for a Cat 374F.
Hi Muffler, i don't have machines but i love them. Here i can show you intricate design for you:
yeah that looks awesome!