All In all this is a fun thread but.....there is no way welding and metal finishing sheet metal can be discussed or written about here were you can become proficient at it. There are alot more aspects to it than just welding. Like Rodger keeps stating, FIT UP, first. You have to master this and with what tools to do this. Hammer work, like Greg mentioned, is very important. This alone I have found is probably the most important and will take the longest to learn. Finesse with the tools, where to hit to do different things, what dolly to use,(sometimes you have to make your own tools), what hammer to pick up. When and how to hammer the weld. And of course the welding. I think lots of people have different methods. I don't wear a hood when I tack with the mig and sometimes with the tig. and I don't snip the wire.
Education is never free. You can pay for a class, talk to pro's and do what ever to repay there time for showing you, study GOOD work in bare metal, ask questions. But at the end of the day you still have to put in the time if you want and enjoy doing the work. The price of education.
I am not a pro fabricator by any means but feel the more I do the better I get which was why I started to build my car I the first place. Driving it will just be icing on the cake.
There are quite a few really good people in this industry who are more than willing to share some knowledge, all you have to do is listen and apply it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Maybe some of you can get a shop like Roder's talked into opening up a class on the weekends. I would go for sure.
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Jason
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