Learning how to weld

In my quest to develop skills, something I was hoping to run into was welding. It's a niche skill but I've always wanted to be able to do it.

As luck would have it, the dad of one of my church friends decided to put on a welding class for anybody who wanted to come.

The class attendees. I'm middle back, raising a horseshoe soda can holder over my head. My little brother is to the left.

I had a slight head start thanks to a couple hours of practicing stick welding with my uncle last summer. I still had a lot to learn anyway.

One of my better beads on the MIG machine. An older dude acting as an instructor said I was "lookin' good son!"

Later on in the class, the host pulled out a bucket of horseshoes and told us to "pick a project and make something."

My buddy Morgan, holding a soda can holder he made. It was excessively heavy.

A classic horseshoe cross, painstakingly assembled on the stick machine. This was a group project.

My horseshoe can holder. It fit cans perfect. I'm talking millimeter precision. I ended up trying to add some stupid piece to the top that messed up the fit. I scrapped it.

It took a while to figure out how to clamp and weld the shoes well. There were a few other cool horseshoe projects that I didn't manage to get pictures of.

Overall a great time. I'm so grateful to have these kinds of mentors in my life. Welding is one of those things that's easy to learn but takes years of practice to master.