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Welder's Handbook
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by: Richard Finch
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Reviews:
This was an excellent beginning welding book. It covers the basics of most types of welding and does so in a reatively small number of pages. The book is clearly written and easily understanable to the novice. It was a little lacking in the following areas:1) specifics of metallurgy and nominclature of metal labling(ie what metals and alloys can be welded together and what are all of the alloy and wire/rod/ect classifications are used for/ect). I can hardly fault the author for this since he does give some information in this regard and the book is designed for the beginner and I would not expect that level of detail. 2)characteristics of good welds, there is a good explaination/diagram of penetration but they really need more photos of proper and improper welds showing some of the problems that are briefly mentioned by the author. With 2 extra chapters devoted to the subjects I mention this book would go from great to fantastic. Also, I would recommend that you buy it before you purchase any equipment since there is a good description of the pros and cons of each welding method and what features to look for when purchasing equipment for your specific application. You can then talk more intellegently to the welding supplier that you buy your equipment from and most likely end up with equipment that better suits your needs.
Excellent Welding Supplement and Guide
The Welders Handbook is an excellent reference and guide for a novice to intermediate welder. Experienced welders, familiar with the various processes, will find little additional information in this guide.
The Welders Handbook is chock full of tables for melting temperatures, welding lens recommendations, equipment requirements, pressures, rod types, etc. Also included are many diagrams describing weld types, equipment, weld points, etc.
The book is broken down into sections for each welding process: Oxyacetylene, Arc, Mig, Tig, and special processes, such as spot welding. A neat and useful fitting and jigging section is included that describes mounting procedures and stress avoidance. Each section describes the equipment, preparation, and actual welding techniques for each process. I did however find the Tig and Plasma arc/cutting sections a little weak.
Another section of the book describes brazing and soldering, which while join metal similar to welding are not welding processes. I expected the author to be ra-ra welding, and indicate that you must weld everything, which is not the case. The author fairly describes other methods of joining metal, such as brazing, soldering, and even JB Weld epoxy. I can't say enough good things about the brazing and jigging sections.
The author leaves his mark on this book by sprinkling many anecdotes about past welding projects in each section. His exploits may have been deemed tedious by other reviewers, while I on the other hand found them inspiring. It is nice to know that I could build a go-cart with only brazing, or build an airplane engine mount with mig or tig welding.
I do not profess to be a professional welder, I am a hobbyist and I have taken a couple of welding classes at a local community college. I have learned there is no substitute for an experienced eye looking over your shoulder when you are learning to weld; the author of the book says as much. However, I learned several useful bits of information from this book that have helped me further hone my skill - two explanations are better than one.
I really like this book, and I refer to it often. It is on the short stack on my book shelf.
This is a good book. It's easy to understand and has pictures and graphs to show information. Richard Finch is a certified master welder that gives you tips, examples, stories of the good and the bad, and projects you can try. If you want to learn the skills of becoming a welder then this book is for you.
This book is to teach you how to weld like a top professional. If you were engineers, students, racers, mechanics, or even a craftsman, you would learn a lot from this book. It's a complete guide to MIG, TIG, ARC, and oxyacetylene welding. First it starts out with metal basics and heat control. It goes through all the equipment there is out there and he tells you what's the best out there. You are taught all the safety methods so you won't get injured or injure anyone else. It tells you the proper way to cut metal and how to do it correctly and he tells you how its done wrong. As far as all the different types of welding techniques, he covers them all. Everything from brazing, cutting, gas welding and heat forming. He explains how to solder, ARC, MIG, TIG, plasma welding.
I really enjoy this book. I don't like to read, but since I want to become a welder I read and liked it. I think that Richard Finch is a genius and he knows what he is talking about. You could start from fresh and not know a thing and after you read the book and start practicing you could become pro at welding. The words are easy to read and understand.
Now that I have read it I know a lot more than I did when I started. When I started I didn't know anything. I'm telling you that you will learn a lot from this book.
This book is good for beginners to get an overview of various common welding processes but stops short on some of the more critical details. The book does a good job of basic introduction but could perhaps use color photos to give readers a better idea of how good and bad welds appear, proper flame control, etc. Also I found that some of the safety details were glossed over too quickly. For instance the section on Oxy-Acetylene contained a one sentence bullet on not exceeding Acetylene flow rates (which could cause an explosion). I think information like this should be made more prominent as it would be very easy for a beginner to overlook this important detail! Overall the book is worth the price but I would also recommend purchasing a more complete companion text such as: Welding: Principles and Applications, Fifth Edition by Larry Jeffus.