Hot Rods Hot Rod Tig Welders?

Been in the hot rod chassis business for 40+ years and have always had a good part time tig welder working for me. He's burning out and it's sure hard to find a replacement. Doesn't seem to be many young guys learning the trade here in central USA. I see a local industry offering $30.00 an hr for entry level positions and they go unfilled. Seems like the mechanical trades are suffering at least in this part of the country. I've been paying my guy $50.00 an hr for years but he's tired and doesn't need the money. Just me feeling sorry for myself.

 

Building trade unions have resorted to running 1/2 hour programs on Sunday mornings on Chicago’s ABC 7 hoping to attract people to become carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc. Apparently nobody wants a good paying job with benefits and a retirement plan because it involves working with your hands.

 

This is everywhere they don't want to work.

 

Hell I tried several times to find some people to clear brush and junk at my dads garage. No interest at all. Crazy..

 

For $50/hr can I work on my own car? I'm destined to finish my days here 10 miles from where I was born & raised, but would like to wander back to that part of the country. My grandfather was born in Otoe, I didn't know that when I passed thru Nebraska City 25 years ago. I'm about your age and can strike an arc, but I'm sure I'm not good enough for your parts.

 

I’m in the same situation, what I do is drive to Home Depot before they open and have 3 or 4 guys hop in my pickup. I tell them what I need done, they tell me the cost and I drop them back off when the works done.

 

I guess I,m lucky! I only need to motivate my tig welder. Oh that would be me, certified Tig Welder most of my life.
The new big buck jobs will be in the trades. Don’t send your kids to college, take the money and buy them a franchise, some tools and a truck. You will still have money left over.


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I feel your pain Gary. There are some good welding programs here in Tennessee. Problem is getting anyone to work these days.

 

LOL I worked a lot of years welding, TIG welding as a close tolerance welder and never once approached 50 an hour. I am feeling sorry for me.

I think the problem is that we have young people who have never lived without a cell phone or a computer. There are some really talented young people out there but they are not likely going to want to learn a trade that involves not using one or the other to make a living.

 

I'm not a tradesman, but I've worked around them all my life, and respect the skill sets they bring to the table, and the work they do to keep our country and economy moving forward
Unfortunately, over the years the self-serving educational INDUSTRY has bombarded students with the idea that they 'need a college education' to work in this world, and in the recent past kids have been steered to 'clean' jobs and industry. And why not, just look at the life of a teacher.... advance your degree: automatic pay raise. Health insurance: Cadillac. Retirement: Cadillac. Summers off. Want a raise: threaten to strike at Little Johnny's school. And....it's all taxpayer funded (the taxpayer that looks like an ass if they don't vote higher funding for schools!!). Oh, and by the way....it's a union job, but WAY above a trade union's station in life!
The drive by industry to bust unions by replacing tradesman with robots and 'operators' has made a major dent in the need for skilled labor. They can get a mechanical marvel and have an IT person oversee a dozen of them pretty cheap by comparison, and pass the savings on to Wall Street.
It's sad, but I don't see it changing soon.
Disclaimer: I have never belonged to a union, but I know and respect what they have done for this country.
OP: I hope you can find a qualified replacement soon.
Rant over, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

I have a buddy in AZ. He has 2 kids, a boy and a girl. The girl went the college route and her younger brother went the tech school route to be a diesel mechanic. Before the boy finished tech school he was working part time for a local major truck dealership. As soon as he finished he had a full time job. Meanwhile his sister received a 4 year degree and ended up working at a day care center changing diapers among other duties. Plus she had a boat load of student debt. She ended up having to get a Masters in order to get a better job.

Or ask Lee at the Brassworks about his delay in filling orders. He says he can't find help. He blamed it in part on the local school boards eliminating shop classes. Not everyone needs to go to college but try to tell the pointy head school administrators that. JMO

 

Actually welding or machining, or working as a tech (almost a mechanic) can all be college degree positions in the Kansas City area. The community college offers a two year degree program for all three.

I have carried a union card in my time. But mostly worked non union jobs. The idea of a labor union is a good one for on the job training/apprenticeship programs.

 

Until the robots can fix the robots I think there will be lots of work for a skilled tradesman. Yeah , the work ethic is becoming harder to find I don't know what is the answer.

 

Red seal auto mechanic , heavy equipment , forklifts, man up units , diesel propane and natural gas endorsements, air conditioning ticket . Emissions test and repair endorsements ( no longer valid as the government stoped doing e-tests) Jaguar master guild technician, Toyota and Mazda master tech. And held 7 or 8 ASE certificates.

a masters degree in some bull shit course that costs 245668888 dollars ???

between what I got in tools, time in college, time in different dealers courses etc etc etc , I’ve spent just about the same time “ getting my degree”

I’ve been spinning wrenches as a full time job since I was 17, I have never not had a job and getting paid well with benefits, vacation and sick days , got a pension plan at this job as well.

it’s true , my generation was the last that was told a “ blue collar” job is a great and steady living.

hardly any young guys getting into it , or driving truck or doing anything dirty.

give it 10 more years when the generation older then me starts leaving in masses without young blood to replace them and we are in a world of hurt.

Up here it’s hard to find skilled welders and machinists up here already.
Construction workers are feeling it too.

 

Got a local handyman yesterday to stop by my place to give a quote to cut my grass (don’t have the time now since my wife passed away last Feb). He’s 65 yrs old, and gets around solely on his JD lawn tractor (over 5 kms from my place to his). Told me no one wants to work anymore. Said he had 32 clients before Covid hit, but lost many when they started “working” from home. Haha! All the local (Quebec side) fast food joints mostly employ recent black immigrants from former French colonial countries in Africa. White kids just don’t want to work those jobs, but I made sure my two daughters did a stint at a local Tim Horton’s (coffee) joint. Blame the parents and not the kids!

 

I have paid the 50.00 an hr rate in hard cash for many years because it's a part time job happening only about every 3 weeks at this stage in my life. It usually takes my current welder about 5 hrs to completely tig weld the 32 chassis together after I fabricate and tack it together. He's been working for me for over 30 years and is just burned out. I'm not ready to hang it up yet but may have to if I can't find a good tig welder. I think younger people not wanting to do trade work is a problem nation wide.

 

Lol. Almost. Fanuc robots put other Fanuc robots together. These are just the 6 axis ones I know about. IAMMW.

 

I retired about 2 years ago, and have been unable to stop working as I still get call from past customers who cannot find anyone to do their remodeling, or even show up to give a quote. For a simple bathroom they need to bring in an electrician, plumber, carpenter, and a tile guy, makes you wonder what they do.

 

Has anyone tried shanghaiing guys from the local tavern at closing time? It worked for ship crews in the old days.
The big problem with most of the guys coming through my shop looking for a job is they have an IQ that matches their age and they can't write or make a sketch. 2nd grade stuff.

 

No offence but that's probably not a real attractive deal for a young guy. Seems better suited for someone who is retired and has lots of free time. If you are already working a full time week at a welding job (which are rarely basic 40 hr weeks) losing what would be the better part of one of your days off for $250 I can see why guys wouldn't want to do it. I wouldn't be missing out on time with my family for $250.

 

Maybe I misunderstood, but I think he wants a full time welder. Not part time.

 

He said it's about 5 hours every 3 or so weeks.

 

You are probably right about part time workers, I guess I've been lucky to date. If I can get this current run of chassis done I should probably hang it up as I'm 76 years old and have been what I consider successful in the hot rod business. All good things must come to an end although I could go to $75 an hr. I just keep thinking there's some ambitious young guy that could use some extra money making 300-350 dollars cash for 5-6 hrs work on top of a regular job. What I'd really like is for someone to want to learn the chassis business but that will never happen. Thanks for the input.

 

is there a community college anywhere nearby that teaches welding? If so, might be able to line up someone through them?

 

My nephew just finished welding school, was immediately placed in a job, and is now in an apprenticeship classes also. There’s a lot of demand.


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My 19 year old granddaughter wanted to be a welder (got that from her other granddad). Took a few courses at the community college while in high school, good enough to compete at the regional level in welding contests . Just finished her freshman year of welding, while working in the service department of a power sports dealer.

The welder granddad and both parents have bad backs. The prospect of physically wearing out her body made her reconsider her career choices. She is now a used car buyer for a local dealer. Quite happy about her new employer.

 

Where are all those McPherson college graduates?

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I am a welder - fabricator for a very big So Cal tourist attraction. It is nearly impossible to hire truly skilled help anymore. On top of that we just got screwed on our new contract for four F ing years as our employer blames it on Covid even though people are pouring through the gates... I have been watching new construction going on by outside contractors and the level of incompetence is unbelievable.

 

Blame a lot of it on us parents {not me}. Our generation wanted our kids not to have to do the hard, dirty work that we had to do, so some of us sent our kids to college for "clean hands" jobs. I didn't, I expected my two boys to be able to become men with honest blue collar jobs, know how to fix stuff without calling anybody in, and be be upstanding members of the community. The youngest was heading that way when he lost his life in a wreck at 20, the oldest has never been anything but a druggie and a thief. Not the way they were raised, he just turned out sorry in spite of everything we did.

 

I think you need to look at the life of a teacher again. What they do for the pay they get, on top of having to deal with some of the punk kids that bad parenting produces, is nothing short of incredible. Speaking from experience, and from what my two kids have told me, some teachers make an incredibly positive impact on the lives of a lot of children. I had an industrial arts teacher in 1971 who put me on the path of a very successful engineering career. My daughter majored in three fields and minored in another, and in her early 20's has a great job as a data scientist for the EPA, thanks to a couple of teachers and professors who guided her. My son has a Masters degree in fisheries biology, and supervises a group of researchers who are working to increase the health and population of consumable fresh water fish in the US. Yes, mentored by two "teachers" who saw his passion and steered him towards a profession he is absolutely devoted to.

Evidently you have a different view.