An Introduction To Welding

The road leading to Vegetarium is a wild mountainous one – covered with rocks of many sizes and a few deep mud basins in the shadier areas. Because of that it’s natural that even on a 4×4 car you’ll get water sprayed and splashed on its underside, and sometimes even breakages from the rocks.
The problem with our Land Rover was likely caused by the combination of these two factors. The water had helped corrosion, and with a bang on a taller rock the exhaust drum pipe got broken, causing the car to roar like a beast, so we’d be able to hear it from quite afar. 

What we used for fixing it was an old communist era electric welding machine – a device that transforms electricity into a higher voltage, manipulated by a dial. There’s two wires – a positive anode and a negative cathode. The positive charge should be attached via its clamp to the metal you’ll be welding, and the negative holds the electrode – the metal rod that gets melted in the electric arc, through which the weld is made. 

I didn’t do much more than watch Filip work and assist him whenever necessary – handing over new electrodes and pieces of old metal, as well as a sharp-pointed hammer for removing the slag and minor distortions in the metal, but was still glad to be of use.

I really appreciated the light show that welding offered, which can be used as high quality, original art-film material. I can only imagine the possibilities that it holds for sculpting as well, and maybe someday I’ll be able to expand and apply these possibilities.

The car’s exhaust drum is fixed now… Until the next time it breaks.

Written by Boyan