"Repeat, you don't need a class and don't sweat it. For several of us it seemed like the right way to start and was near our home. I didn't even get to Mig in my class because I didn't finish the stick and Oxy weld strength tests in time to get in the queue."
Bart,
The class you took was totally different from the one I took. I originally took a welding class in 1968 and learned oxy-acetylene, stick and tig. Then in 2008 I got a tig machine and in the 40 intervening years had totally lost the technique.
I went to my local community college and explained my situation to the welding instructor. He had no problem at all letting me go right to tig in his class that was very conveniently scheduled in the evening.
Some of the other students complained that it "wasn't fair" to let me bypass the other course materials. So he said "OK, try tig" to them. They then found out immediately why tig is taught last.
I've also taken community college and evening adult education high school classes in motorcycle mechanics, auto body repair, machining and woodworking and found it to be time very well spent. But if others disagree that's totally cool.
