Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Excellent beginner book
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.
Rating: - 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.
Rating:  - Beginners! For all of the simple to advanced projects, thi
Beginners! For all of the simple to advanced projects, this book is the answer. The author explains things in a very organized and straight forward manner. For example he starts with metal basics and heat control, and then moves to welding equipment and safety. Fitting and jigging is one of the very important aspects covered in a chapter. After wards, each type of welding, cutting, brazing, and soldering is explained in a chapter. This book helped me understand what are the difficulties I will face in my welding project of a race car. For example, Titanium is not easy to weld regardless of the method of welding that is used. Keep in mind that this book will not go into details about metal spraying, electrical requirements for big shops, or ways to weld gears to shafts. This book is only for the beginner, and maybe fun to read for the pro.
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