48 Welding Slang Phrases to Talk Like a Metal Junkie Expert
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In the construction world, newbies often find themselves lost in common phrases and welding slang thrown around by fellow workers.
Here’s the ultimate guide on welding slang and fabrication slang in the workforce.
You’ll find categories in the following subjects:
- People & Characteristics
- Equipment & Techniques
- Workshop Issues & Welding Situations
- Common Work Commands
Your Blueprint to Welding Slang Words & Phrases
People & Characteristics
Golden Arm
A welder with excellent technique and end results.
Bugger
Welder’s helper, cleaning up and prepping weld in advance; it might run additional passes after the weld is completed in advance of visual inspection.
Meat Hand
Derived from the term “bead hand.” A root pass welder on a pipeline job. Usually a good welder that can run slick root passes (stringer beads) in x-ray pipelines in production mode.
Drinking Hand
Welder that drinks alcohol in excess. Not necessarily a bad connotation.
ROMF
Welder whose services are no longer necessary.
Shield Arcer
SMAW welder
Shoulder to the Holder
Welder who uses more brawn than brain for work.
Potato Face
Welder with flash burned eyes.
Green/Green horn/Rookie
Any welder new to the trade.
Zorro
Welder trying to un-stick the SMAW electrode.
Equipment & Techniques
Rig
Truck or trailer devoted to hauling a welder’s equipment.
Bird Poop
Cold, supremely ugly, ropey blobs of metal made by a novice failing a weld.
Tombstone Welder
Common AC or AC/DC stick welder that looks like a tombstone in that the dials are on the front and it stands upright.
Dogleg
Two pieces of long run pipe welded together crooked.
Buckshot/Dingle Berry
Welding spatter
Bugholes
Porosity
Alligator Cut
A torch cut done so poorly that the steel looks like it had been chewed through by an alligator.
Cap
Final weld bead in a weld joint. It may be completed in the form of a stringer bead or by a weaving motion back and forth.
Fisheye
The shape of the puddle while welding; sometimes also used to describe the shape of the crater at the end of the weld.
Stiff
Arc that provides a lot of drive into the weld joint. It often is associated with increased spatter.
Soft
Arc that has less drive (dig) and potentially less penetration into the weld joint.
Hot Start
Function used on some SMAW power sources to simplify arc starting when using difficult-to-start electrodes. It works by adding more current to help establish the arc.
Keyhole
The shape of the hole that is formed while welding an open-root joint. Allows for good penetration and tie-in in the completed weld.
- Read more: What is a Keyhole in Welding?
Cold Lap
A defect that occurs when there is lack of penetration on one leg of the weld. Also called lack of fusion or incomplete fusion, it most often is caused by travel speeds that are too slow or weaves that are too wide. It also can be caused by lack of heat input, which prevents the weld and base metal from fusing together.
Wagon Tracks
Also called worm tracking, this weld defect is caused by hydrogen that has been trapped by the freezing slag. The defect, typically the result of excessive voltage, appears when a bubble flows into the weld puddle and evaporates into the atmosphere.
Fingernail
The shape of the SMAW electrode as the flux burns off the end.
Cellulosic
SMAW electrodes having organic material, such as paper, as the main component. These electrodes tend to have deep penetrating capabilities.
Wowie
Any weld or material with at least one bend that is not supposed to be there.
Weed Burner
Propane torch usually only used for pre/post heat.
Bubble Gum
Weld with lack of fusion &/or porosity/weld with lumps and bumps.
Quiver
SMAW electrode bag
Chicken Scratch
Arc strikes outside weld area.
Fizzle
Welding or carbon arc sparks
Workshop Issues & Welding Situations
Poor Fitup
Gaps in some spots while other spots are tight.
Making Popcorn
Power source not set correctly (on MIG especially).
Drag up
Preemptive removal of welder services before becoming ROMF.
Wobble
Major lull in workhands; coming from either inattention of the contractor to see welders are paid regularly or cheating welders out of .10 per hour.
IP
Lack of penetration with the root pass. Over 1 inch on mainline welds and 2 inches on tie ins can is considered to be a defect.
GP
Small to large holes in the weld metal. Small GP on the cap may be ignored by the welder or covered by strategically putting mud on the weld.
Stringer Bead
No whip action, just a simple weld – like decorating a cake.
Wetting-out
Ability of a weld puddle to flow evenly, allowing both sides of the weld to merge smoothly with the base material.
Dig
Also called arc force or arc control. It is the ability to adjust the drive of the SMAW electrode to achieve more or less penetration into the weld joint.
Unloading
The way a SMAW electrode, typically an AWS 7018 classification, burns off while welding.It occurs as a large amount of the SMAW electrode releases across the arc, often resulting in additional spatter.
Walking papers/Bounced/Snake Eyes
Getting fired or laid off.
Common Work Commands
Clamp it Jed
Put a clamp there.
$10 on the truck, $20 on the arm, and they furnish
Non-union (probably pipeline), rig job. In this example, the rig takes $10 an hour and the welder receives $20. And they furnish – gas, rods, bottles, water and ice.
Skater in there
Smooth way to add one welding pass upon another pass.
Put me on Maxine & 100
Put both knobs on an engine-driven machine all the way up.
Dime Wide & Nickel High
Width and height of final pass on pipeline weld utilizing the SMAW process. Utilization of these precision inspection tools is based on the idea welders and inspectors are motivated by money.
Final Thoughts:
Now that you have some more knowledge on welding slang, we hope it helps you better understand your new co-workers and makes communications smooth and easy.
