Busting Fake Internet Welds

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When I was in the USN I met a guy while on watch and he was one of our nuclear welders. On a nuclear powered ship we have specialists welders who’s primary job is to make joints the will stand up to intense heat and pressure. He told me that 37 started the welding school and 4 graduated. The requirements to pass are just insane. They X-ray your welds and pressure test them. But he showed me some of his work, and brother let me tell you it was like a robot. Very few have the talent.

Amazing how much time 'they' take to edit the video when that commitment could be spent in practice. My late father always told me welding is about 10 percent position and 90 percent practice.

I have never welded anything in my life. I don’t even think I’ve been in the same room as a welder before. I still watched this whole video and was entranced throughout

Way back in the 70's I took a 2000 hour welding class before my ETS out of the Army. At the end of class we were given the structural welding certification test: do a vertical and over head weld on 1" plate. The tester then cut 5 thin sections of the plate and did a guided bent test on two of them. If there was any cracking or undue deformity in the weld, you failed. I passed and had a welder in my hand as a fleet fabricator for the next 40 years. It's always fun to see these "new" types of welding shown. You can fool some of the people some of the time...

I know nothing about welding and clicked on the "Busting Fake Internet Welds" title out of an odd "who cares?" sort of curiosity...I was pleasantly surprised to find a great video explaining things in ways a layperson like me could easily understand. Now I get why i SHOULD care about fake internet welding, lol. Thanks for an excellent video!

I really do want to thank you for doing this. People really are getting hurt with “fake” welds. I was asked to consult on a fatality where a very large weight box crushed a worker. Some welds that where key to supporting the load had zero penetration and a man died over it. Welding is a real profession that takes dedication and time.

I'm someone who welds (in the middle of taking classes. it counts, shush). I see lots of videos, a lot well edited and some not.
I can easily tell the "cold weld" clips would be cut-up. Not to mention seeing the cooling puddle going through the joint was proof enough something looked off.
thanks for telling the people about these fakes,
we don't need vehicles or structures falling apart because someone thought they could save wire. 😌

I bought a welder a few years ago to do some odd hobbies for some scrap metal I had laying around. I searched the Internet for a long time trying to "hone my skills" for quite a while. This was a random video on my KRplus page, and it's probably the most informative I've seen yet. Thank you!

"If you want it to look like a TIG weld, you should grab a TIG welder. "
Amen, brother.

A boiler maker/welder told me 60 years ago that you can teach a welder to drink, but you can't teach a drinker to weld. And wow, he could certainly do both.

My first factory job require me to pass a mig welding test to work certain lines on the floor. One had me welding thin pieces of metal together. Not only was it HOT but the fumes had me going home with black mucus. It was hard as hell and i messed up pieces all the time burning through them. My trainer would occasionally make me look at my welds and would tell me were i could improve. I definitely respect people who do it as a daily job. Yall do fantastic work and there is no reason for people to cut corners.

I’ve only welded once. I used a rod and electricity while under expert supervision. My welds were terrible, but I developed a healthy respect for anyone who can weld well.

I remember attending a metalworking fair once. People showing off welding, blacksmithing, CNC milling, and other techniques.
There was a welding contest where two steel square tubes were to be welded together and one person got through his weld in just under half the time his opponent did.
The judges went up and stomped on the pipes to test weld strength. The slow welder's didn't even bend. The fast welder's snapped in half, disqualifying him.
Nice seeing people show off what makes a weld strong or weak. Good video!

I’m a 60 year old retired tradesmen (41 years in the trades) With my time I’m teaching myself welding…CORRECTION, YOU are teaching me how to weld. Your videos are excellent. Thank you sir.

I was a metalworker myself and was agonizing about this fake welds.
Thank you very much for educate everybody about these vids.
When I was working in this profession, I was always serious about having welds that were going through and were holding good to grind after. The little kids, which were in the educational process, didn't care about that and I was always scolding them to take this work seriously, because there were some lifes dependent on it. And if these welds wouldn't hold out after the construction, I would blame them for the eventual death of these people.
Welding should always taken seriously.

I come from a long line of welders. My grandpa, my daddy,was a boiler maker, my brother, my youngest sister, and my son even learned and had a full scholarship to Tulsa welding school that he turned down (crazily) to go to a private college for a business degree instead. ( Should've stayed with Tulsa, but what can ya do?) I've thought about going back to school to learn myself because it interests me, and I had been watching welding hack videos. ( anyone can welding videos), but this video proves the importance of learning the skill properly and not falling into the hack trap. 😉 I'm glad I ran across it.

I always assumed those videos were edited that way to avoid excessive flashes of light that could be triggering for some people. Either way, the "hacks" are most often absolutely ridiculous, no doubt about that!

Lol my old welding instructor used to make fun of me for bad welds "do you often have problems achieving penetration?" or if my workpiece failed a stress test he'd say "if that was a bridge you would've killed people". One thing I learned to appreciate about welding was just how big of a gap there is between a good and bad weld, and it took me a good amount of practice to get it right. I'll never forget my first good weld, the instructor took a look at it and told me "looks good, now go try to break it" so I went and put it in a vice and spent the next half hour smacking it around with a big sledge hammer. I came back to him drenched in sweat and completely out of breath and said "I'm sorry mate but I can't break it for love nor money" and he said "well that just means you did it properly". I made a face and replied "well you could've told me that half an hour ago!" to which he and the older guys in the class all roared with laughter.
I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, but I get it now. The reason he let me smack that piece around for 30 minutes rather than coming to check on me after 5, was so that I'd understand how much abuse a good weld can take. I left that class with it absolutely seared into my brain that a weld doesn't mean shit unless it penetrates. It doesn't have to "look good" (in fact my first "good" weld wasn't anything special to look at) it just has to be strong. If you can do a strong weld (not a pretty weld) reliably and quickly at any angle, then you have what it takes to be a welder.

Thank you for the info. I'm a machinist and KRplus knows this, so I'm always suggested those "cold weld" videos. I have little knowledge of welding but those "cold welding" videos always looked strange to me. Now I know why!

Bro that law and order style intro was flawless

As a machining channel host, I totally understand your motivation for making this video. Its unfortunate that people hungry to learn, may embrace bad habits or believe their work is as good or strong as it gets by watching edited videos or ones produced by craftsman with little deep knowledge of what they are presenting. There are many. To anyone that may doubt your observations, pay attention to the smoke. Stay well.

I welded for Caterpillar back in the 80's. They sonic tested our welds regularly & testing involved slicing out sections & bending them 180*. Cat was serious about quality, and every welder in the shop was a good one with experience.

I can't tell you how many commenters criticized my MIG welds on 20-gauge sheet metal. It became clear after questioning them, that they expected to see the kind of results you would see form a TIG. Appreciate your channel, and thank you for the education. MIG welding 20-gauge will always be a slow stich weld with a proud weld and fish eye. It must be ground-down and checked (back-side) for penetration. It is not the right tool for the pretty "dimes" everyone wants to see.

I just recently picked up welding again to build some projects. I haven't done it since high school (30 years ago) and even then, it was stick with a buzzbox. I watched a lot of videos on wirefeed techniques, and you are the only one not insisting on doing weaves or other movements like that. I will try your method when I get home!

I’m not even a welder but watching real professional welds is just mesmerizing

Conclusion: Your weld should always be stronger and outlast the parent material 100% of the time.

Was Trade School trained in Welding 65 years ago. For a while watching those fake welding , I was for while wondering whether I have been sleeping for a while. Welding Equipment has gone so good and MIG Welding so simple and easy and any Noob can weld that good. I ran a pressure vessel shop and welders must be Certified. Thanks for exposing these fakes.

I love this clear explanation of fake vs real welds. We’ve all seen improper technique with the stick welding from other countries. They’re always welding with holes in their gloves and flip-flops.

April Fools Day is coming up, would be funny to see a video doing real impossible welds. Something like BOM fixing a coffee mug with welding. Or maybe welding wood. Something tongue in cheek and purely for the comedy. I do appreciate the hard work and great tips and instructions you provide.

Being a rookie welder but and experienced video editor, I REALLY LOVED this video! Thanks for exposing the fraud!

I picked up a job as a parts cutter at a fabrication shop, we primarily make grills, but also do custom fabs and rim repair. It's a small shop and we lost three welders back to back due to health issues and retiring. Since I was cutting more parts than we needed, the boss asked me if I could weld. Never did anything more than a quick (ugly) patch, but picked it up and have been using these videos and standing over our welder's shoulder to pick up techniques and tweaks to improve my welds. Never knew why fish eyes were so frowned upon and the internet welding community says everyone is wrong about everything always - so I didn't even bother with that route. Glad to find legit information. Most of my welding is 1" square x 1/16" tubing frames, expanded stainless grates on top of them, and 14/16ga sheets for the bodies. I often run into issues blowing through the steel - I assume because most of it is on the edge. Got any tricks (or links to videos) dealing more in-depth with those?

This was very interesting. I don't weld anymore since I moved off the farm. Thanks for bring back memories, keep up the good work on debunking bad internet advice.

I went to a company that welded 1inch thick eye hooks to roll cages for special forces utv's. The eyelets were used for parachute attachments to dump it out of a C 130. The contract stated gmaw pulse, their idea of pulse, was tacking all the way across, "pulsing" the trigger. They seemed shocked when i told them they were going to get people killed. Imagine months later when they had cracking and failures.

I learned to weld when I was 15. I was doing some work on my frame of a car I was building. I had a friend’s father who ran wire through the attic of my moms house. Then went out an purchased a little 225 buzz box stick welder. I don’t even know if a wire fed welder existed 55 years ago.
After about a week went by and me trying to learn to weld. Well you can imagine I was getting no where. Then one evening my mother walked into the garage and said “what are you trying to do???”
So I told her. She just shook her head and walked away back into the house. About 10 minutes later she had gone in and changed her clothes. Then she picked up my helmet adjusted the welder a couple of times and away she went. She had laid down an excellent weld. She took the piece of metal over to my band saw and cut it in half to show me the penetration the metal. One thing for sure I had a good teacher. I asked her where in the world did she learn to weld like that?
Her answer was. She had to carry several hundred feet of cable up a scaffolding and weld herself back down. She was a welder during WWll building ships 🚢. I was amazed…
Then a few years later I got a job as a welder. I was using a wire feed welder then. He asked me where I learned to weld. He really liked my technique. I did that for a couple of years then moved on…

Bro made a whole tutorial to prove a point. And I respect that.

I'm new to welding and even so know how poorly those "welds" perform. However, I didn't know that the videos were being further edited so carefully to make it seem like a new technique. I always wondered where the arc flash went. Thanks for the breakdown.

As someone who has never welded, when I saw that BS starting to circulate it seemed really sketchy and didn't make sense. Thanks for explaining this really well.

This video is a perfect example of what it takes to have a good welding Channel on KRplus... Editing skills! Being a great welder isn't enough and in fact won't hardly even get any views unless the editing and the video production is watchable. This is sad but true as many talented people start channels that never go anywhere and it takes someone with multiple talents to make it work.👍

what gets me is that when I call out whatever type of fake craft video that one of my friends share enthousistically, I get shit on with stuff like I'm a conspiracist or I'm just not good enough and jealous I can't pull it off...
I'm a pretty handy guy, very good at physics, and I've done photography for a few decades, I can spot editing ''magic'' when I see it... But people don't like being told they're being fooled

I had a good laugh at the hammer when it broke and knocked you out. Another top video yeah I have been seeing more and more of these types of weld videos lately

After 30 years as a MMA and MAG/MIG instructor, it’s nice to see someone explaining the truth about a “cold weld” thank you, it really boils my piss that people put these videos out thinking they are clever

I was a welder for JCB for a few years and they tested our welds every 3 months to Keep quality to a high standard.. Some of the welding you see on social media platforms simply acting as if they know about welding is a joke . I watched a review about a welding machine the other day and he was welding in a t-shirt setting a great health and safety example to people who want to get into welding. Some find it more important to get a video out there than to even look professional doing so.. Great channel by the way

I only did some welding classes in high school (oxy acetylene, arc welding, and tried one of the wire machines a tiny bit) but even from the start I watching those I was like "that just looks like a series of tack welds, those aren't solid."

Thanks for this! I was quite suspicious of this "cold welding". I'm thinking, "Where's the penetration. Surely this can't be a real thing?" As an aside, the most crazy welding I have ever seen was when my father in law welded up a leak in a half full gasoline fuel road tanker with an arc rig. He first ran a pipe from his tractor's exhaust stack to the fuel tanker's top hatch and sealed it tight around the pipe, partly cracked a second hatch at the opposite end of the tank allowing a small aperture for the exhaust exit, and let the exhaust build up while also venting the gasoline fumes in the tank for a few hours. Then he went and welded the leak shut. Amazing.

I've been welding all my life and I have never heard of this strange edit technique. When I first saw it I was very WTF did I just see!? Thank you for pointing this out!

Love your acronym!! After 30 years of metal work (mostly copper sheet metal, stainless, and light aluminum, I pretty much never used anything but my TIG machine, and everything else gathered dust, but then I didn't do any production stuff, so..

Thank you for a fantastic video. In the past I have done my fair share of welding, mostly TIG. I have also done MIG, Oxy-acetylene and stick. Now to the video. It seems that the only thing that was not fake was the way the person showed the fake cold welds, kudos for the trick photography in the fake weld videos. At last some one that fully understands and knows the fake from real welding. My hat is off to you sir!

The intro had me cracking up!!! Thanks for great content as per usual!!!!

Good video! For those that are wondering what the specifics of each process that he is describing are: In the grand scheme of things, it goes Short Circuit (Not Pre-qualified in AWS D1.1), Globular (Pre-qualified in AWS D1.1), and Spray (Pre-qualified in AWS D1.1) For the sake of argument, Short circuit is low amperage, low voltage and therefore minimal penetration. Globular is TYPICALLY run at much higher amps and volts than Short circuit (If we're talking Code), many times near a spray, but can be used with the existing 75% argon 25% CO2 mix that short circuit is. It has much better penetration than short circuit, but produces an ugly weld, and a LOT of spatter. Spray transfer typically happens at over 24v and the argon content of the gas mixture must be a minimum 80% argon. For the record, I am a AWS Certified welder, and an AWS CWI. We do a lot of testing at the local VoTech's, and I get a lot of "I saw this video on the Internet"..... Your's and a couple of others are the only ones I'll give credence to and recommend to the Students to watch. Most of the others are just pure garbage, with a lot of incorrect information. Keep up the good work!

Smooth is always better in GMAW (MIG) applications. The inconsistences in a weld face could create stress risers in the weld face, this also carries over to the tack and stack methods being that voids are present and create subsurface stress areas.
Overall you're giving very good information for the KRplus welders.

Thanks for the lesson. The "Cold" weld result is the same terminology for soldering in the audio component world. A cold solder is a no-no. Sending three thousand watts of amplifier power to a loudspeaker to dissipate the load with a cold soldered connection has the potential to be disastrous for the amplifier. Furthermore as some of these "how to" videos on the tube that show how to weld with a homeowner 120v flux core welder .030 wire on a tandem axle trailer suspension! Yikes. I love my little flux core machine to fix my patio furniture, that's it. You've got my subscription thanks for the clarity.

I looked after a dozen mig welders and the tools that used them thirty five years ago. I spent most of my time turning down the feeds as they would keep sneaking it up so that they laid a pretty weld over the seams that you could almost pick off with your fingernails. Migs are capable of just laying metal on top of things with almost no fusion if care isn't taken.

I was walking around a road coarse one afternoon and saw a piece of metal on the track. When I picked it up I was astonished to see it was a perfect tig weld about 6" long. No other metal just the weld bead. I wounder how long it took for the car to crash.

In my late teens/early 20’s I was a MIG & TIG welder for a fab shop where I live. We used to build the giant intake and exhaust baffles for Power generation plants (coal fired) and let me tell you- at 22 yrs old, there were so many grown men far older than me that brought their “welding skills” and were fully ticketed that were just horrible at their craft. I was never a top tier welder but I seemed too exceed alot of these older guys that came in with some seriously bad welding habits. We had a weld instructor who was extremely talented and extremely thorough that showed us the ropes to the point that he got everyone up to a very high degree of quality and Im thankful for having learned the craft from him. He was barely 30 yrs old and was far better than all of the guys we hired that had already been welding for many years. Sad to see so many bad ideas/habits in fabrication being posted and celebrated on YT. Thanks again for the great video and thorough examination of the craft ✊

loosening the bolt with the screwdriver and adjustable wrench made me LOL

Maybe if they put as much effort into learning how to weld vs learning how to scam the internet they’d be pretty good welders.

I’ve taught myself to weld from years of messing around in the shop and getting advice from friends. I’m not a pro by any means but I’m happy to say I’m not a “cold welder” lol just seems like common sense you have to burn the metal in good

I always wondered how it was done and now you've opened my eyes, Thanks

The most random topic the KRplus gods picked for me tonight.
Genuinely fascinating.
And the craftsmanship of social media con artists is mind-boggling...
On a serious note, and asking as an amateur photographer, what kind of lens/filter combo did you use to capture the insanely bright arcing light?
Cheers.

"It's not normally my style..."
Proceeds to make a weld that still looks better than anything our factory's welders ever made.

“Having a skill and knowing how to use it.” Well said. I was a pipe welder and I cringe when I see some of the you tubers junk weld. Good job!

New Fav Channel at the moment. Learning a ton and can't wait to go hands on when my new welder arrives.

Love the video editing myth busting. You gotta be about the smartest welder out there… When someone makes mistakes in the machine shop, we say “maybe you’d make a good welder…” 😜

I always call that “catfish welding”those who know, know it’s not real
Your videos are always fantastic appreciate what you do and teach 👍

I know nothing about welding, I just love learning new skills. I do love how this video focuses on welding, no bs, no ads (till I had to pause the video at the end to see). You got yourself a new subscriber

Thanks so much, excellent work , this would be a fantastic video for a learners first day , at least after the welding safety lesson which is number one.

This is an excellent about Busting Fake Internet Welds show and we love it!!!❤❤❤

I wont try to pass my self off as a welder, but I did spend some years in Radiography. I worked most of my life in the oil patch. Our motto, "can't cutter, can't stay". A lot of these internet welders couldn't pass a "C" test, much let alone a "B Pressure" TQ. It is such a pretty thing when you look inside a really good weld. It really is art work. Hats off to all the men and women who take the time to learn the trade for real.

In my youth I was a non-destructive testing inspector, and I can't tell you how many bad welds I made welders either grind out or cut out and do it over again. One time I even shut down an offshore oil production platform because of bad welds as unsafe. BAD welders hated me.

Absolutely LOVED the Law & Order theme intro!!! That show never gets old.

Great info on fake welding- I was always suspicious on the nice clean welds - like super professional. Your presentations confirms my thinking. Thanks

Finally, someone who called them out with proof, I've had many arguments online about this, but most people wouldn't believe me

When i first saw this "technique" i thought it looked a bit odd. Looked "clean" as a video but i've never seen anything like that in the real world. Thanks for making this video, clearing up that it is actully just editing.

Thank you!! As someone who knows nothing about welding, seeing these videos with insta-dots welding were REALLY confusing to me. I thought it was a new kind of welding machine, when really it's just them jerking around and doing it in a shoddy way! All my questions answered!!

Nice video, I have never welded in my life but I'm in need of fixing a lot of things around my yard and was thinking about getting a welder mig just sounds more friendly for now but I'm open to learn other forms watching the technical stuff really helps thank you.

The best thing is that one of my lab teacher went around saying that MIG spot welding was the correct way to weld rollcages and that everyone was made like that. Pure rage

Thanks for explaining and teaching through all these video I really enjoy them.

thanks for this.. i have no formal training in this and just learn by watching the occasional welder at work when we have a welder come in.. so most of these videos online are very impressionable on me because they look cool and nice.

Reminds me of a few years ago, I made a comment on a channel that had a similar premise, doing wacky welds on things that clearly wouldn't hold, and the author threw a temper tantrum because I said welding chains together to make a handle was a flimsy substitute. It's genuinely surprising how many of these channels exist, both on youtube and tiktok that really try to oversimplify the whole process and then deflect on demonstrably bad methods.

2:54 That method or the regular method of MIG welding is also called "Shot Arc" , the wire touch the metal (the crackle sound you hear), makes contact and melts, followed by another bit of wire, touching the metal etc..... , the other method is called "Spray Arc", with this technique you set the wire speed as low as possible, and the amperage as high as possible. With this method, you don't have the typical cracking sound, because the wire only touch once the metal , makes contact and ignite the arc, and the arc is maintained between the wire and metal piece, without touching the metal. This method is only useable for thick metal pieces, the welds have a very deep penetration depth and looks more like a TIG weld. The downside of this method is, if your welder is not configured right (wire speed to low), the wire wil melt itself to the copper tip of your welding torch. Great video. Grtz

the fact that people can't figure out these hack project videos are edited to cut the welds and make it look streamlined as you showed is beyond me...but great video man!

The same is happening in woodworking.
Thx for bringing this up man.

This was a very good demonstration and explanation. Good Luck grinding all of those starts and stops as well :) I'm retired Navy and was the Senior Instructor of the NonDestructive Testing and Inspection (NDT) program. I've seen a few weldments in my day. You'd have been a 4956 for sure! Compliments all around!

I've got a neighbor that thinks he can weld using this technique. I told him how it took me 3 1/2 years of vocational school before I could get my certification and pass an x-ray. He told me he learned to weld in less than a month watching KRplus. But no matter what you say to people who really don't understand the process they will believe what's on the internet before hearing what you have to say.

I like how making the fake weld look pretty on video takes more effort than the actual process of welding.

Unreal how many times Ive seen people use this "fake" style of welding in their KRplus videos. I never used that method because I just figured they were too unsteady to run a solid bead, but have seen it many many times. Thanks for the heads up.

I was a welder in the navy for 15 years. During my time, we either used stick or tig. Mig was not considered a "viable", process. But if not for Mig, the ship yard would have never met the time constraints placed on them them. Thankyou for explaining, "welding".

The Fabrication Series - "if you want it to make it look like TIG you should just grab a TIG and TIG weld it"
KRplus "Crafters" - "Wait, WHAT? You can do that? Actually use a TIG welder? We did not know that was possible."

Ha! I've seen these weld sequences popping up recently and was pretty dubious. Thanks for the straight scoop!

Thank you so much bro, this helped me understand welding and a lot of the base and other things about it and how it actually works!!!

Thank you! I was a welder for a few years, and I noticed that the process could not be resulting in a good weld, but the end result looks great. And actually for those square tube there is no need to 'stitch' weld it, so it was odd anyway. I did not realize the real welding was edited out, thank you for showing it!

I'm fascinated with welder's ability to move smoothly as they go. I can hold my hand still, but once I focus on a task, my hands have all these little shakes. Meanwhile, my friend's hand shakes normally, but goes into some sort of smooth trance once the spark begins.

Fantastic video showing the results of the bend after.

First video I've ever seen of your, currently waiting for classes for the sheet metal union. Going for a fabricator and In this one vid alone there's already a lot of useful info. Appreciate you and your work. Thank you.

Just wanted to thank you for helping me learn how to weld. 2 years ago i bought a AHP 201 that i saw you using in your video and now im welding intake and exhaust piping, making wastegate brackets etc. Thanks again big guy.

hey man i'm in mechanics now and starting to learn to weld and your video helped out a lot thanks brother

Just... thank you. Thank you for this. You need a raise!

Ha! Used to weld in highschool and just found your channel, never imagined how hard it can be to watch a video of someone welding. I thought I had flash burn for a second after watching this. The knee-jerk reaction to look away was craaazy.

The main reasons that a welder would add motion or oscillation to a structural weld would be the obvious puddle control, to use arc force or direction possibly combined with changes to arc length to control heat input and to manage surface tension. Surface tension can be an issue when MIG welding. The puddle is a relatively low temperature and can at times hump up or have difficulty wetting surfaces. I always found that a very small motion allowed the puddle to flatten out for a better profile. Its also far more forging to small changes in travel speed and small adjustments working around obstacles or for a longer weld in position.