My granddaughter’s other grandpa is a friend, he was an aerospace welder, the only person certified to do certain welds on the space shuttles. He had his bladder removed this year for bladder cancer; I suspect his exposure to heavy metals and toxic solvents may have contributed to his aggressive form of bladder cancer. OTOH I have bladder cancer too, as did my Dad who worked “in the shipyards” in WW II so was exposed to asbestos. Dad also had lung cancer, the bladder cancer was an incidental finding.

This is hazardous to your health, especially eyesight.

From experience as a welder and as an instructor - Welding can be hard on the eyes. Yes you wear protection but flash from other welders cannot always be prevented.
Welding flash is EXTREMELY bright. Looking at the sun is one thing, but it doesn’t come close to welding flash.
- Burns from weld spatter are common but typically not lethal. That spatter burns through common clothing instantly. Often the spatter is steel - somewhere a bit under 3,000* (its molten state). It will burn through a sneaker in about a second, burn your foot in the next second.

All that said, I weld at home frequently, almost weekly. Rare are my injuries.

I hope not.

You're a funny guy

We were taught stick welding and oxy acetylene in ag class while in high school. I’ve still got a slag scar on my right ankle .

I've been in the business for 35 years. This year I bought myself a 3M ADFLO with an FX Air helmet. Should have done it years ago. Welding rebar can be done but it has a high carbon content, and the higher carbon the less weldable a metal becomes. Most mild steel is around 20 percent carbon content and has the best weldable characteristics. You really have to watch stainless steel. That releases chromium hexavalent which can be nasty over a period of time. But anything can cause pulmonary problems if exposed to enough of it over a long period of time. Honestly I worry more about grinding particles from cut off wheels, and acetylene soot more than welding fumes. I do have burn scares. It comes with the business. I have not noticed any abnormal decrease in eye sight other than that normally associated with aging.

They tried to teach us oxy and arc welding in High school
( 1974 )

I passed both ,but
It was at the absolute simplest
level.

They had giant vent hoods
over the 36 x36 inch booths.

I made a set of ramps out of angle iron ,
They weighed 30 pounds each.
Dad used them for 6 years.

all depends on the type you are doing and what the conditions are.

mig, tig, stick? fume extraction ?

I was about twelve years old and one day decided to play with my father's arc welder out in the drive way... had on a tee shirt and made sparks and melted rods for about a half hour..... .. ended up with the worst sun burn of my life....

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
They tried to teach us oxy and arc welding in High school
( 1974 )

I passed both ,but
It was at the absolute simplest
level.

They had giant vent hoods
over the 36 x36 inch booths.

I made a set of ramps out of angle iron ,
They weighed 30 pounds each.
Dad used them for 6 years.

Our class eventually were going out to farms and cutting down and scrapping the old steel structure windmills. I still have some 1/4 steel plate we practiced laying a bead on.

Edit to add. Brazing make me sicker than a dog. I can't be close to that when its being done.

I am not a welder, but I recall that the use of brake cleaner that contains chlorine to clean surfaces before welding/brazing you will release a very toxic gas when hit it with the brazing torch or welding rod. With a good whiff of that you may not be able to make it to the door before you collapse. Probably dead.

can the experts verify or refute this?

About 5 years before I quit working for the "Code welding" outfit I was with, OSHA pushed hard for masks ANYTIME hot work was performed on stainless in a confined space.

The hexavalent Chromium stuff was being pushed HARD.

No one wore their masks then...everyone was too cool and thought only pussies wear masks :/

My welding is hard on my hearing from all the grinding so people don’t think the weld was done by a five y.o.

Hearing is another matter. My next birthday is 60 and my family is pushing me to get hearing aids.

The good news is it could be as much as 50% safer,
Than it was 30 years ago
If
People would be using all of the safety equipment that
Is available today. (?)

But the casual welder that does it two days out of the month,
Won't be spending
Three grand for the essential safety stuff, for that amount of welding ?

I'm not sure the meaning of the ?. It is completely possible to dramatically reduce the risks for not very much money. Way more than 50%. Assuming you have good physical PPE (nobody should be getting burns etc. its dumb). Weld outside. Set up good airflow like a fan. Wear a suitable respirator. Nothing like 3K for that.
I personally do more, but I spent my youth doing stuff that today would get the bosses arrested (like grinding lead paint on ships with no PPE) and do my best to overcome that start.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
(nobody should be getting burns etc. its dumb).

I must have magic slag. Somehow it can make it behind a hood, into the ear canal, and manage to light the eardrum on fire.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
(nobody should be getting burns etc. its dumb).

I must have magic slag. Somehow it can make it behind a hood, into the ear canal, and manage to light the eardrum on fire.

If you weld overhead for some time you're going to get burned. For the ear problem described I use earplugs. The sparks still get in there from time to time but they don't get as deep.