$$$ Pipe Welder $$$

I'm now a certified pipe welder!!
I hired on as a structural welder building cat walks, stair towers, and other large structures associated with the oil field. Now, after much practice and help from the more expierenced welders, I have passed my pipe test. In the oil field, a welder who only welds structural is really handicapped because so much of the welding has to do with actually moving products through piping. To pass the test, I had to weld two pieces of thick walled pipe together beveled end to beveled end. Sounds pretty easy, but it's not so simple. The pipe was clamped at a 45 degree angle which is the toughest position to weld in. The pipe wall is very thick, so about 15 welds stacked on each other were required to fill the "v" shape. A quality control inspector examined the welded pipe inside and out. the inside of the pipe must have evidence of correct weld penetration. the other "filler" welds should flow together to form on nice piece. (The pipe in the picture is not complete.) The test piece was then split with a saw into four pieces and the pieces were bent with a hydraulic press to find weakness and impurity in the weld. None were found, so I passed the test.
Pipe welding can be very stressful. The welds are x-rayed at night after the crew goes home. A welder has all night to think about welds not passing. Any little impurity in the weld zone will cause a weld to fail, and that goes on a welder's record, but pipe welders draw very high wages.