eo REVIEW BY ROBERT MURRAY Underwater Welding Book in Review ISDN 1-899293-99-%, softbound, 729.5in israel, ~300 pages, Toubetor Publis ing Lid, Lelceste, UK, £19.99 ($33) \www.troubador-co.ul/matador, tel: (44) 116 2559312. David Keats's book, Underwater Wet Wolding, is an excellent reference guide to welling. The majority ofthe book is about in general aad not specifically un erwater wet welding as the ttle suggests. Credit must be given to Keats for tak- ing the approach that a thorough under. standing of the entire welding process is essential to becoming a proficient under ‘water wet welder. I found the layout of the book a it confusing with the jamping back and forth between general shop welding and underwater wet welding. | would Tike to have seen the book made nto twovolumes: The first discussing met allurgy, welding, and weld inspection as it relates to surface welding in general; the second volume dealing with all aspects of underwater wet well The section on “Health and Safety” aso jumped hack and forth between shop weld: ing and underwater welding. Keats does, sive verysound guidance on electrial shock prevention, bat does not offer an answer as towhy underwaterwet weidingean be safe thas w dowith Ohm's law (I= EIR, where T= current, E = voltage, and K = resist~ ‘ance), and the 40 mA direct current (DC) safebody current established by the AODC. referenced by Keats. ‘A diver will have nominal limb-t-limb body resistance of 750 ohms 29/750, the max cur- rent a welderdliver willbe exposed (0 is 38, mA, whieh within these body current Using Ohm's fay, limits. Being within te safe body curr along with following the safety guidel outlined in Keats's bok, is what makes un- denwater wet welding safe Another safety point Keats brings to Light but does not elaborate on is ensur- ing all geses are free ta escape. This isan extremely important safety concern since hydrogen and exygen hecome disassoci- ated from the water molecule in the form fof gases during vet welding, By them- selves, these gas molecules are hasmless. However, if they are recombined they ean, become explosive, and if a substantia amount of gas has collected or significan amounts of hydrocarbons are present, the explosion could be lethal “The section on “Basie Metallurgy" was very informatives howe depth explanation of the importance of carbon equivalency (CE) to underwater ‘wet welding should have been given since CE is an essential variable for wet weld- estion Keals’ statement that base ‘a high CE are not suitable for wet welding, Base metals with a high CE can be wet welded using austenitic elec trodes, especially high-nickel electrodes. Overall, I found the book to be well written, Keats did an excellent job with utilization of graphics in each section. 1 particularly liked the detail given in See- sions 4 and L4 with electrode angles and manipulation, ‘Themajoriy ofthe book iszbout weld- ing in general, LYound Sections 4 and 14 tobe the only parts of the book that re~ ally got to the bare bones of underwater wet welding: With that said, this hook will have a spot on my shelf with the rest of my welding reference books. ROBERT MURRAY is with the US. Ne Special Progaras, Naval Special Warfare NAVSEA, aad a member of the AWS Sukcomminee on Underwater Welding. ae EDITOR Reader Offers Possible Solution to Skilled Welder Shortage Industry needs to get serious sbou! solving its problem, because no one cise i going to do it for them, They need to ask themselves a few basic questions 1. What is this problem costing the company? ($1000, $10,000, $100,000, or $500,009 a year, both in present and Tu: ture business.) If they don’t know what it is costing them, they have an unidentified problem; therefore, it will never get fixed, What am L willing to pay for a work: able salution? Since welding apprentis ships, in general, area thing of the pa ‘and will probably stay there. have a workable solution, Solicit cur rent American Welding Society Certticd Welding Inspectors (CWls) and Certified Welding Educators (CWEs) fora position toaid in your company’s growth, expansion, and future. They would represent the com. pany in quality integrity, and roputation to Ba av 2006 its customer base and provide in-house ‘welder training at any time. If this person can fica $100.000-a-year problem forever, ‘woulds’tit be worth @ premium price? If your problem hats significam price tag on it, you could reap dauble rewards by investing in your CWI/CWE portfolio by spending a very modest amount to get that person qualified to the Certified ‘Welding Supervisor standard. Then stand back, throw out any company politics, and ler that person do a job no one else was capable of doing. Tinis person will be a functioning member of production, and take on responsbilties he or she is better {qualified to do than those now perform- ing those duties. The company now esn plan on a welding future instead of wor- Fying about one, ‘Companies that claim they couldn't f= ford this solution oniy have one other so- lution — give up welding as a means of fabrication or production. If not. work- manship, quality, and liability will eat up il by the time thé company iden- 1¢ true problem/solution, iI] be too late. Pay a contract company to do your welding. (Thea see what the price tag really i.) The time for action is now, Phil Evans CWI CWE ‘allaka, Fla, [Dear Readers: ‘The Welding Journal encourages jan exchange of through letters to the editor. Please send your letters to the Welding Journal S0NW Leleune Rd, Miami, Iso reach us by} Dept. FL 33126. You can FAX at (305) 443-7404 or by send- ing an e-mail to Kristin Campbell at Kcampbell@ans.org.