Sparks fly when junior Emma Smith steps into her shop, using her heating tools to work on another one of her welding projects.
Welding involves working with heat or pressure to join together materials, usually metals or plastic. Smith was introduced to welding a year ago when she was assigned a project to work on repairing a Camaro.
“My teacher put me on a project to weld a car back together–he wanted me to weld pieces of metal to it and replenish it,” Smith said. “I found it really interesting, so I just continued with it.”
Smith previously showed interest in mechanics and automotives, but welding quickly took control as her passion. With no training, Smith had to rely on experience to teach herself the basics.
“I kind of just taught myself and from people who’ve already done welding so they taught me how to do it, and then I’ve just been trying and working on my skills,” Smith said. “It was harder but it was also worth it.”
Welding includes three major types; Metal Inert Gas, which involves welding things together with an electric arc, Tungsten Inert Gas, which works to fix holes and create joints in metal, and stick, which is where a metal rod is used to melt two pieces of metal together. Working in MIG welding, Smith is exposed to constant dangers.
“If you don’t wear a proper mask, or if the mask doesn’t work, it could damage your eyesight. With the grinding afterward, you could also go deaf, and the hot metal, if you’re not wearing the right protection, it could spark off and burn you,” Smith said.
Nevertheless, Smith does not let the dangerous aspects of welding deter her from continuing in her projects, her favorite being working on cars. Operating under the hood, Smith takes scrap pieces of metal and welds them to the car, fixing problems in the car while giving her creative freedom.
“It allows me to be creative and create designs in order for it to be unique, and be able to replenish it and make it itself again,” Smith said. “My favorite part is at the end, seeing what it looks like and then focusing and visualizing what I need to do in order to fix it and make it better.”
Since the beginning of her hobby, Smith has received many surprised reactions from others both because of her appearance and the dangerous nature of the hobby.
“[People] would not expect me to be a welder because I don’t look like the type of person that would do it, and it’s not as common of a hobby as sports or dancing and drawing, it’s more of a dangerous, thrill-seeking hobby,” Smith said.
Despite this, Smith continues to pursue welding, hoping to continue after she graduates at the University of Northwestern Ohio where she plans to study in their welding program, striving for a career in either underwater or mechanical welding.
