Callers offer welding advice as Charlie discusses manhood and masculinity.

What this episode covers

Charlie James: Somebody on Facebook said, "Charlie, you've already got eye problems, you don't want to be burning..." No, man, I'm going to get me one—I'm going to get me one of them cool 30-millisecond welding hoods! And just, yeah, and I'll just wear that around the house. Man, that'll get the wife going, I'm sure! All right, WORD talk line: 800-905-0989. Let's go to Jeff in Pickens. Jeff, what's going on, man? Jeff: Hey, Charlie! I listen to your show quite often, and this is the first time I've called in. Charlie James: Well, then you get the bell! [bell rings] Jeff: All right. There's a lot of topics that I am interested in commenting on, but I finally got the phone number to call you. Anyway, I've been a welder for years. I'm 64, and I run a small engine repair shop, and I'm telling you, it's not that hard to learn how to weld. If you come by my shop, in a half hour I can show you how to do what you want to do as far as make your little beads for repairing stuff at home. And you're right, welding is complicated and you can get certified in all kinds of different areas of it, but I know what you're talking about because a lot of people just want to have a little welder at home. But do not buy a cheap welder from Harbor Freight or something like that. If you get—I have a little Miller here and I've had little Lincolns, so get a name brand and something that plugs into 110, that's beautiful. And if you have flux-core wire, that will cause you the least amount of problems. In other words, that has the coating on the inside of the wire, it's a hollow tube. So when the wire comes out, you can weld through a little bit of paint, you can weld through a little bit of rust, no problem. Charlie James: That sounds—that sounds like... I tell you what, Jeff, can you send me an email? I'd love to drop by your shop. Jeff: Yeah, no problem. Charlie James: All right, it's [email protected]. All right, you go, yep, get a pen. Okay. I'm going to learn to weld! All right, it's Charlie—[email protected]. Jeff: 989WORD.com. That's it. Excellent, I'll send it to you. Charlie James: I appreciate it, Jeff. Thank you very much! Let's go to Lee in Spartanburg. Lee, welcome. Lee: What's going on, Mr. Charlie? Charlie James: This is it! This is it, Tuesday night, early voting starts tomorrow, things are crazy. What's going on with you, Lee? Lee: I've been listening to you every day for a long time, and I've been a welder for about 38 years. Charlie James: Okay. Lee: The previous caller was right. Your best bet is to find you a small Lincoln, Miller, Buzz Box. Some of them come with 110, some come with 220 adapters. Charlie James: Yeah, yeah. Lee: You can do flux-core like he said, or get you a small bottle 75/25 and run hard wire with it. But you need to learn well first. Do not get you one of those quick-change auto-darkening lenses. Charlie James: Okay, so you—you say just get the permanent darkened lens? Lee: Yes, sir. The old-school welders like the guy I'm just talking about—the guy before me—and so am I, we do not use those auto-darkening hoods in the field. You will burn your eyes. Charlie James: That makes sense. So let me ask you something: when you're going to learn to weld, is flux core going to be the easiest, is that going to be the lowest learning curve there? Lee: To me, yes. It would be. I would prefer that, or either a stick rod, like a 6010, 7018, whichever one you prefer. But if you can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time, you can learn to weld. And you'll be able to weld anything but a crack of dawn and a broken heart before long. Charlie James: [laughter] I love it! I love it! I appreciate it, Lee, thank you! "You can weld anything but the crack of dawn and a broken heart." That is absolutely great! But that's the thing, man: there's not enough guys doing guy stuff. There's not. It's—it's sad! Let me tell you, I was at—the last time I was at a nightclub was in Columbia. And I knew JJ was goi ...

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