I'm in Calgary right now, and kinda in the same boat. Theres not really any blacksmith shops around, and anyother shop that i might be able to work at wants a welder that actually knows what he's doing, i just know a little bit and would have to be trained on the job a fair bit. Just from the looking into it that i've done, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology has welding programs. The shortest that they offer is a very basic apprenticeship type program that runs for three months, but after just looking for the info on their site i'm not able to find it again. Which is annoying because I had just been looking at it a few weeks agos. Other than that I don't know too much, havn't gone through any of the programs myself. Don't know if any of this helps, but hopefully it will. good luck in your ventures and i hope you find what your looking for. Nigel
It has been 10+ years since I looked into it, but in the states (in WA) I belive you just have to pass a test in an aproved shop to get your journeyman card and be WABO certified. The stick welding test consists of something like a 1" V-groove but weld and then they cut it into strips and stress test them, there can't be any voids or pits and it can't break on a weld. Of course there are other ceritificaions too for different positions and material and procceses. You have to set your machine yourself and there is probably a knowlage test too.
If your really into metalworking you might get pretty bored running beads all day, maybe look into being a pipe fitter, sounds like a more challenging job, and both of the blacksmiths that tought me the most were pipe fitters first.
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Just from the looking into it that i've done, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology has welding programs. The shortest that they offer is a very basic apprenticeship type program that runs for three months, but after just looking for the info on their site i'm not able to find it again. Which is annoying because I had just been looking at it a few weeks agos.
Other than that I don't know too much, havn't gone through any of the programs myself. Don't know if any of this helps, but hopefully it will. good luck in your ventures and i hope you find what your looking for.
Nigel
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If your really into metalworking you might get pretty bored running beads all day, maybe look into being a pipe fitter, sounds like a more challenging job, and both of the blacksmiths that tought me the most were pipe fitters first.
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