Stainless Steel Welding Tips

Stainless steel is a beautiful, shiny metal that does not rust, which is why people love it. However, it can be tricky to weld, especially with higher gauge material. Though if you follow a few of the following tips, you can be successful at it.

First, you want to thoroughly prepare your weld surfaces with a stainless steel wire brush and then clean it with acetone or denatured alcohol to make sure it is completely free of any debris. Then, the main thing to keep in mind when welding is the heat. Stainless steel gets hot very fast so you should weld at the lowest amperage necessary to prevent warpage. For example, if you are welding 16-gauge material, set your machine between 40 and 60 amps. Start with cool settings and then add heat slowly if you need to for stronger welds and better penetration. Tack weld your piece in several places far apart then fill in later, which will also reduce warping. You can also weld in short bursts of three to four seconds to avoid warping as well. Do not weld for too long a period of time; you want to stop and allow your material to cool off, then weld again. Stainless is also stronger than most metals, so it can be fused together without much rod. However, as with anything, the best way to become proficient in welding stainless steel is to put in the hours and practice!!

We offer a Stainless Steel class at our shop and shop time is always available to practice.

Stay tuned for tips on welding brass and aluminum!

Student work!

It sure feels great to teach people how to weld and then watch them use their creativity and put their newfound skills to use! So we just wanted to share with you some of the awesome projects our shop time students have completed on their own! I think we all can agree that there is nothing like building something from scratch with your own two hands, especially when it is your own design, which is what we are all about here at MSFC! Sign up for shop time and you too can fulfill on all of your metalworking dreams!

A TV stand designed and built by Dennis

Jed's lovely rack for his kitchen (cat not included)

And Jackson's vision for a TV stand!

Come Get Your Weld On!

Camden's work

One of our lovely assistants, Camden Place, has been using his shop time wisely, coming in almost every week to practice his metalworking skills. We love to see people bring their design ideas to fruition! Just look at this lovely side table and dresser! All you need is a vision and you can make it come true in metal here at Metal Shop Fantasy Camp! Beautiful work, Camden! You can follow Camden on Instagram @camdensplace

Partnership with N.Y. Adventure Club

Metal Shop Fantasy Camp is proud to announce our partnership with N.Y. Adventure Club!

N.Y. Adventure Club is a community-driven organization that curates all sorts of tours and experiences around New York City while giving residents and visitors alike insider access to the city’s best-kept secrets, one of which, hint: is us! While the Club primarily focuses on history and storytelling, it also cultivates uniquely New York experiences.

On Sunday, May 20, participants from N.Y. Adventure Club had a uniquely N.Y. experience in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the creative heart of all that is happening here! They explored our shop and learned about our tools. They witnessed the CNC plasma cutter in action, received their very own bottle opener to take home and even got to weld! We hope to have another N.Y. Adventure Club outing in the shop in about a month's time.

We can't recommend N.Y. Adventure Club enough; not only for exclusive access to our shop, but for all your N.Y. adventure needs as well! Their tours include wonderful, memorable experiences such as a behind-the-Scenes tour at Eclectic Props, the largest film & TV prop company in NYC; Underground Manhattan, The Secret History of the Subway System; a trail hike at the Old Croton Aqueduct with rare access inside Abandoned Weir; as well as a private Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the secret Kyoto Garden, in addition to many more. Check out their website here!

And here are some photos from the afternoon below!

Blacksmithing classes are up and running again!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Blacksmithing classes are up and running again! We are very excited to have our new instructor, James, on board to teach them! James taught his first class this past weekend and it was a hit!

If you want to learn how to blacksmith, the time is now because classes are filling up quick! There's nothing like employing fire and hammer to bend steel to your will!

A Brooklyn Metal Partnership!

If you were not already aware, there is a great need for skilled metalworkers in the United States. That is why we at Metal Shop Fantasy Camp are so proud of what we do and love teaching others to weld! It is also why we decided to partner with other experienced metal shop owners in Brooklyn for our first ever Brooklyn Metal Partnership Training. For the past three months, nine participants took classes with Argosy Designs, WaxRax, Bott Welding & Consulting, Lee Spring and Metal Shop Fantasy Camp to learn metal fabrication and welding with the goal of catapulting them into careers in the field. Participants rapidly immersed themselves in various aspects of metalwork such as shop drawings, layout, machinery, fabrication into production, welding, and finishing.

The skills these students developed are for the real world since they have been trained by those who work in the real world each day, and they can now put these skills to work! Total Metal Resource is thus very happy to have hired two BMP students as interns and we are proud to have them on our team!

Blacksmithing classes on the way!

We are excited to announce our very first blacksmithing class! In this two hour long class with blacksmith Theo Nazz, students will be introduced to the art of blacksmithing by creating their very own bottle opener to take home! Welding metal is super fun and satisfying, but heating, pounding, and forging steel into a desired shape takes it to a whole new level of metalworking excitement and satisfaction! Check out the photos from our demo below!

Once we have these intro classes off the ground, look for knife making classes where students use the techniques they learn in the intro class to forge their very own, one-of-a-kind knife!

Fire and metal, bring it on!