Metalworking -- What Are You Talking About?

When I say the word metalworking to most of my friends, I swear their eyes glaze over.  I'm convinced that they have no clue what I'm talking about when it comes to metalworking.  Today, it's pretty much out of sight our of mind.  People don't generally see other people working with various metals (BIG clue there!), hence, they don't much know what it's all about.  And not knowing something can be a bit intimidating.  Who on Earth wants to admit that they don't honestly know what you're talking about when you use the term metalworking?

What I want to do with this post is alleviate some of the lack of knowledge about metalworking.  That's it!  Metalworking is a hugely broad arena that essentially comprises just about anything involved in working with metal.  So, what we're talking about when we use the term metalworking is anything from metals used to build gigantic structures (thing skyscrapers and ships) to tiny, little bitty metal parts that go into something like a watch.  Got it?

See Metalworking All Around You

If you want to begin to fathom the impact in your day-to-day life of metalworking, just take a look around you.  Seriously!  S-T-O-P what you're doing right now and do a complete 360 degree turn.  While turning around make a mental note of everything you physically see that is comprised of metal or has a metal part on the inside that you cannot see.  THAT is the impact of metalworking!

This is one area that is not just a trade or profession.  For example, a family friend loves to work with gold and make jewelry.  They make everything from bracelets and necklaces to very detailed and delicate earrings.  This is metalworking as a hobby.

Take another example.  Over spring break from college, I joined a friend whose father needed an extra crew member to help them in a sailing race.  He knew I had quite a bit of sailing experience and invited me along.  It turns out that his dad owned a shipbuilding company that made barges mostly out of steel.  This is another example of metalworking just on a really big scale as a business rather than something one does for personal pleasure.

Metalworking Equipment & Tooling

I have merely scratched the surface of this topic.  There are so many different processes and techniques involved in metalworking and it takes a wide variety of tools and equipment to do all the various things that people have come up with over the years.  Probably what first comes to mind when you think of metalworking is welding.  But there's also soldering.  And when you think of silver, how about plating?

They're about to re-release the movie Titanic in 3-D soon.  Metalworking played a big part in that movie.  Riveting on the hull of a ship made of steel is metalworking.  So this is really nothing new or just invented.  It's been with us for a long time and who on Earth knows what these metalworking geniuses are going to come up with next?!

Flow Forming Part 1 - Metalworking Tips from TM Tech

This is such a huge topic and extremely broad in scope.  To delve deeper Wikipedia has a pretty good article with additional resource links that you can check out when you click on metalworking.