\u201cI\u2019m pretty happy about it,\u201d said Dillin Sauv\u00e9, 17, a Grade 11 student at Vankleek Collegiate Institute (VCI), regarding his silver-medal accomplishment in the applied welding category of the Skillz Ontario regional competition at St. Lawrence College in Kingston last month.<\/p>\n
Sauv\u00e9 and a hundred other industrial arts students were challenged to create their own version of Mj\u00f6llnir, the legendary hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder and hero of Asgard. The challenge was to do so in less than three hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave us three pieces of \u2018stamped\u2019 steel,\u201d Sauv\u00e9 said, adding that the steel pieces were each one-eighth of an inch thick, and plasma-cut into different sizes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had to bend it (the steel) into shape, weld it, and fill it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Each competitor also received a short length of one-inch-diameter gasline pipe to serve as the hammer shaft. Then they were left to their own devices.<\/p>\n
Sauv\u00e9 followed the old carpenter\u2019s rule of \u201cmeasure twice, cut once\u201d and spent the first 20 minutes of his time in the challenge rummaging through the scrap metal bin in the college\u2019s industrial arts workshop. He collected a few pieces of scrap and used them to test and set the welder settings to what he thought would be appropriate for the task. Then he got to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI finished in about 45 or 50 minutes,\u201d he said, calculating that making his Thor\u2019s hammer took about a half hour of actual welding time.<\/p>\n
About 10 per cent of the students in the challenge finished within the same amount of time or less as Sauv\u00e9. The rest completed their hammers within about an hour-and-a-half\u2019s time. The competitors were divided into morning and afternoon groups to accommodate the space available in the college industrial arts workshop. Sauv\u00e9 was in the afternoon and he\u2019d heard that someone in the morning group had earned the gold medal in the competition. He admitted to surprise that he had made the top three, even though he was confident about his welding skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit nervous, because I figured it (the challenge) would be something out of my reach, based on what I knew about welding,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the end, though, it was something that I was very comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sauv\u00e9 has been learning the fine points of welding for the past year as part of his applied practices for trades curriculum at VCI.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find myself at home in the shop,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoy doing sheet metal work, auto body work, and welding. I find I have a natural talent for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A talent that comes in handy at his St-Eug\u00e8ne farm home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually do welding repairs on machinery at the farm, fixing hitches or other broken parts,\u201d he said. \u201cMy plan is to become a boilermaker, doing welding on pressurized pipe and other things at refineries, hydro projects, and such.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has also given thought to working on a skyscraper project, being part of a \u201chigh steel\u201d construction gang. What he wants is use his skills on whatever project is available and offers something interesting and challenging for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be able to work on something different every day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A student welder at Vankleek Collegiate achieved in about an hour what it took the fabled dwarf smiths of Alfheim a day and a night to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice-faits-divers"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n