John here, I don't usually talk to you through our blog, but here goes.
When we started this business each of us had our own reasons driving us. I was motivated partly by my father in law. He was a master welder with over 35 years under his belt. During that 35 years he had the pleasure of working on everything from components of nuclear vessels with accuracy requirements of up to .0001″ to propellers for ocean going vessels.
To give you some background on what this post is about, you need to know that the electrodes that we use for the TIG welding process can be very dangerous. For many years it was accepted that tungsten alloyed with 2% Thorium was the best solution for welding stainless steel and other steel alloys. Thorium is a radioactive element that helps Tungsten to keep from melting during the weld process. During preparation for the weld process, the welder must grind their electrode to a fine point to help direct the weld arc to create a clean puddle. During this grinding process, tungsten dust is released into the air along with thorium dust.
Thorium is radioactive.
Every developed country in the world has laws limiting the amount of time a welder can weld with thoriated tungsten. Except the United States of America.
My father in law was named William Johansen and he died on August 5th 2008 of Lung Cancer from an "unknown source". The lung cancer Bill died from is the type associated with overexposure to thorium (a radioactive element). Over time the thorium builds up in the lungs of welders and causes cancer like the kind that Bill died from.
One of the most important things to us here at Nameless is the well-being of our employees and everyone who comes into the building here. One large step we took in preserving the health of our employees and customers was switching from the commonly used 2% Thoriated Tungsten electrodes to a non-radioactive, inert hybrid Tungsten electrode. The dust produced while grinding this tungsten is not radioactive and is non-toxic.
As a tribute to Bill we have teamed up the our local NAPA Auto Parts store to support the American Cancer Society by running a team in the Relay for Life in Battle Ground, WA.
We will be donating 2% of our gross sales in the month of June to the team. This donation goes to fund cancer research in all fields and support the rising stars in the cancer research field.
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