[weldtoride]

First of all: congrats David, on being named shaper of the Month.

One of the problems with the digital age of written only communications is that we cannot read each others' faces nor hear each others' inflections and so nuance is absent. We each read posts with our own inner voices adding missing visual and auditory clues and so we fill in the blanks with our own prejudiced nuance.

Although I personally find emoticons distracting, I realize others use them to clarify, and I do see their point perfectly.

All this said, I have followed this thread very carefully. During the course of my high school teaching career, beginning in 1975, I have instructed literally several hundred teenagers, aged 14 and up, to use O/A torches safely, among other welding processes.

I think David is doing admirably in providing info for beginners, many of whom don't know where to go for reliable information. Personally, I would have linked to several outside sources to support my procedures in my discourse, but David speaks with a very understandable voice, and his information is sound.

As a frequent, longtime, and thorough reader of this forum, I feel I have developed a sense of various frequent posters' voices here. I recognize a certain sense of dry humor in Kent's post in this thread, as in so many of his other posts elsewhere, that I think David may have missed.

Forgive me if I have misinterpreted either or both of you.

To me, it's two different points of view, from two very different people, who also have two different cultural backgrounds when it comes to humor/humour, including irony.

Again, congrats, David on being named shaper of the Month.

Just my 2 cents