Welding is a crucial process in modern sheet metal fabrication. In short, the process involves fusing metals by heating them to a high temperature, and then the metals solidify in their new shape as they cool.
Welding is unlike other metal-joining processes, such as soldering or brazing. These techniques don’t melt the base metal involved, so there’s no actual fusion. Nowadays, welding is ubiquitous in metal fabrication and sculpturing worldwide. It’s an essential process in CSM’s day-to-day sheet metal production, for instance.
But how did the process come about? Let’s delve a little deeper.
Welding in its primitive form dates back thousands of years. There’s evidence of welding processes being used back in the Bronze Age.
This type of welding is known as forge welding. Although specifics vary to a degree, this essentially involves heating metal placed on an anvil until it’s red hot, and bashing into shape with some kind of hammer.
Forge welding has its limitations. It’s only really possible to use softer metals, and the process is incredibly labour intensive. And because the metal is red hot – but not at melting point – any two metals used will not actually fuse together.
Like many industrial processes, modern welding was not born in a single ‘eureka’ moment but rather evolved over centuries. At the beginning of the 15th century, metalworkers moved away from using primitive furnaces to melt steel by layering charcoal and iron.
During this period, Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first known concept of a rolling mill. However, it wasn’t until 1590—nearly a century later—that historians recorded the first two operational rolling mills. One was designed to produce gold sheets for coins, while the other cut formed sheets into strips. These innovations marked the beginning of more advanced metalworking techniques, though not without setbacks.
At the start of the 17th century, the flawed technique of puddling emerged as a method for heating cast iron in reverberatory furnaces. This process attempted to liquefy the metal, but one of its largest issues was that nearly half of the iron was lost to slag due to sand being used for the furnace bed.
The inefficiency of puddling meant that it took until the 1800s to refine the process enough to produce even mild steel. Despite its limitations, puddling was used to create wrought iron, which later contributed to the construction of the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.
Meanwhile, significant breakthroughs in welding were taking place. In the early 19th century, Sir Humphry Davy produced an electric arc using a battery and two carbon electrodes, paving the way for further discoveries. By 1836, Edmund Davy had discovered acetylene, though it would take over 60 years to harness it in a usable torch.
Around the same time, advances in arc welding emerged in Eastern Europe, with Nikolai Benardos patenting a method using carbon rods. In the U.S., engineer C.L. Coffin developed a new arc welding process that led to shielded metal arc welding.
As the 19th century progressed, further innovation reshaped the industry. Steam and aluminium hammers were invented, enabling mass steel production from cast iron by 1857. The increased availability of steel fuelled industrial expansion, and by 1861, multiple trade unions—such as the General Tramping Union of Tinplate Workers—merged, ultimately forming the General Union of Braziers and Sheet Metal Workers in the U.K. and Ireland.
Meanwhile, different welding methods gained prominence. Oxyfuel welding became widely used due to its portability and low cost, though oxidation often led to brittle, porous welds.
Poorly welded equipment became a serious hazard, with thousands of industrial workers killed due to structural failures and explosions at the turn of the century. Despite these dangers, continued advancements in welding techniques set the foundation for modern fabrication processes, shaping industries such as construction, transportation, and manufacturing.
Throughout the 20th century, arc welding became the dominant type of welding used in industry. This type of welding shields the base metal from impurities, but is also more stable – meaning, crucially, that it’s much safer.
Of course, welding has come on in leaps and bounds over the last hundred years. For instance, computer-controlled robotic welding is being used more and more in the metal fabrication industry, which can be more accurate than manual welding. And, most importantly, the risk to human workers is minimised.
Here at CSM, we’re well-versed in producing high-quality, bespoke welds for a wide array of purposes. And we have over a quarter of a century’s metalwork and welding experience. If you’d like to know more about the other metalwork services we offer, please get in touch today.