Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for beginner but error in describing Alclad.
Review: p.47, top left picture and section 'Aluminum Oxide'. All aluminum surfaces will oxidize unless protected by a film or chemical treatment. Alclad material has had a layer of some other alloy mechanically bonded to the surface of the core alloy. The layer varies from 1.5% to 15% of total thickness depending on the particular core alloy and product. The clad layer should not be removed as weldability of the product depends on the core alloy.
Rating: 
Summary: Another book for the shelf
Review: Perhaps I'm too tough on these authors. Over the past year I have purchased at least 5 of these types of books, and find myself disappointed at the lack of pertinent information.This particular book had some decent information on the various processes, but I do not feel that it went into any of the processes with enough detail. Finch states that you should learn GAS welding first. This was of no help to me. I purchased a MIG mainly to do sheetmetal / autobody repairs. I'd recommend looking at some of the welding manufacturers sites and buying technical manuals or videos from them rather than buy from Finch. Unfortunately, I will probably be too stupid to listen to my own advice next time I go to purchase a book. I'll come right back here and buy one of these crappy little paper-backs that don't give nearly enough information.
Rating:
Summary: Another book for the shelf
Review: Perhaps I'm too tough on these authors. Over the past year I have purchased at least 5 of these types of books, and find myself disappointed at the lack of pertinent information. This particular book had some decent information on the various processes, but I do not feel that it went into any of the processes with enough detail. Finch states that you should learn GAS welding first. This was of no help to me. I purchased a MIG mainly to do sheetmetal / autobody repairs. I'd recommend looking at some of the welding manufacturers sites and buying technical manuals or videos from them rather than buy from Finch. Unfortunately, I will probably be too stupid to listen to my own advice next time I go to purchase a book. I'll come right back here and buy one of these crappy little paper-backs that don't give nearly enough information.
Rating: 
Summary: This is What One Looks For
Review: Some authors that write books within auto repair skills-area tend to present their knowledge as universal. Sometimes readers not interested in auto-repair could be disappointed although the book itself is very good and useful. This book totally overrides such disrepancy. Author comes directly from auto-repair area and doesn't conceal it; but his knowledge is so broad and practical approach and teaching skills so good that this book is appearing to be really ultimate basic level handbook. It covers pratically everything related to practical welding. Very big value of the book is that author preserves the same level of depth in approach across the whole book - that constistency makes reader content if he or she has exact expectations in the moment of opening the book.
As an engineer eductated with too much depth in some areas related to this book, i found the book very practical for day-to-day communication especially with younger welders, but with the best my craftsmen as well. I use it also as basic reference.
If you need further developing your skills and knowledge of welding then you need to research very deep and specialized literature like "Spravocnik po svarke" made by top-level russian scientists. If you need no so much depth "this is what are you looking for".
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Welding Supplement and Guide
Review: The Welders Handbook is an excellent reference and guide for a novice to intermediate welder. Experienced welders, familiar with the various processes, will find little additional information in this guide. The Welders Handbook is chock full of tables for melting temperatures, welding lens recommendations, equipment requirements, pressures, rod types, etc. Also included are many diagrams describing weld types, equipment, weld points, etc. The book is broken down into sections for each welding process: Oxyacetylene, Arc, Mig, Tig, and special processes, such as spot welding. A neat and useful fitting and jigging section is included that describes mounting procedures and stress avoidance. Each section describes the equipment, preparation, and actual welding techniques for each process. I did however find the Tig and Plasma arc/cutting sections a little weak. Another section of the book describes brazing and soldering, which while join metal similar to welding are not welding processes. I expected the author to be ra-ra welding, and indicate that you must weld everything, which is not the case. The author fairly describes other methods of joining metal, such as brazing, soldering, and even JB Weld epoxy. I can't say enough good things about the brazing and jigging sections. The author leaves his mark on this book by sprinkling many anecdotes about past welding projects in each section. His exploits may have been deemed tedious by other reviewers, while I on the other hand found them inspiring. It is nice to know that I could build a go-cart with only brazing, or build an airplane engine mount with mig or tig welding. I do not profess to be a professional welder, I am a hobbyist and I have taken a couple of welding classes at a local community college. I have learned there is no substitute for an experienced eye looking over your shoulder when you are learning to weld; the author of the book says as much. However, I learned several useful bits of information from this book that have helped me further hone my skill - two explanations are better than one. I really like this book, and I refer to it often. It is on the short stack on my book shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Too much FINCH
Review: There is some good information contained within the covers. However, there is a large amount of wasted ink and space. It appears as though the author feels that informing you of the types of tow vehicles he owns and maintains(laughable)is more important than welding facts and examples. The author repeats the informative verbage of "if you are right handed....., if you are left handed...." too many times, it appears as filler just to get ink on the page. The information relating the race car teams he has worked with and the antenna he built for someones boat and the associated pictures are not relative to the title and merely take up space within the contents. The materials discussed to build the projects dont match the pictures, which arent in detail themselves. Your money could be better spent.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book on all forms of welding
Review: This book covers all forms of weldig in enough depth to understand each process. Combined with the author's other book Performance Welding, makes a complete guid eto welding for the enthusiest.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected!!
Review: This book does cover all types of welding processes but shows absolutly nothing on the techniques. I am a beginner and hoped that "A Complete Guide" would be alot more complete than just showing what each process will accomplish. I wish I wouldn't have wasted my money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent beginners book - needs editing & updating.
Review: This book is a good beginning to inform you about welding. It is not a manual to teach you welding. It gives you enough to go further and ask intelligent questions. There are some misspellings and some garbbled sentences. More examples of what is bad need to be shown. Some info he mentions about the AWS and the AMS needs to be updated as their products are very very expensive. You will learn from this book but you will need to read others as well or attend a class at a local community college.
Rating:
Summary: Shouldn't be the only source of information
Review: This book is lacking two major points. First, it doesn't say anything about setting up the regulators. It didn't attempt for the fact that the regulator screw have to be all the way out to be in the 'OFF' position in most of the brands. Second, it doesn't say anything about the CGA standards for the regulators. It doesn't mention the 540 and 510 standards and the most common types of regulators and tanks you see on the market. Go to eBay and see how many types of tanks are there. Maybe it should refer the reader to the regulator's instruction manual, but these steps cannot be forgotten. I've bought an used outfit that came without instruction manual, I had a lot of trouble with the CGA standards and damaged my regulator by opening the cylinder with the screw all the way in. All that without mentioning the fact that I could have blown my head off. These books target the 'do-it-yourself' kind of people (such as myself) and should assume it will be the only source of information. If not, just refer the user to the instruction manual. Overall good book but I recommend caution. Look for other sources of information, gas welding is a serious matter.
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