It doesn’t matter if you only want to weld for a hobby or as a career choice, you will eventually have to learn about welding joints. They are the basic foundation of welding and something you will come across daily. According to the American Welding Society, there are five different types of welding joints. These include the corner, butt, lap, edge, and tee joints. Learning about only five joints sounds easy but, each one comes with many different types of welds, welding symbols, requirements, etc. For this guide, we’re going to focus on one of the more common ones, the Butt Joint.

Whether you are a skilled welder, or hobbyist, you may be familiar with the four different types of welding processes. Welding is a process of fusing a wide variety of materials together that requires the application of heat and pressure to conjoin materials. While all forms of welding seek to accomplish the fusion of materials, there are four different kinds of welding techniques that are imperative to know. Each process of welding is unique, and has a variety of features to consider.

Welding symbols provide for a convenient way of depicting the way a particular joint is welded. However, in order to have accurate welds, the symbols must be both properly drawn and interpreted. The current U.S. standard for welding symbols was created by the American Welding Society and approved by the American National Standards Institute.