Frank C. Tabor Cartoonist : anvilfire.com stories featuring The Old Welder

Frank C. Tabor (1919 - 2012) started his welding career by attending marine coppersmith school, then taught in the navy, worked in a long line of metal shops of the Northwestern US, and retired from welding in 1986. At age 80, he was a full-time cartoonist, something he's always wanted to do. His cartoons were published in national magazines such as Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping and many others. He combined his sense of humour and his industry knowledge in his stories and cartoons. One of his favorite sayings, "Don't let the coyotes get you."

anvilfire is happy to have licensed his metalworking cartoons and presented them here as the base for our daily and weekly comics. His knowledge of welding is also presented in our Safety and Welding Tip of the Day series.

Below are samples of nearly 100 metalworking comics and articles in our Frank Tabor collection. To see the rest, check back daily.

Spark Testing - Grinder Safety

A humorous safety poster from Frank Tabor and information about spark testing.

The Green Smoke Caper

A humorous story about hot iron and the smelly results another real life story from Frank Tabor.

WELDING TIP OF THE DAY : Did You Know? Acetylene Cylinders

Thursday Aug 13, 2026 - 17/52

Acetylene cylinders are not just a hollow tank with a valve and threaded coupling. In order to make unstable acetylene gas portable Prestolite invented the safety cylinder. These are filled with pumice rock (foamed rock or other fill) and liquid acetone. The acetylene dissolves into the acetone so there is no unstable gas in the cylinder. The rock foam prevents wave propagation necessary for an explosion. The cylinder also has melting and pressure fuses to release gas in a more or less controlled manner in a fire. The liquid fill is one reason you NEVER use cylinders lying on their sides. If you notice the the gas flame turn purplish you are drawing acetone and its time to stop using the cylinder.

Frank Tabor, The Old Welder

Stack Burning and Studs

Flame cutting tips presented with humorous real life stories from Frank Tabor.

The Horseshoe Caper

A cartoon from Frank Tabor and another from The Great Nippulinni

"I only noticed her eyes because
they're the color of blueprints."

Frank's comics were all inked black and white drawings. Fill areas were cut and paste or rub on coarse screen dots. These were the standard for publication in most magazines at the time.

We have digitally added grey scale fill or color to many of Frank's drawings in styles that are similar to the genre. In most cases it is only spot fill but in a few they are fully colored.

One whale to another about glogged blow holes. .

One whale to another about glogged blow holes. .

Do your Up-Spouts ever clog in the fall?