As an aside on the subject of welding, with less then ten hours' experience I could weld together two plates of steel (about 3mm thick) such that they withstood

As an aside on the subject of welding, with less then ten hours' experience I could weld together two plates of steel (about 3mm thick) such that they withstood having the crap beaten out of them for a hour with a hammer with no visible issues at the weld. Sure, it's a very simple weld in easy circumstances and matching materials, but as you say, it wasn't anything mystical.