About CutAndWeld
CutAndWeld is a small, independent, advertising-supported site built around six free calculators for welding and metal fabrication, plus a set of guides and a museum on the metals and processes behind them. There’s no company history to tell here — what follows is a walk through what’s actually on the site, tool by tool.
Weighing and cutting stock
Most jobs start with a piece of stock. The Metal Weight Calculatortakes the dimensions of a plate, round bar, square bar, or pipe in steel, stainless, aluminium, copper, brass, or titanium, and converts them to a weight in pounds and kilograms using that material’s density — the number you need before you order stock or load a truck.
The Cut Yield Calculator answers a different question: how many finished parts a length of stock actually yields once the saw or plasma kerf takes its cut. Enter the stock length, the part length, and the kerf width, and it works out pieces per bar, the end drop, the waste percentage, and how many bars a full order needs.
Setting up a weld
Three tools are built around getting the weld itself set up. The Weld Amperage Calculator takes an electrode or wire diameter and a base-metal thickness and returns a starting-point amperage range for MIG, TIG, or stick, drawn from typical manufacturer charts for mild steel — a place to start dialling in from, not a replacement for a test bead.
The Filler Metal Calculator estimates the deposited-metal weight from a joint size and weld length, then factors in typical deposition losses to say how much wire, rod, or electrode to actually buy. The Gas Consumption Calculator does the equivalent job for shielding gas: enter a flow rate and arc time and it returns the total cubic feet used, an estimated cost, and how much of a cylinder the job will burn through.
Pricing the job
The Welding Cost Calculator pulls the shop-floor numbers together — filler, shielding gas, labor, and electricity — into a single estimate, broken down by component, totalled per job, and reduced to a cost per foot of weld. It’s meant to be used alongside the amperage, filler, and gas tools above, once you have a rough idea what a job will take.
Guides and the Museum of Metal & Fire
Alongside the calculators, the guides cover MIG, TIG, and stick welding technique, plasma and laser cutting, and general fabrication and safety topics, and the learn section goes deeper on specific processes and materials. The Museum of Metal & Fireis a separate, more reference-style corner of the site, in four galleries — Welding & Cutting, The Metals, The Smithy, and Great Metal Structures — with entries, images, and facts drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
What this is, and isn’t
CutAndWeld is not affiliated with AWS, any equipment manufacturer, or any standards body it references. The calculators use standard formulas and typical manufacturer charts, and their results are estimates based on the numbers you enter — not measurements, and not a substitute for a test bead or a calibrated meter. The guides are general informational content, not professional engineering, structural, or safety-certification advice. Welding and cutting are hazardous: follow your equipment manufacturer’s manuals, wear proper PPE, work with adequate ventilation, comply with local codes, and consult a certified professional for any structural or load-bearing work.
The site is supported by advertising, which is why you’ll see ads next to the tools and guides. If you spot something wrong or have a question, the contact page has an email address that goes to a real person.