[TheForge] Welding Rod- 6013?

[Gladish Family]

Oh, noes! All our dirty little secrets are coming out now!
*scrunches eyes shut and clenches fists* "My name is Andy and I'm a 
welder. I, too, use old damp 7018 if I need to to get a job done"

A.G.

Mike Porter wrote:

>I didn't want to get involved in this discussion, but can see that a
>dissenting voice is now desperately needed. In about 35 years spent as a
>multi-certified weldor (this was originally the correct spelling when
>referring to the operator instead of the equipment) I've heard a lot of
>prejudice passing for wisdom. When it comes to welding rods, tunnel vision
>seems to narrow down close to a pin-point. Certified welders (not to
>overheat Spellchecker) are the prime carriers of this particular disease,
>but shouldn't be blamed for it. 
>
>You see, no matter how good a welder may be, if he/she doesn't certify for
>some particular project, or if any of his/her work doesn't meet quality
>standards--for any reason whatsoever--he/she turns instantly from
>grudgingly-put-up-with-necessary-evil to unemployed BUM. This naturally
>promotes paranoia, leading to antisocial demeanor, thus ending in social
>segregation, which promotes...well, you all get the idea. So narrow
>mindedness is constantly reinforced, and chance taking is--often
>severely--discouraged.
>
>Thus, we may have devolved to the point where only retired welders can
>overcome combative attitudes well enough to admit that, the rules apply when
>they work, but are often quite successfully broken. I have used 7018 so old
>and exposed to the elements that it would completely crumble off the rod if
>I didn't make a perfect start. It welded just fine, and was infinitely
>better than the alternate (no rod at all). I have also used 6013 5/32" and
>3/16" with the amperage turned way up, in order to mimic the performance of
>7024, while welding deck cleats through standing water, paint, and tar, on a
>barge deck; if this had not worked as well as it looked to, I would have
>been fired by that company some time during the following two years that the
>barge hauled cargo back and forth through Alaskan storms.
>
>I paid for welding school in the first place by running 5/32" 7018, in all
>positions, using an AC 'cracker box'. Was I really that good? No, but it was
>1971 in Seattle (remember "last person out of the city; turn of the
>lights"?), and the boat owner told me it was his way or the highway.
>Desperation is a wonderful helpmate when trying the supposedly "impossible."
>
>The moral of this story is, all those rules are very precious to engineers,
>but welders who work in exotic places find out very quickly that "whatever
>works is what goes"! In other words, take all the rules as the mere
>guidelines they were intended to be; welding is a craft--not a religion. Any
>AWS members in good standing might as well know that I'm retired and
>couldn't care less about your disapproval.
>Mikey  	 
>  
>