Stick Welding Tips Part 1

A few days of stick welding will usually be all a person needs to know if they wish to pursuit the art further. Not everyone that tries it will like it or be cut out for it, that’s for sure. However people armed with a few tips and a little knowledge are more likely to stay with it than others. If you are thinking about learning to weld, the stick( or to use the more correct term SMAW) process is one of the most versatile processes. It’s excellent for teaching general technique and is a widely employed form of welding. While stick welding not the easiest process to learn, it does teach a specific set of skills that can cross over to other welding processes, with little effort. Some may be considering starting with MIG since they have been told it’s fairly easy. It’s really easy to get started with MIG. The best kept secret about MIG though is that it is easy to pick up, but very hard to master. TIG is difficult in almost every area, and few take it up rapidly. So what does stick welding have to offer? First, it has a fairly rapid welding pace. It’s not as fast as MIG but certainly faster than TIG in most applications. Second, Stick welding helps you with manipulation of the electrode, something that is done to some degree or the other in MIG and TIG. It also beats TIG in teaching puddle recognition skills. In Tig, the puddle is fairly rapidly picked up, but it can be a spoiler. In stick, the puddle is more difficult to see due to smoke that may obscure the weld, and to the slag that forms behind the puddle. Third, it offers the highest degree of portability and use in almost any environment. TIG and MIG welding is limited to draft free conditions, which usually means that either process is usually performed indoors.