low hydrogen rod

[Ray]

I heard that aboard any navy ship that if they open a can of 7018 rod, they use what they need and if the whole can don't get burnt they toss it overboard. Anyone know if thius is true?

I’m pretty sure that’s not any kind of policy, but on a carrier and probably any ship, anything you didn’t need or want was disposed of that way, full steam ahead, move ahead operation kind of thing.
The military in general is pretty wasteful in my opinion, it’s about getting the job done. So I do not doubt it at all.

Where you hail from?

[DaveO]

I'm not military so I don't know the full answer, but you could sure see the rod's useful life deteriorating quickly in a high humidity or high salt spray environment. Who knows, there may be a long and detailed regulation in place to store a newly opened can. Friends have told me that cleverly side stepping rules is almost a religion among certain military types, so it may be easier to complete a form that says "electrodes accidentally dropped into a puddle" or "accidentally fell overboard again, the fourth time this week" than to re-bake rods.

[Ray]

I'm not military so I don't know the full answer, but you could sure see the rod's useful life deteriorating quickly in a high humidity or high salt spray environment. Who knows, there may be a long and detailed regulation in place to store a newly opened can. Friends have told me that cleverly side stepping rules is almost a religion among certain military types, so it may be easier to complete a form that says "electrodes accidentally dropped into a puddle" or "accidentally fell overboard again, the fourth time this week" than to re-bake rods.

You hit it on the head DaveO.
Humidity is a big factor, and even on a huge carrier space is at a premium. Unless it’s part of a “weapons system” it’s not tightly tracked, the guy keeping track of the rod has no clue what it is or does it’s just “Used” so the welders didn’t have to explain why it took 50 l/b’s of rod to do the 3’ square deck repair, nor would they care. I wasn’t a Navy welder but if you needed anything it was just handed to you. Unless it was even remotely related to something that goes boom.