Is The E 7018 Welding Rod A Good Choice For Me?

Question which welding rod is best for you? We'll discuss whether the E 7018 is a good choice for you?

Recently there’s been a lot of questions about the best welding rod type to use with customer’s PowerArc Stick Welder or PowerTIG  welder.  A lot of them have read on several different forums  about  professionals using 7018 for pipeline work and for various different applications.  They automatically want to ask if their welder will weld with 7018 and if there are other rods that might be cheaper to weld with than 7018.  The answer to both is a resounding yes!  All Everlast welders that have stick welding capability handle 7018 very well.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  For cheaper welding electrodes, there are many choices.  But  I think though there is a more important and relevant question that needs to be asked that usually isn’t: “Is 7018 a good choice for me?”  My answer to that would be to consider the type of welding you will be doing first.  The main one is do you have the right storage capability for keeping a 7018 in its low hydrogen (dry) condition.  For 7018 rods  to reach their intended capabilities they must be stored in a rod oven to keep them warm and drive off moisture. Most people don’t have access to this.  If not, right there, you have an issue.  Rods such as 7014 theoretically offer the same tensile strength and basic properties as the 7018 without the added cost and storage requirements.  In fact E7014 is a perfect welding rod choice for most people in most situations.  Frequently referred to before MIG welding took the top spot as the go to welder for fabrication, 7014 was known as a “Fab” rod.  It lays down metal pretty quickly and creates a smooth, manageable weld.  Compared to a non-stored 7018, you may lose a little bit of elongation properties, but it is a much better choice for the average user.   The 7014 yields equally beautiful results and the slag removes just as easily as 7018.   For general purpose farm, hobby and fabrication welding the 7014 is a much sounder choice in terms of economy and practicality.

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