I was given a bucket of random welding rod that had been stored in an old semi trailer for at least 20 years. Montana is a dry climate, but the roof had leaked quite a bit and most steel in the tralier was pretty rusty. In it were a few 7018s that I almost threw away, figuring they were toast, but on a whim I laid them on top of the woodstove in my garage and left them there for the last couple of months. I've had several hot fires since then, so today I wondered if that heat was enough to dry them out enough to practice with. This was the result. It burned beautifully, and looks far better than I would have expected. I realize my technique needs improvement, my travel speed is too inconsistent and there's undercut at the end where I didn't fill it enough. but there was no porosity that I can see and the slag all came off in nice big chunks.
this was 110 amps DCEP on 3/16" steel.
![]()
![]()
this was 110 amps DCEP on 3/16" steel.
. I can’t tell you how many times I had to pour rain water out of a can of 7018
