Starting and Stopping with a Portable SMAW Welder

Although a stick welder is an excellent welding machine to use for portable welding projects – thanks to its uncomplicated setup, the tenacious outdoors-suitable shielding gas offered by the electrode’s flux coating, and so forth – there is one limitation that makes itself felt over and over again as the welding job proceeds. The weakest link in the SMAW welding process – although a necessary adjunct of its other, positive traits – is the length of the stick electrode.

Since the stick electrode juts from the front of the stinger, and shortens as it is consumed during the welding process, there are practical limits to the length of this welding rod because of the dimensions of the human frame. A six-foot-long stick electrode, although it would last for a long time, would leave the welder initially standing six feet away – much too far away for the fine control over the arc length and the welding pool that are necessary to make a successful weld.

Stick length is therefore limited to about 9” to 15”, which is roughly the longest that a stick electrode can be and still be short enough for the welder to be able to use it properly. The stick needs to be short enough so that dexterity can be maintained and so that the welder can guide the tip carefully, ensuring that the arc is not made too long or too short during the weld.

This, of course, means that each stick electrode will soon be expended. Rods of 9” to 15” length translate into sections of weld bead from 6” to 10” at best, after which that specific stick electrode is reduced to a stub and must be discarded. This, of course, means that the old stub must be disposed of (a metal box, barrel, or bucket makes a good accessory for stick welding for this reason) and a new one inserted, the arc struck again, and a new short section of weld – with a start point overlapping the previous one – must be begun.

SMAW welding leaves a thick coating of “slag” on the surface of the weld bead, as a residue of the flux used in the stick welding process. This slag performs a valuable function and is desirable from one standpoint – it coats the weld bead and further assists in preventing weld oxidation as a result of contact with the air. In effect, it makes outdoor welds, where shielding gas does not linger over the weld, more likely to turn out pure and strong.

However, this slag also needs to be removed from any area where more weld bead is to be laid down, and cleaned thoroughly off the finished weld once the welding is done, as well. Since one section of stick welded bead overlaps the one before, the slag must be removed from this area in order to expose a surface where the weld bead will actually be successfully laid down. Attempting to lay down weld bead over the top of slag will fail.

Using a flat-bladed chipping hammer slid along the surface of the metal, strike off the slag from the “crater” (the slightly dished-in oval of filler metal at the end of the previous short section of weld) and roughly ½” of weld bead immediately before it. If a few particles of slag are still clinging to this area, a couple of quick strokes with a stiff brush will clear them in a moment.

Once this is done, the arc can be struck on the last ½” of bead to be cleaned, and the next 6” to 10” section of weld bead can be laid down with the fresh stick electrode. You should make certain that the previous crater is filled in, perhaps with an additional pass made over it with a circling movement. The join between sections of bead should be imperceptible once the job is complete. Note that when reaching the overall end of the weld, you must take care not to leave a crater – in order to accomplish this, it is necessary to make several circles in place, taking especial care to keep the tip at the proper arc distance from the workpiece. Many welders pull the electrode too far away at the end and thus damage the last inch of the joint – one of the most important stress-bearing parts of any weld.