Sticks for Portable SMAW/Stick Welding

Despite their many useful qualities for making portable welding easier – including the “built-in” shielding gas supply furnished by the flux coating on the electrodes, and the overall simplicity of the entire welding setup – stick welders, or SMAW welders as they are also known (for Shielded Metal Arc welding), require a considerable supply of “sticks” to be used successfully, since each individual 9” to 15” electrode is soon reduced to an overheated stub that must be removed and replaced. In this way, they resemble a more serious version of the “hot glue guns” used in crafts and light woodworking, where a glue stick is squeezed through a heated nozzle for melting and application.

Known variously as sticks, welding rods, electrodes, stick electrodes, and welding electrodes, the sections of metal used in the stick welding or SMAW process are long, slender pieces of filler metal with a narrow tang at one end that fits into the clamp of the SMAW welding machine’s welding gun. A welding electrode comes in any size from 1/16” to 3/8”, and is produced in increments of 1/32”, allowing precisely the correct size for a given job to be used. All of these electrodes have a round cross-section, which ensures that the electricity flows evenly between the electrode and the workpiece, and that the filler metal is also applied in a uniform manner.

In picking welding electrodes, you should take care to select those which will give the necessary filler metal for the task. For example, stainless steel electrodes should be used with stainless steel, while copper alloy electrodes should be used for copper alloys. The filler metals available – which are chosen on the basis of practicability with the SMAW welding process – limit the types of welding that can be done with a stick welder, and typically include electrodes for cast iron, copper alloy, carbon steel, and stainless steel. There are also aluminum electrodes for these machines, but they are generally ineffectual at welding that metal.

Stick electrodes are notable for their flux coating, which provides a carbon dioxide (CO2) shielding gas around the weld pool as the stick melts in the welding arc. This shielding gas is generated at the point of welding and is thus more effective than shielding gas blown from special nozzles to protect the weld – a fact that explains why SMAW welding machines can be used outdoors even in moderately windy conditions, one of the features that makes them popular as portable welders. A layer of slag is also laid down by the flux atop the weld bead, however, and this must be removed, slightly lengthening the post-welding cleanup process.

welding electrodes come in either 5 or 10 pound boxes, which contain dozens of sticks apiece. These sturdy plastic boxes should be used as storage, since the electrodes must be kept dry in order to preserve their welding utility. Alternatively, you can transfer them to a sealed, waterproof container that will perform the same function and keep your investment safe until it is used. Long, slender containers are best, since stick electrodes can be up to 15” long, but are quite thin and easily bundled.