Absolutely, the metal can never be too clean. In my experience I've used alcohol wipes on critical stainless to avoid any contamination but unless something out of the ordinary has been on the metal (carbon) idk that acetone would be necessary. As far as the PPE goes, I would definitely avoid the sh...

Thanks guys for the replies, I ended up going in and testing and it shot so we're in the green now! Great community in here, y'all are awesome

I have a test on Friday and the tig portion of it is 5 pieces of 1/2'' sched 160 (freehand tig) and the stick portion of it is a 6" sched 40 carbon 7018 root - cap. I haven't done any 7018 roots before and I'm going to practice tomorrow for it but I was wondering if anyone in here has done it b...