Welding Tips and Tricks

I have an interesting experience to share. Maybe this is common, or maybe I am some freak of nature, but I thought I would share anyway.

I was originally taught to "weld" with Oxy/Ace when I was 13 or 14 yrs old by a family member (I'm 44 now). I have used Oxy/Ace many many times since learning for a number of projects, and have always had very good results. Over the past few months I have been teaching myself to weld with Flux Core so I have been doing a lot of reading and watching videos etc. I am finally to the point my welds will hold together, but they are far from pretty.

A couple of weekends ago I needed to make some adjustable legs for my shop table, and I needed to weld them up. I turned to O/A because that is what I was confident with, and I know that it would work well for me. Anyway, I got 4 of the 6 legs "welded" up, and on the 5th I let the metal get "too hot" and I noticed something different. I noticed that the metal was starting to flow like the weld pool does with Flux Core. I decided the play a little, so I kept heating both surfaces and moving the flame around in small circles, and not use any filler rod.

After I cooled the metal, I looked more closely at the area I was experimenting with, and I was amazed, and a realization swept over me. I had REALLY just did my VERY FIRST O/A Weld, and all these years I have been brazing, and not welding.

I really wish that my Uncle was still alive so I could talk to him about this because I want to know if I am finally doing what he taught me back then, or if all he ever taught me was to braze metal together. I am 99% certain though that I have been doing everything exactly as he taught me years ago, so I suspect that all I was ever taught was to braze.

Anyway, now that I know, I will start practicing more with O/A and see if I can get better with it.

Filler rod is not always necessary, especially when on outside corners.
The metal fuses together as it melts (and forms a rounded corner).

However, it's very important that you get good penetration in your welds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmkx7CKhvxw

My best advice when learning Oxy/Acetylene is to purposely burn holes in some scrap metal
and then practice filling in the hole to make a repair.
When you get really good at this, you will have learned how to master the torch.

Gas welding requires a lot of moving the heat farther away or closer to the work
depending on the amount of heat required.
TIG is really easy to master, once you have learned how to gas weld properly.

I learned to weld oxy on a farm doing repairs. What my uncle did was hand me a couple rebars or TPosts and tell me to cut them to 6 inch pieces. Then he would have me weld them back together. A couple of weekends doing this and I was finally able to do simple stuff.

I have done a couple angle frames with tig oner the past week, and after seeing how easy it is for me on steel, I doubt I will ever go back to oxy. Between my plasma cutter and Tig set I cant imagine needing anything else right now. But at the same time I am learning Tig for my hobby, and not for a career. I can barely stand the heat in my garage for a couple of hours of light work, I can't begin to image doing it day in and day out. I admire some of the pro welds Ive seen, but Ill admire them from my air conditioned living room.