[plain ol Bill]

Back when I was starting out we welded tank bottoms with mud rod a lot. We used some 3/16 and 1/4" rod that was 36" long. You grabbed it in the middle and when one side was done just flipped it 180 degrees and kept on keeping on. You could lay a pass on that was so slick a spider had to skate across it.

[Otto Nobedder]

Nope.

That's outside my experience.

Sounds like a hoot!

Steve S

[rake]

Back in the late 70's I took a part time job re-decking barges. They had these 3/8" 36" 7024 "Jet rods".
You grabbed them from one end though. You learned to bend the tip in the vice so you could light them up, set down the stinger and let them burn off themselves!

Once you got everything dialed in it almost looked like sub-arc after power brushing.

[MinnesotaDave]

Back in the late 70's I took a part time job re-decking barges. They had these 3/8" 36" 7024 "Jet rods".
You grabbed them from one end though. You learned to bend the tip in the vice so you could light them up, set down the stinger and let them burn off themselves!

And then they invented the wire feed and screwed it up for everyone

[Boomer63]

I taped the stinger (grey tape) to a broom handle, put the 7018 in sticking straight out the end, shoved in in the tank and got 'er done! Worked out great! It worked so good that I 'borrowed' and old pool stick from a local bar and kept it around in case I needed to do that again.

[Braehill]

I used to have a 5/16" and a 3/8" 7024 rod that they used at the local plant that built railcars. I never burned one but a good friend who worked there said that he welded with them for over a year and never put a helmet on. He said he'd just stick them in there and when his hand got hot he'd push the button and the car would move to the next guy on the line. They used old GE 600 amp welders to run them.

He was a good friend but not much of a welder. I did most of his welding for him when it needed a helmet.

Len