Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello, I was just watching the stick plate test prep video. I'm teaching myself stick, so I don't really know crap, but...

I've heard that one pulls the rod from in front of the puddle so the arc force pushes the slag out of the puddle. Now, I'm sure things change when you go vertical: is this one of those things? It was a little hard to be sure, but it looked like the angle was more pushing than pulling. I've never even tried vertical, I still suck at horizontal, but I'm just curious. I wasn't sure if maybe Jody was holding a sub-optimal angle to let the camera see the weld or something. Thanks!

You are right that you are supposed to drag in stick welding (slag=drag). However when you are welding vertical with 7018 a slight push is necessary. The large amount of flux on the rod will be falling down below the the puddle due to gravity. Vertical is the only time you disobey the slag-drag rule.

Thanks, I figured it was something like that. That makes sense.

Welding position is a pretty big influence. Gravity Sucks