Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all, was just tinkering in the garage and welding a neighbors gardening trowel that is made of stainless steel. after I was done, still had a bit of rod left, so decided to see if I could use it on a piece of black pipe that was scrap. it appears to work. does that mean that it's compatible? you'll have to excuse me. I'm just a hobbyist welder.

To a certain degree, sure, it's steel.

I tend to use stainless on crack sensitive materials as it tends to flex more before it snaps or cracks.

burnttoast wrote:does that mean that it's compatible?

it depends on
what alloy?
what is your definition of "compatible"?

You wouldn't do it on coded work but there is a rule of thumb if you are stuck and need to get a repair done quick. If you don't know the composition of the parent metal, use stainless rod. I have done this too and not had failures. There are better stainless rods to use that are meant for this purpose such as 309, 312, supermissileweld etc. But at a pinch 308 and 316 work too.

For example, if the trowel was a steel brickies trowel and all you had was 308, I'd go for it no worries.

burnttoast wrote:Hello all, was just tinkering in the garage and welding a neighbors gardening trowel that is made of stainless steel. after I was done,

how did the trowel turn out ?
pics please

Thanks for the responses. I didn't give any thought about taking a after picture. Just gave the trowel back, and the neighbor was surprised. she was taking some plants from my yard a week ago,and had broken it. I discovered it later that day when I went to toss out some garbage. figure it would give me a reason to do some practice welding. Had to look up to see what it was made of, to buy the correct rods to use. the way that it was fasten previously, was two spot welds. this time, I welded the whole part of the arm that is attached to the spade. I think she'll get some more use out of it.

burnttoast wrote:Thanks for the responses. I didn't give any thought about taking a after picture. Just gave the trowel back

Hopefully it didn't look like your top weld in this thread.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

burnttoast wrote:Thanks for the responses. I didn't give any thought about taking a after picture. Just gave the trowel back

Hopefully it didn't look like your top weld in this thread.

No comment, isn't there something about self incrimination?

burnttoast wrote:No comment, isn't there something about self incrimination?

Not if it's working for her, in that case there's not a bad way as it was broken to begin with.