Welding Tips and Tricks

First off I am an amatuer welder and only do it as a hobby. I have been working on a pipe fence project for the last year now around my property. I am enclosing 2.5 acres with 2 3/8 drill stem pipe. I have completed about a quarter of it and I got frustrated yesterday and broke down and got out some large diameter 6013 rods I had purchased last year. Everything seemed to go really well as the rod seemed to fill the gap between the rail and the post saddle nicely. But I thought to myself this was too easy. Also the weld looked off. So I got my hammer and with the claw I chipped at it and the weld just broke apart.

Can anyone tell me what I did wrong? I was penetrating both the post and the rail, so I know I had enough amperage. Could it have been moisture? I kept them stored in a toolbox.

If I could get something like these working it would make my job go a lot faster as these 1/8" 6011's are taking forever to do the job.

Friend,

Theres an old saying,

You look for three things in a job, good, fast and cheap.

You can do a good job fast, but it wont be cheap,
You can do a fast job cheap, but it wont be good,
(and the one that applies to you)
and
You can do a good job cheap, but it wont be fast.

Basicly, 6011's will take forever and a day, but your alot better of in quality than 6013's. The brittle, deceivingly smooth(but in reality fucked up) appearence is just the nature of the beast here. Either use 6011, or spring for a machine that can run a bigger/higher quality rod.

And thats just the way it is, man.

-Rick