I've heard it debated over and over again if the rods you pick up at tractor supply are the same Hobart Brothers rods that you would buy commercially or at your LWS and it seemed like most people were of the belief that they were entirely different rods and what you got at TSC was much lower quality. Recently at school I watched as around 200lbs of Hobart 418 in 50 pound cans was opened and directly put in the rod oven and I've ran several pounds of it since then. I also picked up a 5lb box of 3/32 and 1/8 7018 from Tractor Supply to compare.
And........ based on my experience, it's literally exactly the same in every way from the flux color to the burn characteristics to the exact same stubborn slag. Both the cans of 418 and my 5lb tractor supply boxes are also marked made in USA. I can't say if the quality control is the same, or if they weren't a actually a lower quality outsourced rod in the past. But what I do feel comfortable saying is they're a viable option if you want a decent quality electrode and the closest LWS all only stock budget rod. I can also say if you hate TSC 7018, you probably shouldn't order a 50lb can from your LWS thinking it'll be better.
Of course my opinion is only worth so much and I could be wrong although I feel confident but maybe it'll be worth something to you, particularly if you like me were convinced that TSC Hobart wasn't regular Hobart.
I have not done any real stick welding in years and was never any sort of professional welder so you can decide for yourself if my opinion has any value at all.
But that said, I would guess that in general any place that operates on the scale of Hobart, or any of the big names in the industry, has very little interest in running multiple production lines for the sake making some products of significantly lower cost and quality just to package that product for a customer like Tractor supply or Home Depot or whoever. If you think about it, it makes little economic sense. A line to produce welding rods would be highly automated, I'd bet those rods come off the line by the thousands per hour, untouched by human hands. Setting up make runs using lower grade materials or whatever is likely just too much hassle to bother with given the potential returns. Add in the potential to harm the brand name by selling crappy product and I would guess it's not really likely.
That is not to say some companies have not tried to do this, they certainly do, but it seems less likely for a product like this. Appliances, vehicles, tools, and the like maybe. But it rarely seems to work out all that well for them, it just poisons the brand and the lowest quality they make ends attached to everything they do.
But that said, I would guess that in general any place that operates on the scale of Hobart, or any of the big names in the industry, has very little interest in running multiple production lines for the sake making some products of significantly lower cost and quality just to package that product for a customer like Tractor supply or Home Depot or whoever. If you think about it, it makes little economic sense. A line to produce welding rods would be highly automated, I'd bet those rods come off the line by the thousands per hour, untouched by human hands. Setting up make runs using lower grade materials or whatever is likely just too much hassle to bother with given the potential returns. Add in the potential to harm the brand name by selling crappy product and I would guess it's not really likely.
That is not to say some companies have not tried to do this, they certainly do, but it seems less likely for a product like this. Appliances, vehicles, tools, and the like maybe. But it rarely seems to work out all that well for them, it just poisons the brand and the lowest quality they make ends attached to everything they do.
Only variance I see would be that there are ends of, and beginning of batch runs that fall into a grey area , possibly and probably sold/ marketed, under associated names, that may be similar but not standard for the high level name.clavius wrote:I have not done any real stick welding in years and was never any sort of professional welder so you can decide for yourself if my opinion has any value at all.
But that said, I would guess that in general any place that operates on the scale of Hobart, or any of the big names in the industry, has very little interest in running multiple production lines for the sake making some products of significantly lower cost and quality just to package that product for a customer like Tractor supply or Home Depot or whoever. If you think about it, it makes little economic sense. A line to produce welding rods would be highly automated, I'd bet those rods come off the line by the thousands per hour, untouched by human hands. Setting up make runs using lower grade materials or whatever is likely just too much hassle to bother with given the potential returns. Add in the potential to harm the brand name by selling crappy product and I would guess it's not really likely.
That is not to say some companies have not tried to do this, they certainly do, but it seems less likely for a product like this. Appliances, vehicles, tools, and the like maybe. But it rarely seems to work out all that well for them, it just poisons the brand and the lowest quality they make ends attached to everything they do.
I have more questions than answers
Josh
Josh
"Only variance I see would be that there are ends of, and beginning of batch runs that fall into a grey area , possibly and probably sold/ marketed, under associated names, that may be similar but not standard for the high level name."
Agreed, that's entirely possible, very true. But as you note it's not likely they would want their brand name on it. It seems to me that people in the welding business are pretty brand loyal (to put it mildly!) so if you sell someone some substandard product, you may lose them and never get them back.
Agreed, that's entirely possible, very true. But as you note it's not likely they would want their brand name on it. It seems to me that people in the welding business are pretty brand loyal (to put it mildly!) so if you sell someone some substandard product, you may lose them and never get them back.