Awl --

Some time ago, my old supply of 3/32 60xx rod ran out -- no biggie, went
out and got another 5# box.... Miller Econotig, AC/DC tig welder.

Holy ****, the rod was, imo, nearly unusable. Typical HD crap (Lincoln
brand, iirc) I thought, so I returned it, and bought some stuff from a local
welding house.
Holy ****, more crap.....

Now, one might think, mebbe the *welder* went bad, but I think it's too
coincidental that it would go bad on the FIRST rod of a new pack...
Plus, I think I was able to find stubs of the old rod, which did just fine.

The problem seems dsitinctly related to the flux, which seems to protrude
over the metal core, and becomes very hard, making it a pita to strike an
arc and start a clean weld. It's sorta OK once it gets started, but
goddamm, it's getting it started.....

Previously, on a cold cold rod, I might have to bang a little to get an arc
started, but once started, re-strikes were like butter -- just a scratch and
the arc would lite up.
Now, restrikes are as much a pita as the first miserable cold strike.

The funny part is that this happened in two different batches of 60xx rod,
from two diff. places.
Are they making rod differently now? Some EPA ****?? Is this something I'm
just going to have to get used to?

I'd post on sejw, but I thought mebbe I'd see first if any other non-pro
welders were having such problems, and what if any solutions they've found.

I got a gate job coming up for my Sanford&Son driveway, which will be a
miserable enough job on its own, without making every arc strike a struggle.

One option does exist, tho: Tigging the gate??? Make any sense?
I've seen tig'ed autologous welds on thin SS sheet, really nice, but I don't
know if people tig crappy HR steel.
But, since I will likely be using 1/2" sq tubing (16 ga) for the pickets (6'
long), mebbe tigging might not be such a bad idea.....

Opinions?
--
EA.