"B.B." u wrote in message
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| Questions I forgot to ask while I was the when stick welding, how
| do you reliably start the arc without sticking? Currently I poke
| straight at the plate and pull back to around a quarter inch then move
| back down and lay the bead.
| Usually works without a hitch, but sometimes my electrode sticks.
| Typically, when that happens it'll stick again and again unless I wait a
| bit before trying again or move to another spot and start there. Is
| there some reason for it to keep sticking, or is it more like I'm just
| getting aggravated?


I learned to do this before I even struck an arc. No power, no helmet,
and just swinging the tip of the rod in little loops, barely grazing the
work. Depending on your work change the shape and plane of the loop. After
awhile you close your eyes and just feel it. I had this down well enough
that I was able to start an arc without even physical contact. but that was
a long time ago. The idea is that you get the feel of starting the arc then
when you go to actually do it, it's almost second nature. When actually
welding, you can then feel whether you have an arc or not because it
actually pushes back. I watched a guy weld a couple pieces together behind
his back. Beautiful job. He did it all by feel. That's someone who knows
how his weld is going not by looking at a buried puddle in the slag, but by
how it all feels. It's definitely _not_ in the book!
Sometimes I have to tap the tip if I'm in a tight spot or trying to
restart at an exact spot. Practice this a bit, too. The process is just a
bit different when doing a new rod vs. one that's been burned away a bit,
but doing it by feel is best, especially since auto darkening didn't exist
back then.