John, the absolute honesty you begin with is something that is lacking in thousands of youtube vids onya buddy for making that disclaimer right up front

After handyman stick welding for 60 years, doing all the wrong things, I guess I have been lucky because I am still here. Thanks John.

John, I have been welding at home since approximately 1970 and have had a crack at oxy, stick, mig and lately tig. Loved the way you presented this video. It was informative to the new and a great revision for us old farts. Thank you for the brake cleaner warning and the other safety tips, including the uv warning. Might have just tipped me into replacing my old respirator mask as well. Your workbench video and this one are showing your talent for teaching. Thank you. Terry

15:34 "Dipping the tip of the electrode in the molten pool" wins the innuendo bingo for today 😂😂

Yep! I woke up one day recently and said, yah, let's learn to weld dude! My machine is on the way. So, that's why I'm here.

Back in the Stone age when I was in the USAF *_(early 1980's)_* I replaced parts of the floor in a *_VW Karmann Ghia_* by brazening in some pieces of galvanized sheet metal. Around *_02:00_*__the next morning __*_(That's 2:00AM to you non Military folks)_* I woke up as sick as a dog and had to go to the base hospital, I had a *_BAD_* headache along with the shakes and queasiness. The ER Dr. ask if I had eaten or drank anything or if I had been exposed to any chemicals. I explained to him that I had brazed galvanized sheet metal the day before and he came back with a glass full of a white liquid and told me to drink it all down without stopping. After drinking I said that tasted like MILK and he said that it was I asked what was in the milk and he said nothing it was just milk and that the calcium in milk will help counter the Zinc poisoning from the galvanizing in the sheet metal that I had breathed in the day before. I don't know if it does or not but within just a few minutes of drinking the milk I felt so much better and thought that I might_*LIVE*_ so I believe that there is something to it!!!

Excellent teacher with a good sense of humor. Very informative. Love the video, thanks

Seeing that lovely, shiny, new vice on the bench reminded me... Before learning to weld, go to a car boot sale and pick up a crusty old bench vice to use. After about 5 minutes of welding, a vice will be covered in weld spatter, the jaws will get damaged and then it won't be fit for anything else again so you might as well ruin an old vice rather than a new one, or one you already use for other things.

Been 20 years since I moved from being a mechanic and boat builder to software engineering. Soon my son will be old enough to learn. I'll be certainly throwing a number of practice welds together with him before jumping to building a good little welding table as a starter project for us both to practice on.

My welding instructor died of brain cancer, he spent years welding galvanized metal. I know this is about stick welding but if instead you are MIG welding do not have air blowing across your weld as the gas shield will be blown away. I never had problems restriking an arc with 7013 rod in welding class. We used 7013 that was kept in a rod oven because the humidity is so high here. The class was designed for pipe welders looking to get certified.

Watched many hours of how to weld. You're the first one that made sense to me. Thank you 😊

Started welding again recently. I installed a small attic exhaust fan into the wall right in front of my work table - blowing outside to suck the fumes out. Cost me $45 and 45 minutes to install. Best money I ever spent.

Great vid John! I own an arc welder and needed something like this to get me started. Now I’ll probably survive my first welding job.

I remember the smell of my Dad's welding shop, and also, the smell of those sparklers that we Yanks like to use for the 4th of July. I've probably got a healthy dose of the periodic table flowing through my veins now.

😂😂😂 speaking of overhead welding... back in my days working in metal fabrication, I once had a dirty big blob of molten slag drop down the back of my shirt, straight down my back, into the crack and rolled it's way all the way to the sack 😮🔥 what a surprise that was 😂😂

Hi John, Just revisited the Luton Airport car park fire... I concur as does a 50 yrs expert.. Uncle Tony's Garage here on the KZfaq site... He was called out by the ELECTRIC VIKING, who labelled him as a MUPPET... YET his analysis was spot on like yours... I was hoping you might want to check back on this whole sad affair as the Elec Viking gave no facts about why it was likely to be a EV or HYBRID.. Indeed he also referred to a car park fire in Australia a week before, which evidently, was due entirely to ICE vehicles ONLY... Last point it seems that a very rich VIP was the owner, who informed the flight desk as he checked in for his VIP meeting, that his vehicle was on fire and that it was expendible... But could someone deal with it...!! Geoff buys cars another UK KZfaq poster has also come up with the liklihood of it being a HYBRID DIESEL...

I loved the strong emphasis on looking after oneself by using protective clothing. I loved the promotion of a step-by-step learning process. I loved the clear explanations of how to make welds by approaching the explanation from the Why? direction. I think I like your educational videos better than those dealing with the joys of dragging your dunny-on-wheels to Dingo Piss Creek with your diesel-electric battery-powered car. Onya John!

I'm pushing 50 and I've never welded a thing, but I've wanted to for years. This video might be the boot up the arse I need to finally start. Thanks, John.

Probably the best video of yours I've seen. Hope we see more how to videos from you. I'm surprised we didn't get to see any action footage of you stick welding.

When I went to night school to first learn welding way back in the mid 1970's I was told to learn gas welding first as once you have mastered that all other processes will come easily, the instructor was certainly right on that as I did not lay hands on a tig welder for anther ten years and when I did it was easy it was also much easier to move to MMA (stick) welding having learnt gas as was mig and I only went to night school to learn welding as I had purchased an old mobile welding unit from my brother in law. Another thing that helps with welding is pistol shooting as that teaches you hand eye coordination and helps with getting steady hands, I don't mean go out and get a hand cannon an air pistol or 22 is best. Also practice with either hand as you never know when that is going to be needed.

I could watch John talk about welding all day, he does not talk at warp-speed and he clearly enunciates his words so even someone that that does not *_SPEAK AUSTRALIAN_* can understand him!!! 😄

Thank you John, for such professional instructive videos.

Top notch advice there John. Professionally trained as a full time welder back in the 80s so been doing it for a bit. With regards to the 70xx over 60xx electrodes it is more about what you are welding. Rutile electodes are general purpose, but Low Hydrogen electrodes are used typically on low alloy steels that are used in cranes etc. We used them to prevent Hydrogen induced cold cracking. But 100% advice. Only two types of people weld, those that cover up and those that whished they did. So many people on YT you see tacking by closing their eyes. But eyelids I guess have UV blocking.

Ok. I'm going to have to watch this at least twice. And make notes.

All good advice, great even! Some was better than I got in a welding class in high school... back in the dark ages, when such courses were taught in normal schools. Not mentioned, but important: You need steady hands for arc welding, and it may help to sweep the arc a short distance from side to side, at right angles to the drag direction ( for an overall effect of _zigzag path,_ ) or sweep in small circles that overlap a bit on one side. *If you can't master all the simultaneous things needed in arc welding . . .* *Use GAS WELDING instead. Then you can tolerate a small amount of rust by setting the torch to slightly "carburizing", or burn off oil by setting the torch to slightly "oxidizing". If the joints don't require maximum strength, you can use BRAZING or SILVER SOLDERING.* Those are MUCH simpler than arc welding, do not require such steady hands, generally require no nasty flux, and are fairly easy to master. Plus with Gas Welding (technically known as Oxy-Acetylene), you can also CUT steel almost like a plasma cutter, by using a cutting torch as the head. *For light duty brazing, you don't even need acetylene* (C2H2, aka Ethyne), but I do recommend using a gas-blending torch type with added oxygen such as Oxy-Propane. The higher flame temperature just makes it all much easier than even the hottest blowtorch. Silver Soldering (with "Hard Solder") is a very useful yet simple skill, as it can make quite strong joints on a wide variety of metals, and of course, it looks rather like silver. Unlike welding, both brazing and silver soldering are useful for joining dissimilar metals, such as steel to copper, steel to cast iron, and several other combinations. Gas torches also generate MUCH LESS ultraviolet light than electric arcs, and avoid the _fluxing fumes._ BUT, operating cost on gas torches is higher, especially the Oxy-Acetylene torches. In exchange for the higher cost, there is no Electric Satan chasing you on a motorcycle, and there is some simplicity plus convenience.

When I weld, all I can hear in my head is...relax and stop gripping the handpiece like Tarzan, my TAFE teacher used to say back in the 1980's. Gosh the welders now days are so beautiful and functional.

I don’t like stick welding, but this was an excellent introduction to the process for those who want to or need to do this.

I learned to weld as an automotive machinist (engine reconditioner). I can TIG weld cast aluminum really well and could even stick weld a cast iron head if it was cracked, given all the needed tools. I wouldn't be able to weld a trailer together and be confident about it. The guys who can TIG weld stainless and make it look like a machine did it are the ones who really impress me, a really nice stainless TIG weld can be like pornography.

You might be a non-certified welder! But you are a good teacher, and mention all the important aspects for a good weld. I also learned to weld during my training as a plumber, but that was many years ago! Although I regularly weld metal constructions again, small improvements are always possible. not all metal behaves the same, especially warping!

Thank you John. Always excellent content and very well done. All the best, Norm in Arizona

Great video and not one shot of you welding because that's not what it's about. Much better than any other instructional video I have seen because you explain why. Clearly explained points and a little humour is a great mix..

This is very useful to me. My welding is terrible!

Probably the biggest thing to add to this video is wearing safety glasses all the time, including welding. So much potential to loose an eye as just happened a week ago at TAFE. The amount of times i lift my helmet at work and have a bit of slag fly off the weld towards me is crazy.

weldning, it's like hot gluing stuff together with the fires of hell

Really appreciate these beginner welding video.

Good video John I’ve been slowly collecting all the gear to get back into a stick welding……. Largely on flea-bay Haven’t fired a shot in anger yet so this video is been very good interestingly when I bought my rods as a “recycled beginner” at WIA……. they sold me 4313……. I was assured they were the easiest ones to sort of get your eye back in again. Also, I’ve been reading that storage of rods is critical and in some cases I think low hydrogen rods once the packets been opened for six hours…… they need to be dried in an oven at 180° for half an hour prior to use ……. And there’s also theories about not storing certain rods of different categories in the same can….. I’ve also read that some rods once they’ve been wet……. Or high humidity storage Need to have the flux coating baked on again at even higher temperatures Also I’ve read that you can dry them out as many times as you need…… but they can only be re-baked once…… So theres that……. Maybe these things could be interesting content down the track for a part two……. There does seem to be quite a bit of detail around proper handling of rods…. I know my rod is very fussy

With clear, concise instruction like that John, you could be a Tafe instructor old boy 👍👌

Okay. Now I'm educated and motivated. Now all I need is a project.

Fireball tools have lots of brilliant easy to follow videos. One of which is weld sequence to keep it flat and square. Absolutely brilliant I have used it many times.

As someone who has suffered from magnetic eyes for years (from crap flying around in the air) I would recommend safety glasses are the first thing you put on when thinking of welding and the last thing you take off. Saves your eyes from grinding bits, wire wheel strands, and 316L electrode slag popping off and flying straight at you).. AND as most, even cheap, glasses stop something like 99% of UV (even if clear lens) if you flash yourself without the helmet on/down (like touching the electrode to the part accidentally) you only suffer colour spots and maybe a headache. Surprised they are not mentioned - they should be.

Cheers John, greetings from Ireland.. welding is something I'd love to be competent at.. I'll certainly be rewatching these great points in the ole fat cave when I get all the gear together for some practice, with your presentation I think I could be encouraged to keep going.. Thanks..👍👍

Ok. Now you earned a subscription.

From a 45 year Fitter Welder John, good stuff 👍👍

There is genuine welding and then there is sticking bits of metal together...until now, I have done the latter. I'm off to practice. Thanks John.

Well lovely video mate Having been welding on the Farm as a kid of around 7 or 8 years old it appears that I’ve crossed a lot of fonts as bought up in this story Like everything we’ve done in a previous life with none or little warning signs etc Lucky some of us are still here Great advice as always John

I already thought you forgot. Been waiting and waiting. Thank you

Love your videos. I saw this written on a T-shirt: Welding is like sewing with fire....It think it is cool.

Ha ha ! I learned stick welding in 1967 in high school stick hardening the tracks on the schools bulldozer. Then later i had to reapair a crack in the blade. That was my class. Also learned gas welding at the same time.

Thanks John i have watched your welding videos of late the you have open my eyes with PPE especially about the UV protection you need and ventilation very helpful 👍

A big safety issue that needs to be added is risk of fire. Flying red hot BBs of steel will jump off the weld and can go a long way, especially when bouncing/rolling on a shop floor. Remove all flammables (paper, cardboard cartons, trash bins, flammable liquids/gasses, etc.) from the area. Cardboard cartons on the floor under benches are particularly happy to catch fire. Have an ABC-type fire extinguisher close by; ideally between you and your escape route.

Quality content once again sir

Grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't!

So many things to think about for the beginner just to be safe let alone getting the perfect weld. Clamping down the work piece isn't an option unless it weighs a tonne. Don't take casual short cuts.

A dead simple way to set your starting amps for any job is to measure the stick diameter--the bare steel end (not the flux coating). Example: if the caliper reads 0.095", set your amps to 95. That's going to be the top end of your options with that particular stick. Run a test bead, and adjust the amps down a little if it's too hot for your preferred travel speed.

I love your style John - "here's the fancy option, here's what else you could use, and if you only do it once a year, you'll get away with this" - it gets your message to such a wide audience. Some tricks I've picked up along the way - if you are stick welding very thin wall stuff with the current turned way down, then sometimes heating up the steel first can help get the arc going, or having the current high and welding a short bead on scrap to warm the electrode then turning it down works well - just don't do what I did and blow a hole straight through the tube because you forgot to turn down the current after getting the electrode hot. Also, your approach to training - half an hour every day and then thinking about it for the rest of the day really helps with something that becomes second nature, but is also quite cerebral while trying to learn. Something I didn't appreciate until I was several years into welding was that setup and prep is 80-90% of the welding job - when I only spend as much time setting up as actually welding then my welds are very poor, or the product of extraordinarily good luck.

Thanks for all the great advice. I did a bit of mig welding at school, which was back in the days when they taught that sort of thing - i.e the mid 1990s, and a day course on stick welding in about 1999. Not much since. Having a couple project that need done, I just bought a multi process welder not much different to that Vevo (which isn't available in NZ), and all the PPE you recommend. I did spend the extra to buy a Esab Sentinel A60 hood rather than a cheap one. Having used both manual ones and an early model auto one, I can say the extra $ was worth it, after spending an hour laying down beads on a bit of scrap. The way I'm going, 2-3 more hours of that, and I'll be ready to make something useful.

Wow, I didn't know there was so much to consider in metal welding. Awesome video, love the detail you went into. I wonder if you would consider doing a similar video on Mig welding and what is required for aluminum welding. Also, I hear about AC and DC in welding options, could you elaborate on these. Love these DIY series videos, please keep them coming.

Thank you for this very good explanation. I was also welding with not much protection…

Very well explained! I personally think stick welding is the most challenging type of welding - if you want to produce high quality welds. For a hobby welder I am pretty good with TIG (I can handle all material thickness from 0.6mm on, all welding positions, full penetration, decent looking bead) but I still have problems with stick. Getting a nice root on a butt joint without burning through - difficult! On a good day I may succeed on 50% of my joints. On bad days I will blow hole after hole into the material or fail to get full penetration.

Another great, earthy video dood. Thanks. My ancient chemistry background kicked in and reminded me that acetone will decompose at high temperature and form a wonderously toxic carbene. I guess the volatile nature of acetone makes it unlikely that there would be much if any acetone residue available to decompose. My relationship with acetone generated carbene has been with thick walled borosilicate glass as a barrier.

Oooooo, shiny new welder!

Cool vid John. I was just out of welding school, scored a job welding galv a/c ducting. My first day on the job, all good, that night I couldn't breathe........ I was really not well. Lucky for me though, they gave me a pint of milk to make it all good.... Back on the dole for me straight away. Still alive at 61, so good choice....

Thanks a lot for this lecture!

I'm looking forward to your series on: Tig Welding an EV Battery Cases after De-Greece with break cleaner. Using the Tesla's Own Battery for Cheap on road Welding ... Turning your Brand New Tesla into a Dog that goes Whooofffy!!

Nice Dr. Evil impersonation, John.

Everything Mr cadogan is saying here is good information MMA, smaw, ie stick welding he is exactly right this is the process you want to start with first because it will allow you to get used to carrying a puddle that is the molten metal at the end of The Burning electrode you want to stay on the edge of that molten metal puddle and you want to watch how far it spreads you don't want it to get out of control I do this stuff everyday it is my day job and there is a reason you want to watch the sides of the puddle which are called the toes the Leading Edge it's important in stick welding and this also applies to flux core because you have a slag system you do not want to let that puddle catch up with you because you will get something called inclusion that is bad and it will cause a very weak weld it means some of that molten slag will get trapped underneath the puddle and pushed into the joint this is called entrapment and on professional sites even though this is a do-it-yourselfer informative what needs to be known about that on professional sites they do X-rays and it will show up in the joints now there's some tolerable allowances for that in the US it's 1/8 inch in anyone axis if you got more than that it's bad preferably they don't want to see any inclusions IE entrapment and always make sure that you're well joint is reasonably clean because you will get a nasty contamination condition called porosity it looks like swiss cheese you don't want that anyway there's some good information in this video

Awesome video thanks John. Plenty of handy takeaways, especially the safety info.

great video, I already weld for work making fire doors, I am new to the whole thing, i cut and weld the frames together , i weld the lifting lug assembly and the hinge plates, and then the capping goes on around the edges and I'll weld the corners. Mostly the doors have a gal finish on the Sheetmetal and capping but sometimes they are stainless. I'm almost 40 and I just started welding at my job this year. Nobody asked me if i want to learn welding I just jumped on the welder when nobody was looking to have a go, when the welders were too busy or too sick to come in I persistently asked to do the job. I sucked. I got one of the old timers to show some things and now I MiG weld all day everyday. I also watched a bunch of KZfaq videos. My employer is old school when it comes to safety. If i ask for something I'll get it but I often don't know what to ask for. it was nice to hear some of your safety tips. I have a multi process welder at home. one day, and that day may never come, when all the house work is done and the kids are out of my hair and I'm not exhausted from work I will pull out the welder and teach myself stick welding, and maybe tig after that.

Awesome work Johnny ,😊 I work in a locomotive depot as a heavy diesel electrical mechanic , some of our welders here certainly don’t take the “err on the side of caution “ ⛔️ approach that I learnt today . Thanks maté instilled a new confidence in me!!

Great video John. So much good advice for people starting out with an arc welder. I still love welding.. I did it for my work for a very long time, and now at home, I love to wheel out my little 40 year old welder and make the pretty drips. Cheers Jonh

Virgil Tracy from the Thunderbirds? FAB.

Really good vid, stick welding is a highly relevant trade skill that in some ways comes more into the technical and metallurgical science of weldng than say, the average MIG and some TIG welding does. For dissimilar metals, low hydrogen welding and hardfacing its still one of the cheapest ways often of getting complicated processes done. Personally, I'm not a great stick welder but I sort of get by with a lot of prep, patience and knowing what metals to use to glue it all together when anywhere else under different welding techniques will just not work or cost a lot of money. Also keep your electrodes 'dry', if they've been opened for a while get a cheap little benchtop toaster oven, set it to 150C and throw the sticks in there for a few hours to cook the moisture out of them.

This vid is so good John. Heading to the shed in the morning to overcome my "fear" of welding! Cheers, Carl

As a person who has soldered electronics for most of the life, it was actually easier to learn TIG welding, because process is more similar to soldering. It is also easier to weld slower. I still cannot make decent stick welds - after I clean the weld from flux deposits, I usually find out that I have barely filled something. 😅 Nice video - maybe it will help me to become better stick welder.

Top job, thanks John.

Great starter video. Covered all the bases. Your video covered pretty much everything I have seen in many starter videos and things like not using brakeclean people don't really talk about that. Your how to guides for DIY are some of your best content. Keep them coming you help people like me to do a better and safer job in our fat caves and make us feel like real engineers or fabricator/welders haha

I was as a little child looking on with anticipation. "When is it that man going to start welding?" I wondered. After the 20 minite mark, the little child in me was overcome with impatience...I fast forwarded eagerly seeking that moment of delight, then it all ended and there was no flash, no grunting of a man fighting with a sticking rod, and worst of all, no welding.😢

1980, 15 years old, Freighters Ballarat, 1 week on the bench all positions stick welding. Still welding.

Excellent Primer!

Way to go on this absolutely top notch video! Thank You for caring so much about our safety too.

Awesome! I've done all of those dumb things. Now there's hope.

Love the content and love the Astros hat!

Tips for buying. Transformer based welders give less control but last longer. IGBT welders give more control but don't last as long. If your a handyman welder skip stick welding and just buy a mig. Stick sucks at thin stuff that's why they invented tig. Handyman welder's only need IGBT welder its good enough for your use. If you are going to weld mainly light stuff 0-3mm set up for 0.6mm wire (car bodies/ trailers). If your going to weld mainly 3-6mm steel set up for 0.9mm wire (work benches, bullbars) . This matters cost wise when you purchase liners, tips, wire and ease of use etc. When you get some experience you can just use 0.9mm for everything. It's better to set up correctly for your usage from the start or you will just get discouraged. You cant really weld greater than 6mm steel effectively on 240v 15 amp handyman mode. You need pre-heating and multi-pass welding techniques. Past this point you really need a 3 phase unit and power set up BIG $$$. The only time i have used 6mm steel at home, is for 4x4 winch cradles and stuff like that. Most of the time its light stuff car bodies/trailers/gates/hanging hooks/plant stands/bolt removal etc. Good luck!

My multipurpose welder on arc also has "Hot start" and "arc force". Hot start gives a starting boost to get heat up fast and arc force allows you to really push hard in to a weld when you are at the thick end. Good advice though. Particularly about getting material for practising from the scrapyard.

excellent video. starting with stick instead of mig gets a big thumbs up. as well as cleaning material. both very very common mistakes with beginners. only gripe, apart from the dubious welder, is that 7016 rods are far more commonly used in au for general purpose welding than 7018 rods.

I have noticed that in all the stick welding in India that they bend the stick at about 45 degrees in the middle so they are closer to the material.

Very good

I used to have a lot of trouble welding with 6013. There was always a lot of slag inclusions and spots where there was lack of fusion. By lowering the drag angle to about 25-30 degrees it seems to force the slag back away from the puddle and reduces the problem.

All The Gear All The Time

And as he got to the part about grinders I have four I have one with a wire wheel on it I have one with a hard Stone on it I have one with a cutting wheel on it and then I have a large angle grinder 9 inch for large surfaces in addition to that I also have are grinders the die grinder type I have a 90 degree die grinder with a ball end carbide bit in it I have another 90 degree die grinder with a roloc 3M sanding pad attachment and then I have a straight 180 degree die grinder with a tapered carbide bit in it you can never have too many grinders

LOL, grinders... and then if ya do woodwork there's another for timber flappy disk, and another for the arbotec carving disk. the big 9 inch for big stuff... i have 7 grinders all up. 2mm electrodes are handy for thinner stuff also

I tried my best to convey the importance of not using chlorinated brake clean on welding projects at work today and the DAMFI didn't think i was worth listening to so I pulled the wheels out of the mig.

can you do a addon to this with small inverter stick welders as well

Time to try my new Aldi welder....

It was funny as when the former prime minister Scomo did a weld without the face mask.

I'm a first time viewer .

Like playing snooker .....game of angles

The main concern I have about diy welding is the potential long term effects to one's eyesight resulting from prolongued exposure.

How about a gas-less mig video. Would be great to see how they worked.

When doing full penetration welds do you have to remove flux after each pass?