Thank you for your kind comment. You can thank me by investing the time in yourself to get your skills up so you can build stuff 😀. Having useful skills will always pay off in the long run😀

Thanks for the kind words, I am glad to have you as a subscriber 😀. I knew the welding world on KZfaq is packed, even so I know I can have a lot to offer (not just in welding since I will be getting into a lot more videos besides welding). The main reason I am doing everything is my hope that I can inspire people to pickup a tool and build something. To few people hear words of encouragement, and having hands on skills seems to be dying off. If I can get even a few people motivated and making stuff that’s a great thing 😃

Hopefully I inspire more than a few people to get building stuff 😀

The titanium 225 will run 6011 (and 6010), but it’s a bit harder to start the arc than a machine with adjustable hot start. It will take a bit of screwing around to get the start just right, but once you practice enough you will be in good shape.

I definitely can do that in a upcoming video, thanks for the story and the recommendation 😀.

You’re entirely welcome. You can do circle e movements and that will spread out the weld decently. 6010 tends to produce a narrow weld that can rope up, doing a circle e movement or increasing the arc gap will help flatter a beat out. To get a whip and pause to work the best you must lengthen the arc gap enough that it widens the weld but not too much that the arc becomes unstable. It’s a very fine line of what works and what doesn’t. Generally speaking unless you’re welding uphill you want to drag most stick rods. 6011 can function with a push angle simply because it’s arc pushes the flux out of the way. Dragging it should produce a better looking weld no doubt. The key is to run slower travel speed than with say 6013, and to let the rod deposit metal. You’ll get it, it will just take some practice 😀

Glad the info was of use 😀.

Glad to hear you took away some helpful tips 😀. Since 6011 is so common I figured making a video on it in specific would help people out. As far as learning to weld, when I took 2 separate stick welding classes a while ago I had to burn up somewhere around 80lbs of rods per class. With 6011 in specific I probably burned up atleast 15lbs of rods. At the end of all of that I had a decent handle on flat and horizontal stick welding with multiple rods. I know that sounds like a lot, but that’s what it takes to fine tune things. The hardest thing to master was a simple 5inch bead on plate that was equal in width, height, and straight. Focus on doing that and overlapping them perfect so you don’t have valleys between welds. Once you can do that easily everything else will be far easier 😀.

Buy the tin/50 pound box?

@@dennisyoung4631 I'm not him, but I learned to weld close to 30 years ago on a Lincoln AC225 and 6011. Today I'm a machinist that also does the welding(stick, mig, and tig) for my employer. There's no substitute for time spent under the hood, trying different things and observing the results. If you're just learning, it will help to minimize the variables. Electrodes are a variable. Different brands won't run quite the same, and there can be variance from lot to lot within the same brand. I don't know if Hobart makes more than one type of 6011, but Lincoln does and others may as well, so be sure to stick to the same brand/type, and if you're buying smaller quantities, check the lot number as well. Eventually, you may try other brands/types and discover than one works better for you and your machine than another. I've never run a comparison of different brands/types of 6011 myself, but with 6010 and 7018 it is absolutely true, and very apparent.

No problem. 6011 can be a super useful rod, it just takes some practice to run. Glad I could help you out 😀

Thanks for the subscription and I am glad the info has helped you. I figured the crayon thought would help, it’s the best way I could describe it that I figured would make sense. The learning curve on stick is steep but once you get over that it’s not bad 😀

Awesome, glad to hear it. 6011 can do a real good job, it just requires a slow travel speed. Once you get that down and focus on being steady/smooth, the rod becomes very useful.

You’re welcome 😀

Welcome and I am glad you found the info useful 😀. Once you have a better idea of what you’re doing welding becomes much easier.

6011 is very easy to have too long of a arc with. Every welder tolerates a different arc length, or basically max welding voltage. If the arc cuts out what may be going on is the voltage may be rising above what the welder can sustain. Moving forward and back will cause the arc voltage to rise and fall, likely keeping it from rising too high. To get 6011 to run well you must feed quite a bit of rod in (because a lot of metal is lost via sparks and the flux doesn’t aid metal deposition) and move fairly slow. It does take some getting used to. The weld will be wider than many other rods, and that’s ok. Also, turning up arc force will cause an increase in amperage as the arc gets tighter (aka the voltage drops). If you have it set too high it will be difficult to control without the muscle memory of holding a consistent arc gap. I can run super high arc force simply because I have ran so many rods I am super consistent. For you experiment with low settings of 20-40% for a while and it may help. You don’t have to run 6011 at high arc force. Beyond that just keep practicing and you will get better. 6011 makes ugly welds until you have the muscle memory down to run it. 😀

Thanks 😀. 6010 and 6011 will definitely show any flaws/inconsistencies in a persons movement/technique. I always found it funny how many people don’t like the rods and think they cant make good looking welds. Little do they realize it’s their lack of skill/consistency, and the rod doesn’t cover them up lol. I cant imagine stick welding without 6010/11, so useful to those who can run them 😃

@@makingmistakeswithgreg So true

Thanks for the kind words. To answer your questions, hopefully this will help: I use 6010 and 7018 for pretty much everything. If I had to pick between 7018 and 6011 I would pick 7018. 7018 puts down a consistent bead, it’s easy to layer, the slag is way easier to remove, etc. With 6011 it’s slower to weld with on many projects, and the slag takes more time to clean. There are some situations that 6011 would be my pick. Closing a hole up, bridging a large gap, being forced to run downhill, welding real scabby material with no prep, etc. 6011 is easier to strike a arc and restart, but takes far more consistency/practice to weld with when compared to 7018. Until you practice a bunch 7018 restarts will be rough. From a strength perspective both rods deposit metal that’s likely stronger than what you’re welding however 7018 is a stronger weld and more ductile. Also, I have a video releasing in the next two days that shows average travel speed and bead width for 7018 and 6010 (plus others). This should further help you by giving you real measurements that you can follow to check your welds to see if you are in the ballpark. Being that you’re new you must remember that the hardest part about learning anything new is what I call the “fool” stage. That is the period in time where you don’t have idea idea of what you’re doing and you are terrible at it too. You get out of this by putting in a significant amount of practice and finding everything that doesn’t work. It’s not fun because nobody likes being a fool, and they want to build stuff. The building stuff will come faster than you realize if you keep putting in the practice 😀. So keep it up and keep practicing 😀

​@@makingmistakeswithgreg😊

Haha 😂. Up here in Wisconsin it’s code for a bottle of liquor being finished off. Either that or paying a bar tab off. 😅

Great advice. I definitely need to remind myself more on avoiding the death grip on the stinger. Normally by time I realize I am doing it I am already locked in and it’s too late to fix it lol. A bit too much caffeine and a lack of sleep certainly doesn’t help.

I will be getting back into tig and for the first time MiG soon. I have all the rest of the stick welding videos shot, I just need to edit them. Do you have any video requests in specific for tig?

@@makingmistakeswithgreg covering some of the basics if possible. Rod selection, machine setup, tips for facilitate learning.

​@@jp8479+1 for the tig course.

So I will clarify this 😀. With stick welding your amperage is constant (known as constant current, or CC). Whatever your amp setting is the machine will regulator output to that. Stick is done with CC but variable voltage. The voltage is dictated by the arc gap (same with tig) and rod used (different rods produce different shielding gasses so the voltages they run at are different). So with that in mind let’s look at what happens: When you lengthen the arc your voltage increases to maintain the arc. The lengthening of arc produces more heat, but the arc cone is less concentrated therefore you don’t gain penetration (you make a wider weld or produce excessive spatter). With certain rods like 6010-6011 they tend to produce very “peaked” welds and tend to dig very aggressively. By allowing the rod to dig a bit and then slightly lengthening the arc gap you can get really good penetration and flatten the bead out a bit. When you keep a very short arc you are doing 2 things. 1) you are keeping the shielding gas in the area molten droplets are coming off the rod tip. This keeps the reaction of the molten metal with oxygen to a minimum and helps the molten drops find the molten pool without “missing”. And 2) the tight arc focus the heat to a small area which is needed to make a proper size weld. A long arc actually produces more heat, but the lack of focus limits it’s effectiveness. A somewhat similar way would be to look at a magnifying glass 🔍. Focus it down to a pinpoint and it will melt steel. Focus it so it has a 1/2in light circle and it will barely light paper on fire. The tighter the arc gap you hold the more amperage you can run. You will likely see me run hot with many rods (100-105 amps with 3/32 7018 and 130-135 with 1/8th 7018) because I hold such a tight arc gap I can get away with those values (especially on thicker material). Arc force control on some welders (not to be confused with the “arc force” the rod produces that naturally pushes the molten metal) does the same thing, as the arc gets tighter it boosts the amperage. So if you set your machine to say 120 amps and 70% arc force it will boost the amperage well above 120 amps if you cram the rod into the molten metal. Thicker metal can handle that no problem and it doesn’t generally produce undercut because the heat is so focused. Undercut happens from unfocused long arcs. Another way to look at it is by a wattage standpoint. A 7018 run at 22 volts 120 amps (within the normal range) is 2640 watts. The same rod run with a longer arc gap will be 26 volts at 120 amps is 3120 watts. That’s a huge increase in what is effectively wattage used for heat, with a minimal change in arc gap voltage. It’s just that the lack of focus of that heat (widening of the arc cone) doesn’t effectively use that extra heat. How you get around this is using a rod that produces a shielding gas that requires higher voltage for a arc to exist in it (6010/6011). With such rods you have your cake and eat it too, you have higher voltage while still keeping a tight arc cone. That is why 6010 drives very deep penetration, all that heat is focused in a very small area. The trade off is a rougher looking bead and more spatter.

Yes I did clean it with a wire wheel, I edited it out. If you don’t clean it out good you will have slag entrapment/inclusions and a weak weld. The cleaner the better, strong welds are as much prep as the rod used 😀

I will definitely look into that, thanks for the heads up 😀

Hi welding a lot with 60 11,60 10, 70, 18. an extra excellent welding on hard weld go with 312 stainless works well

Somehow I missed responding to this, and there is a ton of valuable info I can share on this: Wagon tracks can be left and basically the weld will just sit ontop of them. If you run 6010 over the wagon tracks it probably would melt them out. 7018 would probably not melt all of them out, especially if they are in a position where they are sunk in decent (think if the bead roped up a bit). With 6010 root pass its difficult to make a weld thats not overly "peaked" on say a fillet weld. The reason is if you lengthen the arc gap to flatten the weld out, you will undercut the sides bad. So you wint up with a root pass that typically looks more like a bead of caulk (but it still has a ton of penetration) To prep the toes of the welds its very common to take a cut off disc or a dual purpose disc (cutoff and grind) to just smooth out the toes to 100% make sure there is no slag there. If the weld has slag inclusions (basically the slag is stuck and the weld solidified around it) the best way to fix it is with a angle grinder. You grind the area until its clean and you see no obvious defects. In some test I did a while back I ran a 6010 right over the top of a terrible weld, and it actually worked better than I thought. However with 7018 or any rod that doesn't penetrate well, good luck lol. The whipping and pausing for me is mostly wrist movement. The key thing is as you whip forward (2-3mm) you push the rod into the plate (like melting a crayon). Then you rock back and slightly increase the arc gap. Basically you no longer feel the rod touch the plate. So its kind of a touch the plate as you move forward, rock back while lifting the rod just above you feeling it touch the plate, and repeat. Its not very much at all, it doesn't take much. Many code work jobs you burn the rods down to the numbers and thats it. Two reasons for it, 1) so there is no doubt as to what rod was used, and 2) to reduce the issues that can come with the rod getting very hot near the end. The truth is for home use I would burn them down to within a inch of the flux and not worry too much. I generally use the little stubs for tack welding on stuff so they still get used. Preheating the plates will help with fusion at the start, but not hugely. Hot start features on a welder do a lot to help with that. Even so, in every stick welding break test I have done there is a area just after the start of a weld for a short distance that has noticeably less fusion. This is also the case with mig and flux core. Short of very high hot start there is no way to fix this. If the beginning of the plate was preheated it would likely help. Realistically as long as the settings are close to proper, the slight lack of fusion wont matter. This is one thing TIG has mastery over, due to the precise control and clear fusion at the root which you can watch while welding, it doesn't have issues like other processes (provided a skilled operator). 6010 is definitely notorious at changing how it runs depending on what point you are with length. It's a combination of the heat put in the rod and the rod tip melting off higher in comparison to the edge of the rods flux. Generally speaking the hotter the rod is the more aggressive the arc is. I still need to try dipping a rod in water and test it. I have a feeling it calms the rod down more due to the cooling effect of the water vaporising than absorbing into the flux and having an effect. Ideally 6010 and 6011 should be stored in the factory packaging and definitely not baked out. The moisture content is stupidly high from the factory, and that's fine. 6011 (guessing here) probably has less moisture content than 6010 because 6010 likely needs a lot of it to hold its cellulose flux together.

I run 6011 DCEP. 6011 will be more “sticky” than 6013. The reason is the 6013s flux is far thicker and melts of slower, it’s basically easier to hold an arc gap because the rod won’t let you shove it in short it out. With 6011 and 6010 the flux is very thin, and burns off fast. It’s far easier to stick the rods. The trick to running 6011 is to have hot start turned up a bit, and arc force control set at 50-75% if your machine has adjustments for that. Those settings makes 6011 run far easier because the rod won’t stick due to the machine boosting amperage. If you don’t have adjustable settings, you need to get the arc started and slightly hold a longer arc at the start. Once the rod and plate are hot, you can close the arc gap a bit. Balancing this will give you a decent start. Keep in mind that 6011 is about 60% arc and 40% metal deposition. 6013 is about 40% arc 60% metal deposition. What this means is you need to move slower in travel speed to give the rod time to deposit metal with 6011 over 6013. If you move too fast the molten pool will cool and get taller, which may cause the rod to short out to the plate.

I have never ran a 6012 or 6022, both are commonly found outside of the US It seems. I read the data sheet on them and they seem to suggest their primary use is poor fit up on thin material. I am thinking they probably run like a 6013 mixed with a 6011. It’s suggested they have a smooth finished weld. It would be interesting to see how they run. In the future I will have to give them a shot 😃

Haha if that’s the case add more amps and you have all the arc force you need 🔥😂

So 6010 and 6011 are similar and are commonly used for the same purpose. Both of them have far more penetration than other common rods (6010 in specific definitely does). They can easily weld downhill and overhead once you have the skill to run them, they don’t drip Liquid Metal. They are also far easier to use to fill a hole too. When it comes to welding on poor surface prep or terrible condition material they also work great. You also have a ton of control with the rod, by manipulating the arc you can do things like bridge gaps, increase/decrease penetration, etc. The main drawbacks to the rods are excessive penetration (thin material is difficult to weld) much higher skill is required to use them, the slag will not fully come off without a wire wheel on a grinder, the possibility of undercut is huge as well. 6010 won’t run on many machines which is also a draw back. I use 6010 all the time to do repairs on poor material. It’s actually easier to weld with because of how fast the molten puddle freezes.

Higher arc force settings will just boost amperage the tighter you push the rod. On my machine 6011 runs best with 30-60%, 6010 does best with 40-65%. To learn to work with the rod a lower arc force setting would be best, and for uphil welding lower will help. Thin material too will prefer lower arc force.

The grey carhart hoodie is not 100% cotton but I have never had it light up on me. I do have a hi viz carhart that has lit up/melted a bit, it’s a different material though. I definitely wouldn’t want to be air arc gouging with the grey one lol. I do have a few actual welding jackets and they have more holes than my grey hoodie, and I barely use them lol.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg i like a hoodie because you can pull the top over your mask and block light from the rear. my eyesight isn't great and blocking light is very helpful in seeing the puddle for me.

I made a video that should help you. It’s at the bottom of this post. I don’t stickweld pipe, nor am I certified at stick pipe. However I know a thing or two about having to weld terrible angles and in bad positions. You have to find a position that gives you the most control over rod movement for the least movement of your arm/body. What rod, rod size, and pipe wall are you welding? This video is only viewable through this link, it’s not listed on my pages home page. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jsiBfdCDur2UY2Q.html

Great question. Pushing the puddle with stick is a slippery slope. Certain rods like 6013 will produce extremely poor welds when pushed (slag entrapment). A rod like 6011 which has far less flux/slag will have far less issue with slag inclusion when pushed. When welding uphill or near a corner you can get away with not pulling as well. Like everything with welding the rules aren’t absolute, but going against the rule may have undesirable side effects 😀

@@makingmistakeswithgreg thanks man for the great content.

@@bojack2740 no problem 😀. I like building/welding stuff so it’s fun to bring a camera along to make some content to share with people. I know if people follow what I say and practice their abilities will hugely improve, which makes it worth while too. 😀

The flux is touching. In most cases with stick I let the flux of the rod touch to keep the molten pool pushed away from the travel direction. You must run high enough amperage that the rod doesn’t stick though. 6010/6011 this doesn’t apply though, because they will just gouge the plate rather than resting the flux on it lol.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg That makes sense if it works kind of like a “rest” that slightly helps you steady the rod, and then the core burns recessed in the flux to keep a gap for the arc to jump across. As you can see, I haven’t welded before but I’m planning on learning it. Thanks for the reply!

I started about 20 years ago, but could hardly be called a welder then (think complete trash welds). I came full circle and restarted (and taking it serious) about 7 or 8 years ago, mainly because I couldn't find anyone to weld stuff I needed. Unlike most people that weld, I don't do any kind of production work, I mostly do repair work where everything is different. It makes it very hard to get everything dialed in perfect since every joint, repair, material type/thickness, etc is different. From a skill perspective the average person could probably get to my level or higher in 4-5 years of random jobs and practice.

I hear you. I'm in heavy equipment industry and weld on machines.i learned from old heads along the way

So I can tell you for a fact that there is quite a broad range of voltages required to operate both 6011 and 6010 rods. I have tested 6011s before I had a channel, and out of 3 brands they were 1-3volts different while welding). So it is entirely possible that a machine that has limited closed circuit voltage capability that it would run one 6011 and not others. 6011 tends to be around 25-26v while welding, and 6010 is 27 to 31 depending on rod. 7018 is 22-24v. Without going in to much depth, the way welders work they all have a transformers (even inverter welders). The transformer is responsible for changing higher voltage lower amperage into higher amperage lower voltage. Well depending on how the transformer is wound, and how it’s powered (with a inverter or just wall power) dictates what voltage it can output at what amperage. What you can find is a cheaper welder may be able to reach say 26v to run a 6011, but not until the machine is over 120amps setpoint. That becomes useless to run a 3/32 or 1/8th 6011 because they don’t operate at those amperages. 6013 and 7018s lower volt per amp curve allow cheaper/simpler power supplies to keep them lit. It gets really bad with multi process MiG/tig/stick welders, it costs a lot of money to produce a machine that is both excellent on tig and Mig (12v to 24v) and stick (30-32v). That’s why most tig only machines tend to poorly weld with 6010 (like the Lincoln tig 200 I owned) and why most all in ones favor mig/tig over stick.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg it tended to run the Forney 6011 the best, relatively speaking - then Lincoln, and finally, Hobart. It was difficult to run the Forney ones without constant sticking, with the others I tried being yet worse. Note: Forney 6011s tended to be the “calmest/least intimidating” ones, also - regardless of which welder I used. In contrast, the Lincoln ones acted more like “demon-possessed fireworks!” Hobart’s were about in the middle. Had I more funds at that time, I would have tried more brands in hope of finding one I could use successfully (acquiring further practice in the process.) It might be a while before I can secure an ESAB welder…. Adjustable Arc force and hot start *supposedly* help some with getting an *ornery stick* to behave…

Overhead welding is very similar to running a weld in the flat position believe it or not. The difference is if your travel speed slows down too much you will have a drip of molten metal. Many people run too low of amperage when welding overhead. General speaking 5-10 amps max less than your flat weld amperage should be in the ball park. You must put pressure on the rod/keep a tight arc gap. 6011 runs overhead a bit easier than many other rods because of how fast the puddle freezes. So a slight oscillation forward/back will help stack metal.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg I appreciate the response and tips my friend.

You can run low arc force or high with 6011. The rod itself doesn’t penetrate nearly as much as 6010. I did a penetration test between 6010 and 6011 and was surprised that 6010 had far better penetration even when running 6011 at higher amperages. The arc force has less of a effect on 6011 than 6010 because it tends to not melt the flux off the rod as fast as 6010. Not to mention the actual effect arc force has on a rod comes down to how a person is using it. If you run straight in/minimal movement without putting pressure to push the rod in, high arc force won’t do much. Only when the welder sees a reduction in voltage does it boost the amperage. With 6010 I run 60-65%, 6011 30-60%, and 7018 I run 30%. I tried running 7018 at 60% for a video and no matter how much I pushed it the flux wouldn’t melt fast enough to get the rod to stick 😅.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Muchos bushels of thanks for your explanation, based upon your vast experiences and analytical critique of your own work.. You have successfully un-confused me.

Long arcing will definitely throw big BBs off the rod. 6011 is already rough enough with the sparks lol.

With 6011 it depends on the rod diameter. On a flat plate with 3/32 rods aim for 1/4 to just under 3/8th wide.

​@@makingmistakeswithgregthanks Greg I watch all your videos

So 6011 vertical runs very close to 6010, just run it at 5-10 amps hotter. 6011 runs much like grey 6010 5p + rods, a more liquid puddle than a standard 6010 (red rod). 6011 is very easy to run vertical up in comparison to many other rods because the puddle freezes fairly fast.

I will check when I get home, if you sent them I am sure I did 😀. I am running a few days behind on my emails.

The main things 6010/11 rods are good for is repair work on poor material, tack welding, and bridging gaps. They are no doubt weaker than 7018 but in many cases that’s not a concern. Like fence piping on thin rusty material 😀

@@makingmistakeswithgreg 6013 is as good as 6010/11 and has almost the same penetration, but with way smoother flow. I understand that some pipeline applications call for 6010, but for small fabrication or DIY work you are better off with 6013 and 7018

6011 has its uses. It has more penetration than 7014 and handles poor fitups (gaps) far better. It also can be run vertical down to limit penetration. It handles poor material prep better, and is far less likely to have slag inclusions too. It also welds uphill and overhead easier. I don’t use much 6011 or 7014, 6010 and 7018 is what I (and most people use). 7014 has very limited penetration on thicker steel, which is why I tend to not use it much. The small 1/16th and 5/64 7014 rods are definitely good for sheetmetal.

Turn the heat up a little more on 7014. I never have anything break from using it due to poor penetration. People must be pretty lazy if they don't clean the area to be welded. A knotted cup brush on a 4 1/2" grinder. Takes only seconds.I like 7018 but only on D.C. Otherwise you just have another sticking rod like the 6011. As far as what most people use, I see those stupid 6011 rods around here in other shops. Lazy people I guess. Thanks for your reply.

My videos aren’t for everyone, sounds like they aren’t for you. You’re probably at a higher level than what my (intro) videos are aimed for. That’s fine, because there are plenty of KZfaqrs with 5 min videos that will probably be more like what you’re looking for. All of my videos are setup where you can easily skip chapters based on what you already know. I appreciate the input but ultimately if the content isn’t for you it’s not for you. I provide it for free, don’t have half of the video as sales ads, don’t work as a shill for companies products, and I force KZfaq to make adds skip able, so people aren’t stuck watching them. The average length of my videos in the last 6 months (keep in mind I have only been doing this for a year) is under 20 minutes. I have been steadily improving on timelines but again I don’t think cutting it even further down is going to work for me. I am a small part of the larger KZfaq community so you have much to pick from that meets your needs, I wish you luck.

I hear what he’s saying, and there are content producers who may have good content, but for whatever reason, I just don’t jive with their style, so I simply move on… Please don’t change a thing, based on that comment! I like and prefer your style, so keep on keeping on with what you’ve been doing.

I'm obviously just a nobody, but as a rank beginner I greatly appreciate the in-depth explanations. Thank you so much for what you do!

Haha i don’t weld much with 6011, but I can tell you 6010 eats my arms up when welding vertical up lol.