I am a certified welder and made my living off it for years. I find many of these comments amusing. The warning to women is not a sexist comment. The flux or coating on welding rod gives off many gases. Also used metal can have many chemicals on it. The coating on some metals, such as galvanized, are dangerous when welded. Welders will often have high levels of heavy metals in their system. Everyone should use caution to avoid breathing welding gases, especially young women.
The penetration of welding is not primarilly determined by the amount of amperage you use. It is determined by the type of rod you use. The type of rod also determines the strength of the weld. 6011 is a good rod to use around the farm where you will encounter rusty, dirty metals, usually fairly thick steel. For hard steel or cast steel, like tractor parts, etc. you want a low hydrogen rod like 7018. 6013 is a good rod for thin sheet metals. I will give you a little free info about welding rod. The first two (sometimes three) numbers refer to tinsel(sp) strength, or the force needed to stretch or break the steel. The second from right number is the welding position, and the last number is the type of coating. So 6011 would be 60,000 pounds tinsel strength. The 1 (second from right) means it's all position. And the last the type of coating which indicates the penetration. In this case deep penetrating. If the third number is a 2 this means it is for flat and horizontal welding only. If you try welding up, down, or overhead with it you won't like what happens. Once again the sound made while welding is largely determined by the type of rod you use. Also how smooth the weld looks depends on the type of rod.
Another point, some have said that wire welding is for sheet metal. Once again this is determined by the type of wire you are using. There is one big difference between wire welding and stick welding. With stick welding the heat or voltage varies by the distance you hold the electrode from the metal. If you need more heat, pull back. If you are burning it, get closer. That is not to say that you don't need to have the welder on the proper setting. There is a limit to the variation of heat you can obtain with each setting. With a wire welder the voltage is constant, it doesn't matter how far away or how close you hold it. Try welding a vertical up weld with a wire welder. This will show who the real welders are in a hurry. For those of you trying to weld with a torch I will tell you that you will not get a good weld on thick metal because the filler metal you weld with is just soft metal. When I worked in a repair shop we had uniform service, so there was always a lot of coat hangers on the rack. We did most of our torch welding with a coat hanger for the filler. Works just as good as the expensive rod you buy. I could go on and on but I can't remember if there were any other comments I missed, so I will quit for now. Perhaps I will give some pointers on welding later.
