Do arc welding electrodes cause problems if they are damp?
1) They certainly do. If they’re wet enough, you may not be able to use them at all. 2) Dampness can cause the coating to fall off in chunks or unevenly & cause “finger-nailing”, where part of the coating sticks out beyond the rod end, during welding. 3) Missing chunks of coating will make the rod stick a lot, plus your results may not be satisfactory. 4) Keep your rods in the house if possible or in a heated storage outside. 5) You can also get away with keeping your rods in a SEALED container to keep out moisture. * I have a hard time cutting 1/2 metal with a torch. Why? 1) Going either too fast or too slow will cause problems in various thicknesses of metals. 2) Practice cutting thinner stuff first. Watch the sparks coming out the bottom. 3) Once you have the metal hot enough, start moving the torch, & pay attention to how the sparks are coming out. If they are straight down you need to speed up so that they are actually angled slightly ahead of the torch. 4) If they are angling bac