Went out to finish up a small job today....welding in four 1 1/2" 304ss pieces of roundstock in a 42" concrete lined Y sewer pipe.  They wanted this for a guide for the cleanout pig.  They had already put in carbon bars by mistake and I cut them out and cleaned it up the previous afternoon.   Had all the pieces already cut and coped to fit on the peak of the y and to the side of the branch.  I was using 1/8 mckay 309L running off a trailblazer 250 that was having a bad running day...surging a bit and forget about idle.  I have burned a lot of 308 and a fair share of 309L back in the day.....I could not carry a puddle for crap today.  I spent more time with the grinder then the stinger.  I dunno what was going on.....the 1 1F (more or less) went ok....everything else was 5f of 6f? and overhead.  The root went in alright mostly...but everything thereafter from 6 to 8-9 o clock was dog knotting something fierce....then I would hit a spot and the rod would dig in like a gouging rod, just instant big pocket and I would get a fallout.  I played with the heat all day....I I remember right I use to run these rods in 1/8 anywhere from 95-120 amps no problem.  Another weird thing is when I was carrying the arc on the stainless bar side it got watery in a big hurry...very hard to keep from undercutting.   I sped up ...I weaved...I just forced it in there....it all sucked.   Either I completely have forgotten how to weld this stuff or that machine is due for the shop.  I intend to burn some tomorrow with a known power source and see what I get.

Now the fun part...I was welding the last 6-12 half laying in the pipe on my side.  I smelled the familiar smell of burnt cotton...another hole in my blue jeans I thought....kept on welding another 15 secs or so then I felt the heat.  I yelled out I am on fire and proceeded for the exit...I am short but I am not a small guy...bars in my way this way pallet and plywood blocking my exit at my head....by time I got turned around to dive out of the pipe I was BLAZING (maybe 5-6 secs) I dove out ...partner beating the flames out, I am throwing my hood off ripping at my leathers...he grabs my t shirt and rips whats left of it off of me.  I end up with a basketball sized burn 3 inches or so from my nipple going across my ribs to my back under my left arm.  My partner said he looked in the pipe and it looked like someone had set a gerbil on fire inside his cage LOL!!  Well I am going to lose quite a bit of skin...sloughing off as I type.  But for the most part I will be ok...MY SUPER wonderfull Doctor called me in a script for a bucket of silvadene and a coffee cup of painkillers after a quick phone call.  If I had been wearing a full jacket instead of a cape and bib I could have avoided this one...my STUPID mistake.  We finished up the job and while I was driving the rig back to the shop I told my partner......You make sure you tell the boss I did this at 2:00pm (we rolled up at 5:30)  LOL!!!  

Another great day in the trenches I guess.   But you know...the fact I struggled with those rods bothers me way more then the burn.