Thanks guys, for your input.  I asked more to make sure for myself that I gave the correct info. to the field person.

But I'm at work now and I have the code book in front of me.  "5.15 Preperation of Base Metal", when reading thru the entire paragraph, and the commentary section, I find it odd that it doesn't specifically mention paint or Galv, it mentions "other foreign material".

Consider this, as the code is written, if the welding rod manufacturer says it can be used on painted surfaces, then could paint be considered "a foreign material" if they says it's made for that?

What I'm worried about, is the fact it doesn't mention paint/ galv specifically.  If the field foreman/ superintendent read the papragraph, they would say it "doesn't say paint"  then I would have to argue how I feel paint is considered a foreign material, and that's what I have been doing for years, but look at it from the other side. 

From day one, I was always told you don't weld thru paint, you have to remove it were you are going to weld.  But now that I am reading the code word for word.  I find it interesting that the code doesn't specifically mention paint and or galv,  they say "other foreign materia".  You would think that if it were THAT important they would purposly list paint /galv as something you can't weld thru.   Is it possible that as inspectors, we inadvertanly took it to the next level, and included banning welding over paint/ galv when certain filler rod manufacturer's say it's ok?

Henry, I agree w/ your statment, about the stuff that goes on out in the field, I hear the stories all the time and I can't imagine dealing w/ that mentality all day long, everyday.  I'm still sticking w/ the remove paint /galv like I have been, it would make our jobs as inspectors alot easier though if AWS just listed it as such. 

Thanks Chris