Hello Woody, likely the only time you might notice tungsten issues with this method might be in an ultra-high purity environment where everything was being x-rayed and analyzed to the enth degree. Miller has some fairly indepth information on their website which discusses the mechanics of the lift-arc process and how it actually works, I would venture to say that similar information is available through Lincoln, Thermal Arc, Esab, and other manufacturers with this type of arc starting capability. Regards, aevald