Not logged inAmerican Welding Society Forum
Forum AWS Website Help Search Login
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Elderly Rods
- - By aevald (*****) Date 04-02-2008 20:48
Hello everyone, I have these in our shop to show to folks to remind them of the beginnings of the welding trade and some of the consumables that were used with the beginnings of arc welding. If you can see this closely enough you will notice the wrapped string and the painted covering over the rod coating as well as probably noticing that the covering on some of these has a distinct resemblance to "asbestos". Imagine that. Hope you enjoy this blast from the past. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 04-02-2008 21:13
Outstanding. That one certainly does have a scary resemblance to "asbestos". I will try to scan and attach some pics I have of old and odd (maybe just to me) electrodes. One of which is a 1&1/8" electrode that if I remember correctly is used in the shipyard industry. It is SMAW aproximatly 24" long X 1&1/8" biggest darn thing I have ever seen.  Picture was taken at HIWT in Troy, OH.
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 04-02-2008 21:46
Hello jrw159, would love to see them, or it, as the case may be. I did have a student bring in an E7018 electrode one time: it was a 5/8" core, the O.D. was roughly an inch or so, and it was around 36" long. Similarly, my understanding was that it was used in the bridge fabrication industry. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By darren (***) Date 04-07-2008 04:25
this was put on an earlier thread. but if you missed it its very very interesting.
darren
http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/showthread.php?t=17891
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 04-07-2008 06:11
Hello darren, definitely something out of the ordinary and it wouldn't be my choice for a summertime job in Texas. Wonder what the weld repair process was? Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 09-21-2009 22:32
Allan,
  It took quite some time to locate this but here it is as promised. :-)

jrw159
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 09-21-2009 22:48
John,  how many of those do you think a guy could run in a day?  You sure couldn't pack many of them in your rod pouch at a time.  WOW!!

Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 09-21-2009 22:54
Hey Brent, hows that for a "Baby Face" LOL! :-)

jrw159
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 09-21-2009 23:04
Clearest pic I have seen of you regardless.  Probable due to the size pic you put up.  Sure puts the size of that rod in perspective.

Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 09-21-2009 23:21
I actually had to scan this pic in so this is a pic of a pic. I was unable to find it electronically. :-)

jrw159
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 09-22-2009 00:18
Hello John, thanks for including that. Once upon a time I had a night student who brought in a rod that had a 5/8" core wire diameter, I believe the outside OD was around 1 1/4", it looked to be about the same length as the one in your picture. He said that it came from a bridge building shop in the Seattle area. I believe he also said that it was operated at over 1000 amps and they used a wheeled guide to traverse the rod along the joint, FLAT ONLY position. A predecessor to modern wire feed systems. Thanks again John for the pic. Best regards, Allan
Parent - By jrw159 (*****) Date 09-22-2009 01:08
Alan,
  That is the basics I remember being told about. BUKU amps, flat only, operated much like a track torch. Operator inserts the electrode and "stands back" so to speak. I was told this particular electrode was provided from a ship yard(which one unknown).

I also believe this is not one that is used for arc removal but strictly for metal joining. I could be wrong working off of memory and at that time my mind was swamped with other more important items. LOL
jrw159
Parent - - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 04-03-2008 05:07
  A company that is now Esab, or a part of it came up with the idea of putting a covering on electrodes in 1903-1904 [I forget which] in Europe. By 1907 Lincoln was doing in the US.

  Try welding with a bare rod if You want to see what it was like before that, It can be done, but it ain't easy.
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 04-03-2008 05:12
Hello Dave, and thanks for that bit of history. As far as the bare electrode issue goes, I have tried it, not intentionally though! Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By gshuma (**) Date 04-03-2008 12:20
30 years ago one of the local chapter members was telling stories at his retirement party. He was from out west somewhere and told about welding pipe lines with acetylene. The tanks were on a 4 mule wagon. Sometimes the mule guy had too much to drink and would fall asleep, if something spooked the mules they would take off and when the acetylene bottles started to bang together they would run faster.
Electric welding was a huge jump in technology. Each welder mixed a bucket of lime ( Ithink) and his secret stuff in a bucket. He then put a bare wire in the stinger and shorted it to heat it up. Then he would dip it in his bucket to apply the coating.
That's when they made real men.
Parent - - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 04-04-2008 03:36
  More History: Oxy acetylene was allso developed in 1904, about the same time as shielded arc welding, but I think it gained acceptance more quickley than arc welding. Fusion welding with an air hydrogen blowpipe dates to 1838. There is a great article in the June 1977 Welding Journal about the history of gas welding and cutting if any of You have access to the old copies of the magazine.
Parent - - By swnorris (****) Date 04-07-2008 16:13
That would be interesting reading.  I'm going to get in touch with a man I used to work with who used to collect Welding Journals.  He probably has a copy.  He's so old, he owes Jesus three dollars.
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 04-08-2008 03:47
Hello darren, those are really great, thanks much for locating and sharing. I will see about printing some of this for our students or else I'll pull it directly off of your post with our computer and overhead in the classroom. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By 803056 (*****) Date 09-21-2009 23:07 Edited 09-23-2009 03:24
Excellent information  gentlemen.

I have a client that repairs very large forging dies in-house. They still have some of those monster stick electrodes. I measured one and if I remember correctly, it too measure 5/8 in. core and about 40 to 48 inches in length. 

Thank you.

Best regards - Al
Parent - By jnewburry (*) Date 09-23-2009 02:03
Some people use 3/4" rod at 1500 amps for floodwelding, I don't remember the rod #s though.
Parent - By Tyler1970 (***) Date 09-23-2009 02:10
dave i bet the welders back then didnt wine about a ****ty rod ither. i tryed it was courious, its hard. long arc it. kinda cool to see what it was like back then tho.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Elderly Rods

Powered by mwForum 2.29.2 © 1999-2013 Markus Wichitill