am i the only one to do stick welding??

ivor from UK here and I am not in any criticising but when I see here someone has fabricated something it is always with MIG , when I make something I use my engine driven arc or stick welder
 
I have a stick welder and use it where it's needed, but mig is so much easier and faster that I use that most often. Of course I have really good welders of both types so that gives me an advantage over those with the smaller migs.
 
Mig, tig or stick it's whatever the task requires, I'm not going to try and weld 20 gauge floorpans into my truck with a stick welder that's what mig is for, nor am I going to tig weld together junk pipe to make a gate when stick or mig is better for that. Mig is handy for many projects in the shop, but I'm not lugging a heavy shielding gas bottle into a muddy ditch to make a repair, or hoisting a mig machine up a ladder or such when stick is much more portable and durable. Also not going to weld a fitting into a dairy line with a stick or mig, that's what tig is for. My point is that while processes overlap in application they each have advantages and disadvantages. Some people only own a mig so naturally that's what they use for most projects, sounds like you only own a stick welder so that's what you use!
 
Doing all three, plus Acetylene/Oxy welding and brazing is work dependent. Variety holds the world together. Jim
 
I tried wire welding, and just didn't like it. I have enough neighbors with those welders, that if I need some thin metal welded, it's no problem. A neighbor just welded on a tractor fender for me yesterday.

When I extended/rebuilt the rear end of my aluminum grain body, a young, aspiring welder neighbor came with his spool gun and did the welding (powered with my old Lincoln). He borrowed a plasma cutter from his boss. After that, I bought a nearly new, just off lease plasma cutter. Then I found out the young neighbor sold his welding tools! Apparently he decided that wasn't for him. I used the plasma cutter a few times, but still preferred the torch for what I do. So I sold the plasma cutter to another neighbor!
 
All I have is the old Smith Roles 180 amp stick welder my dad bought in 1973. Only maintenance it has needed was new cables. My brother has a mig and I've tried it briefly. It seems more complicated having to adjust gas, wire speed, etc. plus always have whatever type gas they need in the tanks. But I need mig if I'm ever going to fix the rusted floors in my old Merc so I need to get practicing on it.
 
I have an old Miller Roughneck, a Miller 110vac stick welder for light stuff, and acetylene torch. Never struck a bead with wire welder. If I can't weld it with the stick I braze it.
 
My first welder was a small Lincoln MIG unit, 220V with Gas. I still have it and use it on thinner stuff.

Some years back I came across a deal I couldn't refuse (swap for labor) on a Miller DialArc 250 AC/DC/TIG unit. It's now my go-to for about 90% of what I do.
 

Just started MIG last fall. Still use the Forney and Birdsell stick welders too. MIGs handy but I just haven't got it figured out quite yet.
 
Stick,mig and tig I have all three and use the mig the most. All three have their applications but if I could only have one it would be a good DC stick machine
 
My father was a stick welder all of his career. I bought a new wire feed machine for a birthday
present and told him to use it when he retired I ended up taking it home after 30 years as he would not use it.he proved to me that with the right welding rod and heat range on a welder it can be done well
 
I have the Miller stick and TIG in the tool shop and a wire welder and stick at home. I stick weld mostly except for welding on molds which is TIG. At home mostly wire weld. Mostly stitch weld thin wall conduit making gates, with what little welding I do anymore.
 
I have a spot welder, a 120v Lincoln wire, and a 55 year old Lincoln 225 amp AC. Don't weld much any more, but do use all 3.

Dusty
 
Hobart mig, Montgomery Wards 230 amp stick, and Sears acetylene. I use all three depending on the occasion.
 
99% of my welding is on rusty metal, stick weld only.
1% of the time I use mig with gas to weld on new clean thin rust free metal when doing body work on a tractor. Mig with gas gives a clean slag free weld. I used to use mig to weld body panels on cars, but gave up on restoring old cars.

Too much work doing BODY WORK.
 
I started off with a HF stick welder, but pretty much wore it out from going beyond the duty cycle. I now have a newer Hobart wire feed (no gas) and love it on thin steel, but want to get a larger stick; preferably with a decent duty cycle.
 
Only stick. Started with a used Speigel in 59 that I still have, 110 volt, 70 amp. and a 30 year old Lincoln 225 AC only. Bought a small wire unit and never could get it to work so gave it away at a consignment sale.
 
I only have a stick welder, 180 A Airco. It was in my high school when I started there in 65, I bought it when they closed the school in 76, $65. It does what I need.
 
I only have a stick welder at home, Lincoln 225. When I used to work as a welder, I had a variety of MIG machines to use in the shop, always stick in the field. I mostly always welded and built structural stuff, so I find that much easier than welding thin stuff. Most thin stuff I braze anyway. But, since most of the stuff I weld at home is heavy farm equipment and machinery I'm building, I have no problem doing a nice job with a stick welder.
 
I wouldn't mind having one of the big soft wire mig welders. They had some at a factory I worked at years ago for production work. They were about the size of a washing machine were used for heavy structural steel.
 
While I have worked at places as a welder and did both mig and tug welding I pretty much 99.9% of the time only use a stick welder at home. Ya I have a mig welder and would love to have a tig set up I test a stick weld over a mig weld on most stuff. Been welding since I was 16 when I got my first welder which was a joke of a machine. Payed $19.95 for it and got it form a popular mechanics mag. It was called a Lincoln but I do not think it was really the name brand Lincoln welder
 
I have a Miller 200 wire and an old Miller stick. The CO2 gasfor the 200 has gone up so much. I now only use it for sheet metal and precise welds. I inherited about 50 pounds of 6013 rods. I now use the old Miller stick more.
 

2X what Mark CT said. My stick welder lives right next to the shop door so big stuff gets backed up to it, while the mig lives in the inner warm room and the projects, generally smaller come to it.
 
I think the mig is easier and prettier for folks who didn't grow up with a stick. You have to be old to appreciate that roll of dimes. I still prefer stick unless it's sheet metal and then the mig comes out. I don't weld enough anymore for either one to be pretty but they still hold.
 
I use MIG when I can....just cleaner welds with less spatter for me. Second is 7018 sticks......for really horrible crap #3 is 6011.
 
Shortly after high school I built my own welder with a high amp surplus generator and a hand crank V4 Wisconsin. I still have it only now it has a 2 cylinder on it.
 
When I went to Hobart back in 1969 MIG was just being developed. It was called Micro-wire. They said when all the bugs got worked out, it would virtually eliminate stick welding, and I am sure it has for production welding, but for maintenance and repair work, stick welding is still my choice. I probably have close to a ton of stick electrodes on hand of every type and size you can imagine. I have a MIG set up on steel, another on Aluminum,2 Tig machines and 2 stick machines. The stick machines still get the most use. There is no universal wire,electrode, or welding process. One size does not fit all in the welding business. Knowing what to use and when to use it is part of the profession.
 
Co2 is very cheap, cheapest of the welding gasses. Shop around, even some package stores exchange the small cylinders which is what I use for my mig as they are easily portable
 
While I agree with a lot of what you said, mig welding traces it's roots back to the early 1800's. With the discovery of the electric arc.

The date of mig welding development as a commercially viable production process started in 1948. Took a lot of fine tuning of the inert gas with the wire alloy, and the wire diameter, or in the case of flux core wire welding, finding the right flux, but flux core welding isn't actually mig welding.

There's constant development occurring on mig,tig, and arc welding. The creation of inverters and their use in welding machines has probably changed welding as much as anything in the last 60-70 years. Quick check of Wikipedia on "mig welding history" would be very interesting!
 
I bought and used a mig welder for a time then my employer offered me the opportunity to take some welding/metal working classes. I learned the right way to stick weld and tig. Haven't used the mig welder since. That said, the mig welder is a low to mid level 240v machine against a Miller Gold Star.
 
There is no need to look down your nose at people that don't stick weld. The craft is alive and well, and seems to be experiencing a bit of a renaissance.

For a long time I had an old Lincoln AC225 tombstone, but I decided to treat myself to a new multiprocess welder so that I could explore other facets of welding like flux core, MIG and TIG. I mean sure you could make everything out of 1/4" steel, but for a lot of stuff thinner material is just fine.

I really like this Lincoln 210 MP, but half of you would probably accuse me of not being a "real man" because of how easy and smooth it runs 7018...
 
Because real men insist on struggling with crappy equipment? I think you can have good equipment and do good work without too much fear of being called a sissy. Or maybe I'm just in the half who don't object.

Stan
 

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