Any Welders Out There? Questions about welding rods...

[kolbyTheDog]

My grandpa passed away a couple of years ago and the other day I was helping my grandma sort through some of his old tools. He was a farmer and had a lot of farm type tools. One of the boxes I came across had a lot of small boxes of welding rods in it. I am wondering if these have value due to their age (probably at least 5 if not 10 or 15 years old. He liked to pick up things like this at auctions.) He had welding equipment to repair his farm implements along with creating all sorts of neat things.

Do welding rods get wet from normal humidity and get ruined? They have been stored in a machine shed in small plastic boxes. I have seen welding rod ovens on the web - do welders put their rods in these for a few hours before using them to dry them out?

Should I try to sort through them and list them for sale on my local craigslist or just take them to a small town welder and see what he will give me for them or trade for his services (I do need a trailer hitch installed on my car).

Do these rods get old and therefore the quality of the welds wouldn't be any good?

What would I value them at? 1/2 new retail price? 1/3? 1/4?

Thanks for you help!

 

[jklingel]

One of the boxes I came across had a lot of small boxes of welding rods in it. I am wondering if these have value due to their age (probably at least 5 if not 10 or 15 years old. •• First off, sorry to hear about your grandfather. I have been using one particular welding rod from the same welding rod box for 10 yrs and they work fine, but they are kept warm and DRY, right next to my boiler.

Do welding rods get wet from normal humidity and get ruined? •• Yes, some terribly so. When mine do, they always seem to show it, too; they get crusty looking if left in the cold, damp garage too long.

I have seen welding rod ovens on the web - do welders put their rods in these for a few hours before using them to dry them out? •• I have done so, and have had pretty good luck w/ improved performance. I always kind of baby-sit them, too, opening the top to let the steam out now and then. Whether or not they get back to 100% I don't know, but the oven seems to help. Too, these are rods like 6011, nothing real fancy, and they LOOK good to start with.

Should I try to sort through them and list them for sale on my local craigslist or just take them to a small town welder and see what he will give me for them or trade for his services (I do need a trailer hitch installed on my car). •• Good luck. They are really not worth a great deal, as a reputable person would be a little hesitant to use them in a business, I would assume. If they don't LOOK too bad, they are probably worth 25% of new. That is a guess. Some rod coatings have lots of iron in them, and obviously if they rust they are good for stink. Do you know what numbers are on them, or are those gone? If deteriorated, I'd be hesitant to use them at all.

Do these rods get old and therefore the quality of the welds wouldn't be any good? •• That is my understanding, esp w/ the ones w/ more iron, etc, in the flux (fatter ones). All the coatings have chemicals, naturally, and water tends to react with a lot of chemicals, making chemicals other than what was intended to be in the coating.

 

[d.n.f.]

They do soak up moisture.

We used to store them in a cabinet (dry cabinet with lowish humidity) and throw them in the rod oven when the supply in there was getting low.
Not sure of the long term implications of storing them in a damp environment. Don't see why the oven wouldn't dry them out? Sorry can't tell you more (only did a year of welding then switched trades).

They are worth something to somebody though.

 

[Highbeam]

As long as the coating is solid and not flaking off they can be dried and used. The typical farmer uses an AC tobstone welder so the rods might be 7018AC, 6011, or 6013. Look for stamped letters in black near the bare metal end. I'm guessing 7018AC and that rod is particularly moisture sensitive.

 

[kolbyTheDog]

Thanks for the info guys. They have been stored up off the floor on a table in his shed in plastic cases. He also had a large metal ammo box filled with them inside their plastics cases - that's what tipped me off to the possiblity of them being moisture sensitive. I'll take an inventory of what all is there and google it to figure out what type of rods they are. Thanks again!

 

[High_Iron]

Hi. 10 year welder here.

look at the exposed ends of the rods and look for rust. Like someone else said, see if the flux is cracked and pealing. If either of these are true, the rods may be trash.

some roods are much more humidity sensitive than others. Please look at he numbers stamped on the rods and post them here.

Welding rods are sold in weight. about how many pounds of rods do you have?

 

[mjbrown]

hi guys,
i worked in a shipyard here in maine for years as a welder.if the rods are 6011,6012,6013...they are probably still good for welding as they are pretty muchall purpose and fair the humidity ok.
if they have 70 or 10018 stamped on them and as has been said cracked flux, you might as well chuck them, as they will be no good for welding...the flux will fall off as soon as you try to strike an arc. howerver if the flux is not cracked, you may get lucky and be able to utilize some of them.

hpoe this helps, and i am in no way trying to tell you i know it all, just tyring to give you some help from experience.


mike