Vent: Found out I was grinding my tungsten wrong after 8 years on the job

Was on a stainless pipe job down in Baton Rouge last month and this old timer watched me set up for maybe 2 minutes. He goes "son you been sharpening that thing like a pencil?" and I was like yeah? Turns out I was grinding perpendicular to the electrode instead of lengthwise. Whole time I thought I was doing it right. Took me half a shift to unlearn the habit. Anyone else have a basic thing they did backwards for way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray_campbell4613h ago

That perpendicular way is actually how a lot of guys in the pipeline world do it. I've been welding for 12 years and always grind crosswise, never had an issue with arc wander or contamination. If it worked for 8 years without anyone calling you out on it, maybe it's not as wrong as people think.

xenaf5110h ago

Agree with @ray_campbell46, did the same for years with no problems either.