Tool Reviews

What arc force does—and what it cannot do Arc force control, also called dig control, adjusts how a stick welder responds when the arc gets short. A higher setting can…

Why stick welding suits outdoor pipe work For steel pipe in the field, stick welding is often the practical choice: the process tolerates wind better than MIG or gas-shielded flux-core,…

Vertical welding with low-hydrogen electrodes is demanding enough that the machine should make the job easier, not add another variable. Look for stable output at the amperage you actually use,…

Farm repairs rarely happen at a clean welding bench. You may be patching a gate outdoors, fixing a cracked bracket, or joining steel that has rust, paint, or mill scale…

What anchor and bracket work demands Steel anchors and brackets are often short, repeatable parts: plate welded to angle, tabs attached to a base, or a rod joined to a…

Cast iron machinery parts are a poor place to learn stick welding by trial and error. The metal can crack beside a weld, hidden oil can boil out of a…

Remote maintenance puts a premium on a welder that is easy to carry, tolerant of rough power and capable of running the electrodes you can actually get. For most repair…

The cup on a TIG torch is more than a nozzle: its opening affects how widely shielding gas spreads, how easily the torch fits around a joint, and how much…

What matters in the field For heavy-equipment repair, a stick welder has to do more than run a clean bead in a shop. It must start reliably on a generator…

TIG brazing steel with silicon bronze uses a TIG torch to melt the filler rod while keeping the steel below its melting point. Done well, it makes a low-distortion joint…