questions about stock

[KevinL]

I brought some stock home from a job site and ground the face of the material fairly clean and started welding . Much to my surprise the welds came out awful . The stock was from an old building; they were lentils for masonry it was 1/4 inch thick steel, I think the metal was hardened or there was just to much dirt . I started checking the welder over for a problem i found one issue with the gas but the welds did not get any better ,please advise

[Sparkeee24]

Howdy howdy!

I have got that a couple times with salvaged metal. Several times with bed frames. But Also several times with older trailer frame steel. I could never get the stuff to weld right with any arc process. I tried good old torch, and voila! Now, I don't know the why's for this "funk", but I think it's a certain vintage. Maintain wartime or something. Good luck! Brian Lee Sparkeee29

[Broccoli1]

What is yer definition of "Fairly Clean"

I would grind it down to where it IS clean and see if you have any problems.:)