Fresh rod sometimes seems a little too long?

by Owen Fifield
(Montana)

Sometimes you're in a tricky spot where a new electrode is just way to long to comfortably weld. What I do is bend it in half or whatever length you think is going to be easier. The flux will all fall off where you bent it and now you can clamp the stinger onto the newly exposed rod. You'll have a tail sticking down on the back end of your stinger but it doesn't get in the way and now you have a much more comfortable electrode length to work with.