# Opinions on 6013 welding rods?



## Duke (Jan 13, 2019)

I got a small 160 amp inverter welder over December.

I have never touched a welding machine before and decided this shortcoming needs to be addressed.

So far I am pretty impressed with it : The machine has an 80% duty cycle and works quite well. After a half an hour of on off playing the welder is still quite cool. Cooler than my pcs at any rate....

I got two boxes of welding rods - 2.5 and 3.2 mm 6013s.

My reasoning is that I can use the 2.5s for most stuff and running at a lower amperage should be easier on the machine.


Now the question about the 6013 welding rods - *would you guys say that are they a good enough all round rod?*

I have read that they do not need to be stored as carefully as 7018s and should be rather easy to use for a novice.


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## RJSakowski (Jan 13, 2019)

My favorite rod for a nice bead is 7014.  The flux will often pop off by itself.  However, it is a fast freeze rod and doesn't penetrate as well as 6013.  It also doesn't do as well with rust.  It also doesn't do well on sharp inside corners because of the large amount of flux.  I will sometimes use a rod like 6013 for the root pass and finish with the 7014.

7018 can be a PITA ro get started although I did have one brand, Lincoln, I believe, that struck a consistent arc.  7018 has comparatively less flux and a friend who is a professional welder showed me the technique of back welding; baking with the arc on the just laid bead.  This permits a deeper penetration while not eroding the adjacent base metal.


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## Ed ke6bnl (Jan 13, 2019)

I am a hobbyist and do not use my arc much any more since I have mig and tig. but my 2 rods of choice were 6013 and 6011 when I had my A/C only welder.  The 6011 I used a lot on old and dirty metal for its penetration.  later I got a ac dc machine and was able to use the 7018 and 6010 I had. but I was fine with just the 13 and 11.  You are set up to do a lot.


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## Ulma Doctor (Jan 13, 2019)

6013 was designed for general purpose welding on *new* mild steel.
it is an easy rod to learn to weld with, as it is very forgiving.
6013 can be welded in any position
it is a low penetration rod, and doesn't have the ability to burn off contaminants from the base metal.
so make sure whatever you are welding has been cleaned up really good.

E7018 is the best all around rod, in my opinion
if you buy 7018 in small batches, you'll be just fine.
i doubt that you will be doing any certified work soon,
so the restrictions of having a rod oven and keeping the rod at temperature is not an issue for you.
so long as you are not doing certified work, any 7018 can be placed in a toaster oven @300-350°F for an hour or so to refresh it before use.
restarting E7018 requires a hard thump of the electrode against the work to re-strike the arc

I'm also a huge fan of E6010/E6011, they are my goto rods
i was instructed in comunity college for 2 years by a retired pipeline welder, well laid *all* our root passes with E6010
both 6010 and 6011 are for when stuff is grimy, rusty, poor fit up.
some inverter welders don't like the 6010, but they will burn 6011

as RJ mentioned E7014 is a very nice rod to burn, very clean looking welds- no need for a rod oven either.
i like to run E7014 on horizontal and flat position work where you need a lot of weld fast


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## benmychree (Jan 13, 2019)

Since I bought my first wire welder, I have hardly ever run stick rod since, and you need not worry about moisture with ensuing hydrogen embrittlement.


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## westerner (Jan 13, 2019)

6013 is a sheet metal, low penetration rod, unsuited for heavy structural work. 6011 is much harder to make pretty, but is much better at getting the adhesion required to be sound structurally.  7014 can be used to create welds that look to be done by machine, gloriously even and smooth. 7018 is THE rod used by industry to create welds that have lives depending on them. It all depends on what your needs are.


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## Duke (Jan 14, 2019)

Thanks everyone!

Then answers gave me a pretty good idea of the pros and cons of the different rods you mentioned!


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## ericc (Jan 14, 2019)

I mainly use 3 rods: 6013, 6011, 7018.  6013 is good for semi-permanent tacks or sheet metal.  It doesn't like dirt or poor fitup.  It needs to be run a little hot , else it will trap slag.  6011 is forceful and freezes fast with light slag.  It is good for dirty metal and poor fitup.  It is good for something like welding the top plate on an anvil where it is a pain to chip slag.  7018 would be a good all around rod, except that it tends to trap slag, needs clean metal, and is difficult to restart.  You can get away with less preheat or peening on higher carbon or crack sensitive steel, but on larger medium carbon weldments, it is nice to take the chill off the job.  One of the welders saw me running around with an air propane torch and a handful of 7018 rods.  He said, "fella, you know you've got the wrong torch for those rods there."  A real blacksmith will also have a fourth rod:  all-metal stainless for joining dissimilar steels.  I'll just use 7018 with a generous preheat.  This won't work out really well with something like D-2 or H-13, but I don't do that stuff.


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## fkrel (Jan 16, 2019)

The three rods I like are 6011, 6013, and 7018.    6011 for welding dirty metal it penetrates deep in the metal But has a lot of spatter, 6013 is the easiest to weld with, it has the same tensile strength as 6011 but spatters less and leaves a cleaner weld and the flux pops right off. 7018 is a great rod but is a littler harder to start because the flux flows over the tip after running a weld and has to be tapped to break the flux off to make contact, 7018 is also a stronger tensile strength rod, If  you get the temp right when using it the flux pops right off. But I use my tig and my mig all the time so the arc welder sits in the corner.


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## markba633csi (Jan 16, 2019)

I've done some nice welds with 6013- I wouldn't use it for anything thicker than around 3/16"
I've found a bit of preheat with a propane torch makes those first strikes easier with any rod- especially at low currents w/thinner material
mark
Clean, clean, clean is key, and adjust your auto helmet filter to give the best visibility of the puddle.  When you see better you weld better.
Those new full spectrum helmets are awesome, but pricey


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## Duke (Jan 16, 2019)

Thickest I have welded so far with 6013 was 1".

I have a piece of scrap railroad track that I use as an anvil and wanted to make the top surface bigger.

Welded on an additional 1" square bar.

Went overboard a bit - I think I used five or six 3.2mm rods!

One interesting thing I noticed when cleaning up the top end with and angle grinder is that I cannot see the difference between the metal of the railroad track and the welds. The colour / texture looks identical.



Damn I love being able to stick pieces of metal together. 

I really need to get some more metal - it seems that all the pieces of scrap metal I had lying around has now been welded together.


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## Duke (Jan 18, 2019)

From one extreme to another:

My mother in law has a small table that needed to be reinforced a bit.  The square tubing used on the table is very thin - about 1.5 mm

Anyway - managed to weld on two additional support bars without burning holes or melting everything.


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## bhigdog (Jan 18, 2019)

If it really needs to stay stuck together I use 6011. If it needs to stay stuck together and look pretty I use a 6011 root weld and 6013 top weld. ....Bob


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## fkrel (Jan 19, 2019)

Just use 6013 it has the same tensel strength as 6011 and will leave a nice bead. If you use 6011 you will not get all the flux out and top coating will look like crap, its just a table so an extensive weld is probaly not needed


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## bob308 (Jan 22, 2019)

6013 is junk wire. I use 6011 or 6010. even certified with 6010 vertical horizontal and flat. also pipe.  same certs. with 110-18


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