Welding Tips and Tricks

This was certainly a pleasant surprise today.

I ordered 9# of filler from Cyberweld a few days ago, 3# of 4043 in 3/32", 3# of 5356 in 3/32" and 3# of ER70S-2 in 1/16".

My thinking was if we see this trade war escalate with China, probably good to have some filler on hand. I figure I will possibly use 3/32" filler on aluminum more often and I know I use 1/16" most of the time on steel.

To my surprise, the 5356 and 4043 filler are both made in Canada, and the ER70S-2 is made in Italy.

Haha. Our welding city conversation got you.

lol

Thatkid2diesel wrote:Haha. Our welding city conversation got you.

No, I don't think so. In fact, what I mostly remember about Welding City was Oscar saying he threw out a bunch of gas lenses from them as they were utterly garbage.

My purchase of this filler was based around comments Trump made towards China, 5 days ago Trump placed a ban on high tech companies from selling semiconductors to Hauwei, and China said they would rebuttal in return.

However, pleasant surprise that this is made in Canada and Italy.

CK Worldwide 3/32" Lanthanated I bought from Weldmonger recently was made in China. AFAIK, most all tungsten is.

If anyone knows other filler or tungsten that is not made in China, please let me know.

I'll tell you what's really funny, I think it was Cyberweld I bought 2 or 3 lbs. of filler from a couple years ago and sent it back to them because it was made in China. I was expecting this to be made in China.

https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/joewelder ... lectrodes/

There’s one.

Midwest Tungsten.

https://www.thomasnet.com/products/tung ... 404-1.html

Here’s a few more as well

TraditionalToolworks wrote: However, pleasant surprise that this is made in Canada and Italy.

We're preparing to be a world leader in filler rod

Poland308 wrote:https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/joewelder ... lectrodes/

Thanks for that tip Josh, looks like they only have 1.5% Lanthanated (or Ceriated), I have been using 2% Lanthanated, but I'm pretty sure it must be close and those are made in the USA.

Oscar wrote:Midwest Tungsten.

I remember this in the past, but thought I had heard that the tungsten wasn't manufactured in the U.S.A. anymore. I see them on Amazon, but pics of product don't show where it is manufactured. I will check this out further, thanks for mentioning them. Video implies, but doesn't say they do all of their manufacturing in the U.S.A.

Do you have any of these that you can verify 2% Lanthanated are made in the U.S.A.?

I have some of of their 3/32" rare earth blend. I'll check it out when i get home.

Diamond Ground Products has their Wolfram tungsten, not made here but in Germany, very $$$. I got a sample at Fabtech along with a code for a 20% discount, just don't find it to be any different worth the xtra $.

Poland308 wrote:https://www.arc-zone.com/blog/joewelder ... lectrodes/

There’s one.

I just went to AZ and selected 3/32" dia, 2% lanthanated, GTP was not a choice, that blog was dated almost 10 years ago so....

DavidR8 wrote:We're preparing to be a world leader in filler rod

I was certainly glad to see that!

Maybe Trudy's on to something with filler up there?

LtBadd wrote:Diamond Ground Products has their Wolfram tungsten, not made here but in Germany, very $$$. I got a sample at Fabtech along with a code for a 20% discount, just don't find it to be any different worth the xtra $.

And the thing is Richard, I just bought another 10-pak of CK which is from China. I think I have at least 15 tungstens as it is, in 3/32", so not really needing to "stock up".

LtBadd wrote:I just went to AZ and selected 3/32" dia, 2% lanthanated, GTP was not a choice, that blog was dated almost 10 years ago so....

They only have it in 1.5% lanthanated, it says it acts similar to 2% lanthanated, but as I said I have quite a bit of 2%, albeit from China...for that matter my welder is also.

I try to buy US product when I can. I think we all know it's just not possible all the time. I will take anywhere else besides China if I can find it reasonably, but sometimes it's like beating one's head against the wall...

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

Oscar wrote:Midwest Tungsten.

I remember this in the past, but thought I had heard that the tungsten wasn't manufactured in the U.S.A. anymore. I see them on Amazon, but pics of product don't show where it is manufactured. I will check this out further, thanks for mentioning them. Video implies, but doesn't say they do all of their manufacturing in the U.S.A.

Do you have any of these that you can verify 2% Lanthanated are made in the U.S.A.?

Midwest Tungsten (MTS) is one of my go-tos. However, I have never been able to definitively find out if they are made in USA. The packages do not mention any country of origin (I have already checked even before reading this thread), yet the CK and Weldcote tungsten packs I currently have both mention being made in china.

A quick rule of thumb of mine for figuring out if something is made in USA: If the packaging doesn't scream "MADE IN USA", then it probably isn't. Manufacturers know the value of those three words, and never hesitate to use them...unless they legally can't use them because the product was made overseas.

Spartan wrote:A quick rule of thumb of mine for figuring out if something is made in USA: If the packaging doesn't scream "MADE IN USA", then it probably isn't. Manufacturers know the value of those three words, and never hesitate to use them...unless they legally can't use them because the product was made overseas.

I agree, and I may have mentioned above that I found it odd they didn't state "Made in USA" as if something is, they will often go out of their way to let you know.

They obviously do a lot of tungsten work, just not clear if they outsource that or not, or even if they moved that portion of their business offshore or not. Could be that it doesn't provide enough margin to be able to manufacture it onshore.

I also find it odd that it doesn't state on the package where it is manufactured, I thought that is mandatory.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

Spartan wrote:A quick rule of thumb of mine for figuring out if something is made in USA: If the packaging doesn't scream "MADE IN USA", then it probably isn't. Manufacturers know the value of those three words, and never hesitate to use them...unless they legally can't use them because the product was made overseas.

I agree, and I may have mentioned above that I found it odd they didn't state "Made in USA" as if something is, they will often go out of their way to let you know.

They obviously do a lot of tungsten work, just not clear if they outsource that or not, or even if they moved that portion of their business offshore or not. Could be that it doesn't provide enough margin to be able to manufacture it onshore.

I also find it odd that it doesn't state on the package where it is manufactured, I thought that is mandatory.

I've often wondered if all of the tungstens we buy aren't just coming out of the same factory in china. However, some evidence I have seen that doesn't support this is that the colored marking paint on the ends is always different between brands. Sometimes a lighter or darker shade of the same color (when comparing the same compositions), sometimes thicker on certain brands, sometimes harder to remove with scotchbrite, while others are very easy to remove. If they were coming out of the same factory, I'd think the paint would all be the same. Of course, the reseller brands (CK, etc.) may be painting them themselves after delivery, so this actually proves nothing.

Spartan wrote:I've often wondered if all of the tungstens we buy aren't just coming out of the same factory in china.

You aren't the only one!

It's kind of a shame that we need to go to such lengths to find products that are manufactured in our own country...there was a time where almost nothing was imported, albeit back when I was born or farther...

Spartan wrote:However, some evidence I have seen that doesn't support this is that the colored marking paint on the ends is always different between brands. Sometimes a lighter or darker shade of the same color (when comparing the same compositions), sometimes thicker on certain brands, sometimes harder to remove with scotchbrite, while others are very easy to remove. If they were coming out of the same factory, I'd think the paint would all be the same. Of course, the reseller brands (CK, etc.) may be painting them themselves after delivery, so this actually proves nothing.

I agree, but we can't even trust that they didn't just paint the same tungsten or even claim it was manufactured here. That's the type of world we have created.

Anyway, I try to buy American products when I can because I still love my country and want to see it get back on it's feet. I see things turning in the right direction and for the first time it seems the Administration is fighting for the people, not their pocket...although you wouldn't think that if you watch most of the media...

The answer it 50%.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/e ... he-usa.asp

Is that even a sentence?

Alan, I do agree with you in buying AMERICAN whenever possible, BUT we have created our own difficulties by allowing certain people "try" to represent U.S. and in the interim they have represented themselves.