Welding Tips and Tricks

First let me say I am a beginner in ever sense of the word. With that said I need to replace the stainless steel ring that connects the hook to the fishing jig. I have searched the web for the preferred way to weld the rings with no luck. Any and all advice, instruction will be greatly appreciated. I tried to include a image of a factory weld jig but I have not figured out how to do that yet.

Welcome to the forum tunagods! If you could post a picture of what it is you want to do, you'll get a much better response. I assume you're wanting to weld shut those split rings that you sorta twist on, so they can't be pulled apart?

Thanks exnailpounder, you nailed it on the head that is exactly what I want to do. Hope this image comes through for you to review the welds. https://www.charkbait.com/cs/images/lur ... 45-M-S.jpg

Those rings were brazed shut. I am not sure brazing would be strong enough for a brute like a tuna. Not that brazing isn't strong but the "weld" is so small. If it were me, I would want that loop properly welded shut with stainless filler. You will need really good control of your heat so the rings don't burn back when you light up on them. It's a simple process...but it's not so simple because of the size and thickness of the wire. I would practice by taking some filler wire and try welding it together before you try it on the real thing. You might just be able to use filler wire to make those rings too. I assume those rings would be 316 or better but with the chinese involved, they may be some mystery metal and at least with wire, you know what your welding. You could also crimp the rings down so the ends are past each other so you minimize burnback in the event it does happen. I weld tig wire together all the time so I don't waste the stub ends and I always overlap the ends and just give it a quick zap and they usually fuse together nicely. A little practice is all it takes. Hope I was of some help

Yup, Exnailpounder nailed it.

Just keep your tungsten really sharp so you can get a really fine arc on those rings, I have welded rings before and its fun every time.

You could also do what Nail suggestted and buy some 316 rod that's a little thicker and replace what's on there, give you some extra strength as well.

Thanks for all the help guys. Now I have to start shopping for a tig welder. What manufacturer and model would recommend for entry level? Oh and what is back burn? I know I need to keep watching Jodi's Youtube videos, that will answer allot of questions. Thx guys.

Tunagods wrote:Thanks for all the help guys. Now I have to start shopping for a tig welder. What manufacturer and model would recommend for entry level? Oh and what is back burn? I know I need to keep watching Jodi's Youtube videos, that will answer allot of questions. Thx guys.

Burn back is when your metal melts and instead of flowing together like you want it to, it gets shorter and you have to add a little filler wire. I am not even going to offer any advice on a tig welder. Post that question in it's own thread and you will get hundreds of suggestions Lots of good , affordable tig machines on the market...that's all I got

If your looking to do delicate stuff like those rings you will need a machine that's capable of low amps. Less than 10 amps on the bottom end. High freq and pulse would be a benefit as well. If you think you will want to tig aluminum ( if you run a boat then I'm guessing you will) then you will want AC / DC capabilities. $1000. - $2000. Will get you into lots of solid machines with those features. Plus it will buy you some of the associated stuff you will need.

I would just braze the split rings. The stress will be in shear and it should be plenty strong, if you do it right. In fact, I would trust brazing more than welding in this case. (I fish for tuna, too. Since you're using jigs, I'm assuming you're fishing standup gear with a max of maybe 20-25# of drag, not 50# of drag on 130s...but I'm on the east coast and I know you California boys do things different.)

I can't thank exnailpounder, Poland308 and Lightning enough for the great advise. I see allot tig and brazing education in my near future. One question on brazing is the filler material stainless and is it done with a rod or wire.
And to fellow angler Lightening, for the most part we through jigs on 50lb fluorocarbon leader with 80lb Spectra backing. On the longer trips we will use a Salas PL68 (see attached image link) and yo yo them off the bottom with 100lb for big tuna. These are 11 1/2" long and have forged 12/0 stainless hook. I have pushed the drag to my 130lb rig to 60lb's of drag on those fish that just did not want to co-operate. Never had a ring break yet. I also included a 2 part video of an 11 day trip from the Intrepid. I'm not in it but this is the boat I fish twice a year. Hope you gentleman enjoy the videos.

Salas PL68
http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-998415377778 ... hook-6.gif
Intrepid Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk2blktDQ9Y
Intrepid Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuyqTE21-kc