Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm concerned with what I'm looking for on the backside of my welds. Would like pictures for reference and would like advice on whether or not to dress the welds on the backside. I'm working on a smoothed firewall on a 54 Chevy. Any info or pictures are appreciated.

I can only think of two reasons to dress the back of an auto sheet-metal weld.

The first is obvious... If it will be visible.

The second is if you have a "dog tick", unfused rod sticking through, or "sugar" (which is uncommon on carbon steel but can happen if you overheat a spot), which will make complete coverage with primer, paint, undercoating, or whatever rust preventative is required for the part.

Ideally, you want to see full penetration, i.e. the cut-line edges are gone from the back side, but if the part sees no loads or above-normal vibration, this is less important. For a loaded part, if you can reach it to dress it, you can reach it to fuse it with the torch (filler not required).

I don't have any pictures of sheet-metal welds to share, but be patient. Some of our members may; There are a few auto-body guys here, and not everyone visits daily.

Steve S