That is puddle welding. It is not the right way. But when the right way is impossible, it is the only way. Puddle welding occupies the same cultural space as baling wire and duct tape: a solution so crude it becomes elegant. It will never be certified. It will never win a beauty contest. But in a farmyard at midnight, with a cracked cast-iron hub and one last 6011 rod, puddle welding is the difference between a tow truck and a finished harvest.
Hold the arc in one spot. Watch the base metal melt into a shiny liquid circle. Do not move.
A continuous weld pours heat into a concentrated line. On thin, corroded, or dissimilar metals, that heat causes warping, burn-through, or crack propagation. Each stationary puddle, by contrast, dumps heat into a small area and then stops. The surrounding metal acts as a heat sink, cooling the puddle rapidly. puddle welding
It is the most forgiving technique for contaminated metal. It requires zero joint fit-up. It can be done in any position (overhead puddle welding is an acquired skill). And it has saved thousands of dollars in parts that were “unweldable” by textbook methods.
And that, for the people who actually do it, is more than enough. That is puddle welding
In the 1930s–50s, many steel bridges and industrial structures used as a repair for corroded gusset plates. The American Railway Engineering Association had a standard for “puddle welding of fatigue cracks” — essentially depositing small, overlapping beads to arrest crack growth without heat-straightening the member.
You will blow through. You will curse. You will grind off the bird droppings. Puddle welding occupies the same cultural space as
Dip filler (or let the electrode burn) until the puddle swells slightly above the surface. For stick, this happens automatically — just hold still.