Holder for sharpening TIG tungsten electrodes

[Crusty]

I had an epiphany over the weekend and I was able to make a number of TIG welds that looked OK and weren't full of bug holes. I held my tip back about twice as far from the puddle as I had been doing and I hit it with a lot more current and my weld cone was much more controllable and I stopped melting tips. Further I traveled a lot faster with my weld metal and all this resulted in acceptable welds.

I also learned why my welds were covered with light rust - I wasn't keeping the hot area flooded with argon after the weld and this allowed the hot metal to oxidize.