Tungsten help please

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Heres the back ground on the problem I'm having. I have a very hard time telling the difference in shades of color. I bought a tig touch kit for my stick welder. It came with tungsten but I couldn't tell if they were red or brown. They seemed to be some shade in between. So to solve the problem I went and bought new tungsten form my LWS. I'm cheap and only messing around so I bought one 1/16" and one 3/32" until I figure out what I need. When the Guy at the store hands them to me the one looks red and the other something in between red and brown. He said the color must just be off a little and that it was in fact the tungsten I asked for. When I got home and compared it to the tungstens I got with the kit it looked the same as those.So I set everything up and welded and played for a bit with the 1/16" tungsten that I was sure was actually red. Then I thought what the heck I tried a 1/6" tungsten of the mystery cool. It seemed to weld the same but seemed hotter. that being said it could have easily seemed hotter do to the fact that I was using the same scrap and not really letting it cool so by that time it had some heat in it already.That got me thinking on mild steel DCEN would I notice a big difference between 2% thoriated tungsten and zirconiated tungsten? The wife thought the color looked maroon so asking her didn't help much Has anyone ran into a similar problem identifying tungsten?Sorry for the long post I just really need help with this before I go totally crazy.
Reply:I have a handful of 2% Thoriated (RED) tungsten and they are everywhere from bright red to dark maroon and they are all from the same sealed package. I just recently switched to 2% Lanthanated (BLUE) tungsten and its a big easier to recognize.Brad GeorgeCurrent Equipment:AIRCO Heliwelder IV 300Amp Model - Total Awesomeness!Old 120v Hobart Handler MIGVarious grinders, cutting tools, hammers, clamps, ect..."I'm an amateur welder with lots left to learn..."
Reply:you should have invited the neighbors and a few ffriends for a color guessing contest.  what are you welding with?  if it's an inverter maybe you don't need all the colors of the rainbow, which you seem to have right now.  i am guessing at the stage you are at it really doesn't matter what color you use.
Reply:I am welding with a Powcon 200SM inverter. The stage I am at right now thr tungsten really doesn't matter. I wanted to go with thoriated because thats what I used the last time I did tig back in school witch was a while ago now. I epxpected to have some issuese when I first started with this set up until I got it all figured out. So I figured if I went with a tungsten I had used before if I had issues I would know it wasn't the tungsten.Turns out it didn't matter it worked great the first time I stuck an arc. Didn't have any issues to trouble shoot like I thought I wouldNow I just have to figure out what size tungsten to use and when aswell as what size of rod to use and when. As well as what amperage for what tungsten. once I get that all figured out then I just need to find something that I actually need tig for. I usually mig or stick weld everything.
Reply:Mega, I use the max amps I plan to use to select the size of my tungs.  If I am using very low amps I may use a 1/16th or even a .040 but at higher amps and using AC I tend to use a slightly larger tung so it will last a bit before it balls up to a monkey fist.  My machine is transformer based and very basic so I have to rely heavilly on changing the parameters I can to get what I want.  If youre too small on you tungs they will erode quickly and that is a dead give away to go one step larger.  Hope this helps, and just for the record, I have to write what the tungs are on the packages so I can make a choice because I have difficulty seeing the nuance of the colors too.   I have and use red, green, brown and blue with varying amounts of success.  All depends on what I am trying to do, with trying being the operative word since I am still deep in my learning to tig curve too.BobI'm spending my Kids inheritance, I dont like him that much anyway!!!!!!Enuff tools to do the job, enough sense to use em.Anybody got a spare set of kidneys?  Trade?
Reply:2% gets sharpened on both ends so you know what it is. Pure tung. only gets ground on one end. Most of my tung. don't even have any color on them anymore.
Reply:Originally Posted by VPT2% gets sharpened on both ends so you know what it is. Pure tung. only gets ground on one end. Most of my tung. don't even have any color on them anymore.