309l TIG rod question

admin

I was welding some A36 mild steel plate today, and ran out out steel TIG filler rod. I have a 5kg pack of 309l filler rod, that I bought for welding stainless to mild steel. So I tried it for steel-steel welding. It worked really great, seemed more tolerant to lack of backside purging. Grinding more difficult but no big deal. Other than the obvious expense, is there any reason to not do this?
Reply:

Originally Posted by wiking

I was welding some A36 mild steel plate today, and ran out out steel TIG filler rod. I have a 5kg pack of 309l filler rod, that I bought for welding stainless to mild steel. So I tried it for steel-steel welding. It worked really great, seemed more tolerant to lack of backside purging. Grinding more difficult but no big deal. Other than the obvious expense, is there any reason to not do this?
Reply:Other than actually welding stainless, people use stainless electrodes and filler rods to weld dissimilar metals (steel, high nickel, high carbon, etc). I have a box of 312 stick electrodes that mentions welding "cast". Doesn't say cast iron or cast steel... waste of money to get 312s for cast iron OR cast steel in my opinion... I bought them to weld 312SS to an HSS cutting edge.