Smoothing welding bead

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Well I got a good deal of practice in this weekend and some of it turned out realy nice, especially the stainless work - seems much cleaner than than the mild steel.Anyway to my question:  Some of the weld have major buildup from my bad technique, can I heat the welds with Oxy Acetylene and melt some of the build up or should I just grind it down?
Reply:id just grind it.  To use the torch means cutting some off.   To do that will mean either grinding still, or having jagged edges that aint no good either.  Grinder is what is normally used for weld imperfectionsCHRIS
Reply:Originally Posted by TxRedneckid just grind it.  To use the torch means cutting some off.   To do that will mean either grinding still, or having jagged edges that aint no good either.  Grinder is what is normally used for weld imperfectionsCHRIS
Reply:My crappy welds I either grind out and redo them or grind them very close to the surface with a grinding disc then use a flap disc to "polish" them into the surface. Takes extra time that's why I'm striving to consistently produce a good looking strong bead.
Reply:well of course...If you dont find yourself with weld imperfections youre in denial   Although I dont have imperfections that need grinding very often, but to say it never happens is not true.  It happens, what ya gonna do rightCHRIS
Reply:That was a joke.  Like the man that never caught a small fish, I never have weld imperfections.In reality, the grinder and I are good friends.
Reply:Originally Posted by halbrittYou have weld imperfections?
Reply:I've got 3 or 4 grinder's and hate each and every one with a vengance  The one thing, well ok one of the thing's that a down side with welding!Stephen
Reply:well I admit I aint friends with my grinder either, its kinda like the relationship of a man and his woman,  you cant live with her, you sure as hell cant live without herCHRIS
Reply:I must be weird then, I find grinding to be a meditative as long as I'm wearing hearing protection.  Without hearing protection, I get a headache which leads to me getting surly.  One of my favorite things to do is torch-cut odd shaped parts out of plate and then clean 'em up on the bench grinder, but that's different than grinding poor welds.
Reply:halbritt,  I don't use em on the weld's but you've got to cut and prep pipe with something.Here's a funny wee story for ya.After a VERY VERY large night on the booze we got to work and my mate had a real a-hole of a weld to do. After he finished capping it he had to get the 9" onto it it was that rough.   A few day's later the welding inspector turned up and was wondering around with him ( he was the boss on the job) and spotted the very unpretty weld.Well my mate said " yeh, we sacked that guy after we saw that weld....."Stephen
Reply:lmao,  I was on a job and a super who had no job was there and was tasked with a steam line.  Socket welds.  His welding sounded like he was running straight polarity.  He claimed hed checked and it was on reverse.  When they ran a test on his welds, every last joint leaked.  Instead of firing him, they replaced another super with him right on the spot, then had a friend of mine reweld everything.  Boy was that a pain, by then the ceiling grid was already hung.   Good game y'allCHRIS