I agree with you, and I could weld 16 gauge with a smaller 6011 rod, but I was trying to recommend something to a person whom I perceived is a beginner welder. My goal was to recommend something to him that would be successful without a lot of practice. And then I've got to admit that as the years have crept up on me, the hand is not as steady and the eye is not as focused and thus my welding skills have begun to slip. So I need to heed some of my own advice and use the 6011 on thicker stock, and I know I can still do it on 14 gauge, but that is getting a bit tricky too.
My compromise was to buy a nice Esab (very smooth arc) wire feed welder. It has a lot more tolerance for shaky hands than the old AC stick machine ever had. But 45 years ago when I was learning my arc welding skills, I couldn't have afforded such a fine machine. Then I had a steady hand and a good eye, but no money. Now I don't have the steady hand and where did the good eye go?? Can't remember where I left it!! Thankfully I could scrape up the coin to buy one good welder. So I am still able to fix and make "stuff".
OT, just a bit here, but a neighbor had very good arc welding skills especially on thinner square tubing. He was always creating something, both functional and frequently artistic. Due to a heart attack, he was fitted with a pacemaker and warned to never get near an electrical arc. The Docs said that it could false trigger the pacemaker and maybe kill him. Now he sits in the Lazy Boy and watches CNN all day long. It surely isn't what he wanted out of life, and not what I want either. I'll be happy with my shakey hands and imperfect sight and hopefully make many thousand more welds that may not be quite perfect either. Something about being happy with what "ya got".
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