What Is a Stick Welder?
Stick welding is the pinnacle of welding. It is the most pure, most emblematic of all the welding techniques. As a result, it also happens to be one of the most difficult, requiring an impressive set of learned skills and respect for the trade. The key to the stick weld is the power of the electrical current and the skill of the welder. This is not a simple skill, and certainly not one a novice should attempt. This is a welding technique reserved exclusively for the professionals. History The history of the stick weld (also known as shielded metal arc welding) dates back to the discovery of the electric arc. Pioneered in 1800 by British chemist and inventor, Humphry Davy, the electric arc would be coupled with a carbon rod by the welding pioneers, Nikolai Benardos and Stanislaus Olszewski. This technique was well in place until the turn of the century, when the carbon electrode (the rod) was specially formulated to better seal the weld by the Swedish innovators, A. P. Strohmenger and O
