Travel angle?

[J-Ri]

When ARC welding from left to right (/ and \ are the electrode):
---> 1.____/____ or 2.____\____

I was reading a welding textbook (I had some ankle problems, I was SO bored doing nothing) for a class I took a few years ago, and it said #1 is correct (I know that's right for MIG). I could have sworn that the teacher for that class said that #2 is correct. We never used the book in class, so nobody ever questioned it. I have welded dozens of things (including suspension braces, caliper brackets, and a new bumper on my truck) using #2 with no problems, but I wanted to verify before I weld something again.

[frankthewelder]

with any flux type electric welding you want to drag the arc behind you (1)
with MIG/gas you can go either way. basically, the angle of the wire directs the heat to some extent. If you are welding thick, drag, on thin you can push or go from one to the other on long welds.

on second thought, stick rods come in three "classes" fast freeze, (for tacking) freeze fill (for general welding) and fast fill.. rods like 7024 fast fill MUST be dragged. for others either is fine.

[J-Ri]

Thanks for the response... kindda forgot about this post for a while. I was using 6012 and 6013 for everything I did.