Lonnie, I appricate your concern. I will the the first to admit that my welds look like crap. (what do you expect, my first attempt at stick welding). The welds are strong. The slag you see was me making about 3 passes over the same area and obviously not chipping the slag and cleaning it before the next pass. That rear end is going to be changed out anyhow. I just took a job at a fabrication shop that makes industrial ovens, I am sure I can talk to some of the fabricators there to teach me how to weld (I even talked about that during my interview.) So again, thanks for the concern. It's tough learning on your own, but you have to start somewhere!
