I recently was given a 25lb spool of hardface wire. It has a little rust. Is it junk or can it be salvaged. I've only used the stick rods so I'm curious how well it works on a mig.

I recently was given a 25lb spool of hardface wire. It has a little rust. Is it junk or can it be salvaged. I've only used the stick rods so I'm curious how well it works on a mig.

If it has rust the rust will destroy the wire conduit and also interfere with smooth feed making it a significant challenge to weld with. Rust is very abrasive. Likely best to discard it.

Rusty wire will destroy the liner in your M.I.G. gun. It will cost you more than it's worth to try to use that spool. Dont throw it away though, try twisting several strands together with a drill and gas weld with it, It may work, not knowing what alloy you got , or what you want to hard face with it, limits my giving you any practical advise.

It's crc2 wire and I didn't have any plans just saw an opportunity. Most hardfacing we do is with a stick welder on our augers and core barrels.
Btw old and rusty I just recently moved from Nashville to the baton rouge area.

I would try to use it as tig wire. cut it into usable sections as you need it, and drag the peices though scocthbrite to remove the rust. Considering the present cost of such wire, I would be very hesitant to throw it away.

Just spitballin', but you might be able to incorporate it into cable "damascus" or some other type of pattern weld.

It's crc2 wire and I didn't have any plans just saw an opportunity. Most hardfacing we do is with a stick welder on our augers and core barrels.
Btw old and rusty I just recently moved from Nashville to the baton rouge area.

Core barrels and augesr! Don't tell me there're bits involved too! I recall those things. . . . EWWWW!

I spent about 20 years as an exploration driller for the AK DOT, geology, bridges and Foundations Section and spent WAY too many hours hardfacing. I finally got them to switch from stick to wire feed, flux core Lincore 50 to be specific. We didn't hardface core barrels we just replaced ware subs. Thank goodness for small favors. Eh?

Anywho, what kind of wire is it and is it solid or fluxcore? If it's flux core just snip convenient lengths and use it like it was stick rod. Hardfacing doesn't much care if the flux is on the inside or outside.

Frosty the Lucky

Drill holes and set poles, highlines and substations are our bread and butter. We've got some big stuff. Did a job down town New Orleans and a guy walks by and says "wow that's a huge auger!" I laughed it was only 24" we got a twenty footer
Anyways it is solid wire I think I may unwrap it a little and see if the rust is only on the outer portion. I'll prolly end up sitting on it for awhile then giving it away too. Who likes too barter?