Been there, done that. There are certain welding rods that are "contact" rods - once the arc is started, you can put the flux coated portion of the rod to the work without it 'sticking' (7014 is one of these rods). We had one fixture at work that required you to at least tack one part "blind" - I could run a nice 2" or so bead on that fixture blind after a while

I've done my share of welding with no gloves, apron etc - just a tee shirt. You will probably get spatter burns on your hands, and if you do more than a few seconds, you'll get a sunburn. If it's 5-10 seconds in an emergency, there are probably worse things than you can do. That said, as everyone else said - don't try to look at the arc - a split second flash is bad enough

I'll admit it is hard to get used to those things if you're not very trusting of electronic items. I still reflexively blink the moment before I start the arc just by habit, because I would never trust something like that to work all the time. But even if the electronics fail completely, those hoods block 100% of the UV at all times. The auto-darkening is a separate filter behind the UV shield. Maybe he had removed the UV filter or had a really, really old model?

If you're doing any type of flux or mig welding, you'll find out very quickly why welders wear leather aprons and caps. I just burned a few nice holes in my coveralls and T-shirt, with matching burns underneath each one. When you're laying under a car with a hot spark down your shirt, there's not a whole lot you can do but wait for it to cool. My friend was laughing at me because I probably looked like a fish flopping around on the ground trying to get the spark away from my skin.

Now as far as blind, I'm meaning just without eye protection. In some emergency situation you will most likely have some sort of hand protection be it a glove or rag dipped in a mud puddle. But to get something stuck together to get you home you can use something to shield the arc and turn your head and hit it.

http://www.justih.org/Binder-Bench/showthread.php?t=4747&highlight=OBW%2A

those fancy auto darkening are really not necessary. Just adjust the hinge knobs on the regular one to where it stays up until a nod of your head causes it to fall has worked for many people for many years. I have one of those myself.

I have a small welder which uses a flux core wire and the output is 17v DC which makes it pretty close to a car battery. I'm thinking it would probably work pretty good that way.

Nishnabotna,

Welcome to the fire, newguy! That was a great link.

-Blast

Thanks for all the advice. I'm hoping I can use all the warnings to convince the DW that I need to take a welding class at the local community college. For some reason she always changes the subject when I bring up a real welding class.

I'm glad I didn't just buy a set of cheap gas goggles and give it a go...

-Blast

at very least you can buy a welding book. I had an old one my dad gave me that was so old the pages were feeling like they were going to fall apart so I scanned it.

Need to preface this with i have never used a battery welder. Think i would work BUT, you will have no current control. Tig and stick welding use constant current power sources, when you stick weld the current is stable and the voltage varies. Mig welding uses constant voltage power sources, the voltage is stable and the current varies. So the mig welder previously posted would be a good choice for using batteries. Might be willing to try it in an emergency but it is not something i would want to stick weld with for any length of time. Of course i tend not to do much stick welding anyway, i can tig weld in air conditioned shops with out fuming up the place.

Something else to mention, batteries produce hydrogen gas. Keep the batteries away from the welding area, or at least where the spatter is not going to land on them. Some of this has already been mentioned, no exposed skin unless you want a 3rd degree sunburn. Cotton, wool, and leather will only burn, synthetics will melt to your skin while burning. And you will get burned. If you are welding overhead use earplugs, aside from all of the other protective clothing, welding spatter going ZZZZZZZZZZZZ round and round in your ear canal is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.

Use the correct eye protection. Gas welding uses a shade 5 lenses, these are really dark sunglasses. When electric welding, use at least a shade 10. The shades go up to 14, with a shade 14 you can stare at the sun with out harming your eyes. The higher the amperage you use the higher the shade you need. The auto dark helmets are really nice, especially if you are learning to weld, you can see what you are doing before and after you strike your arc. If you buy one make sure that it has IR and UV protection even when it is in it's light state (about a shade 4 for most i have seen). That way your eyes are protected if it goes light while you are welding. The down side is the auto darks tend to be heavy, more of a problem if you are wearing on a daily basis. And they are more quite a bit more expensive than a regular welding hood. I have a variable shade, variable sensitivity auto dark hood that set the boss back around $300. Remember thinking that this is cool, and then he handed me a production welding job that lasted over two weeks.

Blast, taking a welding class is a great thing to do. That is how i learned to weld. And while i don't normally do welding for a living i wound up with a temp job working at a testing lab for a while as a welder and one of the fixtures i fabricated out of aluminum was subjected several shock loads over 250 g's and the fixture stayed together. BTW the fixture weighed over 200lbs. As far as convincing your DW point out the things around the house that welding will fix, and you can take those things to class and burn big holes in them.