I finally stopped grinding my tube welds after a 30 year hand told me to leave the mill scale on
I was working a boiler rebuild up in Gary last spring and this old hand named Ray watched me hit a 2 inch tube with a grinder before I laid my root. He said flat out, "You're grinding away your best friend." I argued with him for a bit but he pulled a test coupon, showed me how the scale actually protects the puddle, and my arc quit wandering. I ran 40 tubes that shift with zero rework, which never happens for me. Now I just wire brush the joint, wipe it down, and leave the rest alone. Any of you run into this on your own jobs, or am I the only one who spent 6 years making extra work for myself?