What is the Best Tungsten for Stainless steel

2% thoriated is still one of the best choices for tungsten for stainless steel and that is because it stays sharp longer than most.

Whether you believe all the bad press about 2% thoriated tungsten being radioactive, 2% thoriated remains one of the best tungsten electrodes for stainless steel.

But there are other choices that we know are not radioactive and are almost as good when it comes to staying sharp a long time but that have an added benefit in that they also perform well on aluminum.

The 4 tungsten that are almost as good as 2% thoriated when it comes to staying sharp on DC current are:

2% Ceriated (gray) if you mostly weld on DC with only occasional AC welding at low to medium amperage, then 2% ceriated tungsten is a pretty good choice. It stays shart a long time and also works well on aluminum as long as you don't push the high amperage limits too much.

E3 (usually purple) if you weld a good mix of stainless steel and aluminum and don't need the high amperage carrying capacity of 2% lanthanated, you might really like E3 tungsten

LaYZr from CK (chartreuse) After lots of testing, I can't really tell much difference in LaYZr fro CK and E3 tungsten...it seems to weld the same....at least for me.

2% lanthanated (blue tungsten) 2% lanthanated tungsten is a great all around choice if you do a mix of all metals and want to simplify.  

2% lanth tungsten does not hold a sharp point on DC quite as well as 2% thoriated but works very well on both AC and DC.

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