If you don't use it you lose it.

I used to weld for a living but now that I only strike an arc every once in a great while I always have to weld 6 or 8 inches before I get back in the swing of welding.

When I was a kid making go-carts with my first welder I found that what we called bird s**t welds were caused by not having enough amps to melt the rod. The rod would stick and melt off but left the welds on the surface with no penetration. It looked like a bird dropping. I learned to increase the amps to ...... wait for it.....the settings on the box of rod and then it worked a lot better. 

In the garage there is a 120 amp wire welder, a 200 amp stick welder, an acetylene torch, a propane lead melting pot, propane torches, and enough blow torches to burn down Chicago. I haven't struck an arc in the year and a half since we moved.
I installed a new service in the garage last summer. Got to get the garage wired up for 220 volts to the welders soon.