Welding sucker rod

SCh...thank you for introducing another variable that I forgot to mention. Kind of a neat back story, but my FIL, now 68, worked on this same ranch that he now owns when he was a teen. The barn was just as he remembers. So there is no telling how old the materials in the barn are, and the sucker rods we are trying to use are coming from a big pile of them that was out behind the barn. So no telling what they are either. And I will say that I thoroughly ground both metals to remove any contamination before trying to weld. But like I said, you bring a good point, I have no idea what the material I am working with is actually made of.