METHOD OF WELDING A WORKPIECE

The invention describes a method for welding a workpiece (16) with a consuming welding wire (13), the latter being moved substantially towards the workpiece (16) by a wire feeder (11) during a welding process, wherein a process is started and performed for removing slag (42) from the end of the welding wire (13). In order to create a welding method which is not affected by slag (42) possibly adhering to the end of the welding wire (13) to be contacted and which ensures a safe ignition of the electric arc (15), it is provided that the welding current (I) will be reduced to a minimum value as soon as the slag-removing process is started, and during the slag-removing process, that the welding wire (13) will be cyclically moved towards the workpiece (16) by a predetermined path length in a fast recurrent forward/backward movement and will again be moved away from the workpiece (16) by a smaller path length until short-circuit detection between the welding (13) and the workpiece (16), by a short-circuit monitoring unit upon which the slag-removing process will be finished.