It was one pass
no, I did not clean up the rust but the rust wasn't bad
I will be cutting it in half tomorrow and will post the results if you're interested.
The metal was half inch
no, I did not bevel the edges.
I'd assume some "whipping" forward motion. And looks like a weave, too.
Looks good, to be fair, apart from the huge weave. No undercut, and the joint is fully filled. The bit at the end where the puddle has fallen out - this can be fixed.
Hard to say what makes a good weld from a single photo. Too many variables, including the end use, and how good it has to be...
The laying of metal isnt bad at all. But as a weld if its 1/2 inch plate I suspect the strength will be relativly poor as you did not prep the edges. But it also depends on what you used wire size, volts etc.
See i don't like these sort of thing I mean I've done it and probably done it badly but practicing bad habits is waste full both plates should be preped either single or double v gap spec to op or wps spec and done in stringers doing big weaves doesn't always have the strength due to heat input