Where can I find Graphite Electrodes/Rods?

[triffid]

If you want free carbon rods I would tear open old "D" size flashlight batteries to get them.Of course you would want to clean them off as they will have black powder on them (magnesium dioxide).I found that soap and water works very well.Rinse well and let dry overnight.Also just a wild thought on my part.I recently was reminded that coal is over 90% carbon.
So maybe coal is conductive?(no I haven't tried it).If it is then weird and exotic electrodes could be carved from it?Just a thought for the avid experimenter here.Triffid(dry wood is 50%carbon)

[triffid]

Coal is made from wood and the different grades of coal have higher % of carbon in them than wood.Even peat is more than 50% carbon.Triffid

[AbbaRue]

You can buy Carbon Gouging Rods at any dedicated Welding supply store.
I bought a box of 50 of them for $26.  They are 12 inches long and 1/4 inch thick.
They have a copper coating on them but you can easily peel the coating off,
Once you get it started at one end, it just peels off in a spiral.  Start one end with a knife scrape and start peeling.

I tried using coal for an electrode, it does conduct electricity very well but it is almost impossible to cut or shape it.
It is so brittle that it keeps crumbling, also very hard material, so cutting it would need a hack saw.
The Carbon Welding Rods are much easier to work with. Just make a small cut in the rod and then you can snap it.

[triffid]

I had a piece of hard coal and a voltmeter handy but my attempts to see if it was conductive were negative.The piece of coal has been in my collection in the  open air for several years.Maybe a fresh piece of coal from the ground would
be conductive?
After my negative results I seemed to remember that carbon has to be in sheets or layers of atoms to be conductive.Like graphite.I guess its best to stick with graphite or carbon?Triffid

[elektromann]

 
graphite and coal.
There must be differences
With a graphite. Stylus, you can write and draw.
With charcoal too.
But with normal heating coal and lignite, Braunstein not.
Graphite powder can be used for door locks to "smear" To Auto-Oil to improve. But coal particles will destroy the parts. Graphite are microscopically thin wafers, which glide and therefore concerted smear, as well as write on paper
      
Its are two different materials. i have both in from of me to work sometimes with them.
EM