Finer points of shortening and tucking bumpers?

[Ruscal]

I will be sectioning my rear bumper to fit the stepside bed better. I talked to a chrome plating shop about the welding. He said to remove all chrome before welding. They can remove it by dipping. ($100) He said not to use a mig welder due to porosity in the bead. tig is preferred. Tack up everything first, and make short passes skipping around to avoid warpage. Be very careful when grinding the welds not to go below the surface of the bumper or you will need additional passes to get back to surface level. You may have to block sand them to avoid waves. He also said not to use stainless steel filler rod. That's too bad, since it runs so smooth. I purchased a repop painted bumper which I will try to chemically strip in stead of starting with a chrome one. The surface is probably rougher than a chrome one, but the plater can buff it down.
Russ