A method for forming an article, wherein the article is a turbine bucket including a squealer tip, the method comprising: laser welding a powder of a metal alloy to a surface of a substrate along a weld path, forming a weld bead of the metal alloy having a weld bead width and a weld bead height; and propagating the weld path along a weld direction, forming a cladding layer of the metal alloy disposed on the surface having a cladding layer thickness, wherein: the weld path oscillates relative to a reference line, establishing a cladding width wider than the weld bead width; the weld bead contacts itself along each oscillation such that the cladding layer is continuous, and the cladding layer forms at least a portion of the squealer tip, characterized in that the metal alloy is a hard-to-weld alloy; the laser welding includes a laser energy density of at least 11 kJ/cm 2; laser welding the powder of the metal alloy to the surface of the substrate along the weld path includes a welding speed between 130 to 500 mm per minute (5 ipm to 20 ipm); the weld path oscillates essentially nonparallel relative to a reference line; wherein the weld path propagates along a weld direction and commences at a trailing edge of the turbine bucket, proceeds across a trailing edge width of the trailing edge, and then proceeds around a periphery of the turbine bucket along one of a suction side and a pressure side, through a leading edge, and back along the other of the suction side and the pressure side until returning to the trailing edge, and wherein the reference line is selected from the group consisting of the weld direction, a center line, a chord line, and combinations thereof. laser welding a powder of a metal alloy to a surface of a substrate along a weld path, forming a weld bead of the metal alloy having a weld bead width and a weld bead height; and propagating the weld path along a weld direction, forming a cladding layer of the metal alloy disposed on the surface having a cladding layer thickness, wherein: the weld path oscillates relative to a reference line, establishing a cladding width wider than the weld bead width; the weld bead contacts itself along each oscillation such that the cladding layer is continuous, and the cladding layer forms at least a portion of the squealer tip, characterized in that the metal alloy is a hard-to-weld alloy; the laser welding includes a laser energy density of at least 11 kJ/cm 2; the weld path oscillates relative to a reference line, establishing a cladding width wider than the weld bead width; the weld bead contacts itself along each oscillation such that the cladding layer is continuous, and the cladding layer forms at least a portion of the squealer tip, characterized in that the metal alloy is a hard-to-weld alloy; the laser welding includes a laser energy density of at least 11 kJ/cm 2; laser welding the powder of the metal alloy to the surface of the substrate along the weld path includes a welding speed between 130 to 500 mm per minute (5 ipm to 20 ipm); the weld path oscillates essentially nonparallel relative to a reference line; wherein the weld path propagates along a weld direction and commences at a trailing edge of the turbine bucket, proceeds across a trailing edge width of the trailing edge, and then proceeds around a periphery of the turbine bucket along one of a suction side and a pressure side, through a leading edge, and back along the other of the suction side and the pressure side until returning to the trailing edge, and wherein the reference line is selected from the group consisting of the weld direction, a center line, a chord line, and combinations thereof. wherein the weld path propagates along a weld direction and commences at a trailing edge of the turbine bucket, proceeds across a trailing edge width of the trailing edge, and then proceeds around a periphery of the turbine bucket along one of a suction side and a pressure side, through a leading edge, and back along the other of the suction side and the pressure side until returning to the trailing edge, and wherein the reference line is selected from the group consisting of the weld direction, a center line, a chord line, and combinations thereof.