Subject: Re: Forge Welding, what's the secret?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 20:27:19 GMT

Ed Kreyling <[email-masked]> wrote:

>I have just started in hobby blacksmithing.  I completed construction of
>my first forge (made from a wheelbarrow, handcrank fan, fire bricks and
>clay).  I have made a few simple tools (punches, tongs, hardys and
>lantern stands).  I tried my first attempt at welding, which failed
>miserably.  I have not been able to find a book or article that explains
>the technique well enough for me to understand.   I bent a piece of 1/2
>inch sq stock back over itself about 3 inches.  Then I heated both
>layers until it was sparkling, placed it on the anvil and attempted to
>hammer them into one layer.  What I ended up with were 2 very thin
>layers.  What is missing?  Thanks for the help.

>Ed K.

I used to teach metalworking and I remember showing a filmstrip that
showed using borax as a flux before hammering the two pieces together.
I won't guarantee this but try it for what its worth.

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From: Ed Kreyling <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 10:48:05 -0500

Ed K.

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From: [email-masked] (Rick Cook)
Date: 23 Sep 1996 05:44:49 GMT

Ed Kreyling wrote:
>  I tried my first attempt at welding, which failed
>layers.  What is missing? 

1) Practice

2) Flux

3) Practice

4) Proper welding heat

5) Practice

6) Proper hammer technique

7-10) Practice

Forge welding is tricky to learn but pretty easy once you get the knack.
The only way to learn it is to heat some metal and try it over and over
again. Your first attempt ALWAYS fails. If you're lucky your 20th attempt
won't, although you'll probably be up around your 100th attempt before you
can do it consistently.

The best way to learn is to work with someone who already knows how to do
it. You can work it out for yourself but it takes a lot longer.

Now, as to specifics, as I glean them from your description:

You need to flux your metal to prevent oxide formation on the surfaces to
be welded. Oxide is a weld-killer, surefire. Flux keeps the air out by
melting and forming coating on the surface.

My favorite flux is ordinary borax, the kind that's sold in the soap
section of your supermarket. (NOT soap with borax added, but pure borax!).
To use you prepare your surface, heat to below red heat, dip into the flux
and make sure there's a clear, glassy coat on the surfaces to be welded.
Then you put your iron back in the fire and bring it up to welding heat.

'Welding heat' is determined by experience. In most kinds of steel it is a
clear yellow heat with a surface that looks kind of waxy. I know that's not
much help, but it's the best I can do in words. You do not want the metal
sparking. That's too hot and won't make a good weld. (You're probably also
putting too much oxygen into the fire but that's another issue.)

The hammer technique is also hard to describe. I bring the piece out of the
fire, lay it on the anvil and immediately strike a couple of light blows to
kind of tack it together. Then I start hammering at the center and work
outwards to drive the flux and impurities out of the joint. You don't have
to smash the work, but you do have to strike hard enough to consolidate the
pieces. (If that makes any sense.)

Bending  a bar of metal back on itself and welding it is a good way to
practice. When you finish a weld, let it cool in the air and then take a
cold chisel and cut through the welded section to see what the interior of
the weld is like. The biggest problem with forge welding is getting a clean
weld in the interior without inclusions of slag or air pockets that will
weaken the weld.

Keep at it and good luck!

--RC

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From: [email-masked] (LWC1220)
Date: 24 Sep 1996 01:18:47 -0400

>layers.  What is missing?  Thanks for the help.

  You need a flux to put on the steel. While I've seen several flux
recipes the main ingredient in all of them is borax. Also from what you
said above you may be getting it to hot I'm not sure. I tried to wled this
way once and didn't succeed, but that was before I knew about the flux and
I have not tried since. I don't remember where to find one of the
references to this at the moment but I'm sure sombody else out there can
give you better advice on this than I can. But if nobody else does E-mail
me and I will do what I can.

                                Hope this helps
                                   LWC

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From: [email-masked] (John O. Kopf)
Date: 24 Sep 1996 05:32:46 GMT

Ed Kreyling wrote:
>>miserably.

Two other tricks needed...

1. ALWAYS work in a dark area so you can judge the colors better.

2. You need a CLEAN, Deep fire...that means starting with a clean
forge, starting a new fire, etc.  After a day's ashes accumulate, they
just coat the molten flux and make it harder to weld (if not impossible
 - an old trick to make a blacksmith cuss is to put a copper penny in
the fire; the impurities that this adds to the fire makes a weld
impossible).

When you add the borax, it will "foam" up -- don't dispair, that's just
the result of the water of crystalation in the borax being driven out. 
Wait a few moments and it will turn into glass.  It's better to
sprinkle the flux onto a freshly wire-brushed piece of hot metal than
to rely on previously cleaned metal staying that way.

GOOD LUCK.

JK