Do not use HSS (High Speed Steel) for ANY impact applications. Just make, design, forge, etc. your part and get some hardfacing rods. Lincoln makes some great High Impact/ High Wear-Resistance hardfacing rods. These will be awesome for a hot cutter and a guillotine tool. But just get a cheapo auto hood from harbor freight and practice, Practice, PRACTICE!! Get some E-6010, E-6013, E-7014, E-7018, and some E-7024. Just mess around with them and get a book of some type that will give you diagrams and weld until you can't weld no more.
I, too, weld for a living and let me tell you, you don't want to just "stick the pieces together". You want it to hold no matter what. If you just want a hot cutter, I have found that masonry chisels work wonders (as long as you don't harden it too bad).
__________________
The mind is nothing without the body and the body is nothing without the mind. You need them both to make the rational decisions we so make every day. Some we don't put as much thought into them as we should, and others we take a little too seriously. So slow down, take a breather, and think.
|