welding axe head

[stephangleissner]

i have some experience in fire welding and obviously some welding situations r easier than others. What i like doing is to laminate cutting tools of all sorts. just makes sense to me to have the edge steel only where it's needed, even if we can afford now anything in our blessed, wasteful times.
Now to my problem. Usually i weld the steel to one side of the blade. I put the tool into the fire ,so that the steel bit lies on top and will get less heat than the low carbon tool body.so in a way, an ideal arangement.
But when I sandwich the bit in between, as with an axe head, i find it difficult to get the top layer hot enough without burning the other layers.
Is it a matter of building a bigger fire?
Any advice on that and indeed, fire welding in general, would be very appreciated. It is an ongoing challenge for me, the very core of the craft

[ApprenticeMan]

That's a tough one. Try heating the whole thing a little slower, letting the regular working heat get all up over the part first, and slowly raise it up to welding temperature.

[Mr Smith]

G'day Stephan!

Here's what I do:

Get a good, deep fire going. Make sure it's free of all crud, clinker, and whatnot.Put the steel fairly high up in the fire.
Get the whole thing up to an orange heat. Flux liberally.

Now, if you're having problems with getting a welding heat, I would suggest getting one side up to near welding heat, then flipping the whole thing over, then repeating until both sides are hot enough.
Failing that, put the axe head in on edge. Heat up one edge, weld it, then turn it over and repeat.

Hope this helps!

[Tyler Murch]

You have to keep turning it. Two or three times. Let the heat soak through also.

[Jymm Hoffman]

You may have to do all the above. Sometimes the steel bit may slip out when turning. Try getting a "tack" weld without turning the ax, just a couple hits, not too hard. Then quickly flux again and get back into the fire, then try turning it. Don't forget to "feed" the fire.

[BT]

I agree with Jymm, try to get a tack weld first without turning the piece. The thin scarf of the wrap on the bottom should reach welding heat about the same time as the carbon steel insert and allow a light "tack". Then quickly reflux and back to the fire. You can then rotate the piece as much as you need to to get all sides up to welding heat. I usually take several welding heats on an axe or tomahawk head to complete the weld.