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Hello everybody


George G.

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Hello everybody,

 

       I’m 18, come from Serbia, work as a tool and die maker apprentice and have wanted to learn about blacksmithing for quite some time. My friend and I have set up a small smithy at his place about a year ago and have forged there some primitive tools. We have an improvised coal forge with a vacuum cleaner as blower and old 40kg anvil. I look forward to learning more. 

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Welcome aboard George, glad to have you. There are sections of archived threads and posts organized by subject here on IFI. Most any topic is covered to one degree or another so almost anything you may want to ask has probably been answered.

 

Reading will also help you with terminology and give you a handle on things so you can ask good questions ad understand the answers, all of them. <grin> Blacksmiths tend to have more answers than there are blacksmiths for every question. Pack a lunch, something to drink and pull up a comfy chair, there's a LOT to read some by today's greats of blacksmithing.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Normally I believe the general consensus would be forging an axe blade from O2 to be too advanced for a beginner. However being a tool and die maker you should be conversant with tool steels and have access to professional heat treatment. Bearing that in mind an O2 axe might be a great place to start.

 

Just remember to look up O2's forging specs on the data sheet before you start.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 4 weeks later...

  I agree that forging an axe from O2 steel is too advanced for a beginner. I would try to forge it from mild steel and forge weld a O2 insert for bit, but i cant find borax to buy. Yesterday we punched a hole for eye and today will try to forge the blade. It should be over soon and if it turns out right, God willing, I will post photos.

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Do you have a welding supply close? You can buy commercial fluxes intended for torch welding, brazing, silver soldering, etc. and after reading the labels of a couple brands I searched out the MSDS. The brands available locally read like the expensive brands of "forge" welding fluxes. Namely anhydrous borax, boric acid and some contain iron powder. A 16oz can cost me $23.74 USD. and included shipping. Commercial "forge" welding fluxes tend to cost more than twice that and after using the welding supply flux I don't think they work any better if as well.

 

Other things can be used if borax isn't available. Boric acid makes a pretty good welding flux and is commonly available as a cockroach poison, insecticide, it's also found in pharmacies. It has a lower melting temperature than borax and doesn't foam when it reaches 100c. What it does is form an air tight layer that prevents oxidation. Flux isn't glue, it's primary role is preventing oxidation from forming a barrier to the weld.

 

A good technique is to clean the joint till it's shiny, I'll file it or even hit it with my belt sander. Then a couple drops of oil to keep air off it and close the joint. Heat and set the weld.

 

High carbon steel has a lower melting temperature than low carbon steel. This allows a person to place a high carbon bit between two pieces of low carbon steel and close it tightly. When the join begins to reach welding temperature for the low carbon steel the high carbon steel will be above it's welding temp and they'll weld when set.

 

Lots of people weld without fluxing, I believe there are threads on the subject. Heck, old school used mud dawber nests, sand, folk in the 3rd. world chew charcoal and spit it on the joint. I'm beginning to think it'd be fun to compile a list of unlikely fluxes and techniques that will yield good welds. Unfortunately I have a hobby or two so I'll leave that little amusement to a youngster. <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Don't worry if you make a mess of things. Everyone makes mistakes. I don't know how many forge welded rings I made before I managed to get the 1st one right. Go ahead and post picts up anyways no matter the results. Many times people learn more from others mistakes, and the comments on how to improve than they do from posts of "perfect" projects.

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  Thanks for the advice guys. Great welding info, didn't know that about brazing flux. I'm definitively going to try those unusual fluxes as well. One man told me that lime tree ash can be used as flux, I tried it and it didn't work. 

  I will post pictures today, and you guys can tell me what to improve. 

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 Here is the billet we are trying to forge into an axe. It has been going very slow with forming the eye and we are having trouble heating it past orange temp.

 

   post-55614-0-85837500-1408818595_thumb.j

 

   post-55614-0-00960700-1408818620_thumb.j

 

   post-55614-0-78482100-1408818657_thumb.j

 

 

   Maybe it would have been better if we first thinned the billet and then punched hole for the eye?

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