Benton Frisse Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Hey folks, I have a client who gave me a mulcher blade and asked to have a folded hatchet/hawk made from it. After dressing the piece and getting rid of the bevels for the blade edges, I folded it, stuck a piece of 5160 in it, and welded it... or tried to. I know some steels don't like to forge weld to each other, especially certain carbon steels. I'm not sure what these blades are made of, I tried hardening a little sliver of one and it didn't want to harden, but I may not have brought it up to a critical enough temperature. I can't get some of this mulcher blade to stick to this 5160. Part is welded, part isn't. I've tried welding it 5 times. The metal was cleaned before the first initial weld, too. What steels don't like to stick to 5160? If you all encounter this problem, what do you do? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 Or does anyone have any information on lawn mower/mulcher blades that they've come across in the past? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Things like mulcher and brush hog blades need to be tough not hard so it's probably a high moly chrome moly. The chrome is it's primary source of hard and abrasion resistance. Chrome oxide is hard to weld and 5160 contains quite a bit of chrome as well to allow the leaves to slide without much wear. Pick something else for a blade would be my choice. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 I kept thinking "I know I'm not great at forge welding... but I'm not THIS bad." I didn't take into effect the amount of chrome content. Thanks, Frosty. I'll find something else and hopefully they'll be cool with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Sometimes you can get around this by sticking a thin piece of plain steel inbetween the problem alloys that don't want to stick to each other. Also using a more aggressive flux can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Frisse Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 I'll have to try that. Thanks, Mr. Powers! Thin as in like 16 ga. steel? I've got a bunch of that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Depends on how good your welding is. BSB in pattern welded billet may not want to weld to itself but even something so thin as pallet strapping will work between them. 16ga should be plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.