Will W.

Actually, Shady, i dont think the show does. Thats not really all that far from me either. Thats terrible. Just goes to show that rules such as no open burns within city limits are implemented for a reason.

Glad to know im not the only one who does this lol.

Thomas That is sort of what i figured. It would be interesting to try though, and see just how strong it can be. Ill put it on my several kilometer long "to do list." Lol. Michael No, i think what you wrote makes perfect sense. I also imagine that it would help drive out flux and any scale from the voids. Sort of like how the flutes on a drill pull the chips away from the working area. Thanks for the tip.

Yes, but its a theoretical thing. "Can it be done welded with no hammer blows being delivered." I dont think im conveying my thoughts clearly enough, or maybe im misinterpreting what Mr. Powers wrote. Its been a very long day, maybe critical thinking isnt my forte right now lol. Idk. Its just a speculative thought anyway.

No, with heat, of course. Bring it up to welding temp and twist. No hammering. Do this 3 or 4 times, putting in a few dozen twists, maybe more. Im curious if twisting that much could cause it to weld up, it would be VERY tight at that point, and the thinking goes that maybe it could cause enough force to fuse the pieces. Just a thought. It would be interesting if it worked.

Right, ive heard of that before. Never tried it though. So that makes me wonder, is it possible to repeatedly twist the cable so tightly that the force of the twist itself would weld it? I imagine it wouldnt make an incredibly strong bond, but perhaps it would set a weld?

Very interesting, thank you Farmall, for the info and the link.

Slight hijack, but related: How did they cut threads back in the 18th and early 19th century? The only slightly practical way I can think to do it is with files, or hot cut them in, and both methods would more likely than not lead to less than perfect threads, if they even worked at all. This is, of course, assuming that they didnt have taps and dies, which i dont believe they did (definitely could be wrong here.) But if they did, then it begs the question, how did they make taps and dies? Always been curious about this one.

Please elaborate. Is it exactly what it sounds like? Bringing it up to welding temp and twisting it so tightly that it welds together?

Welcome to the forum, Jason. Always happy to have a fellow bladesmith come along (dont listen to the old guys, its not an obsession, we can quit whenever we want! Lol) Do you have your own forge? If not, there are many, many threads here about how to make one, whether it be gas, coal, or charcoal. Matter of fact, theres a lot of good info here on basically any subject that is blacksmith related. A tip ill give you early: dont bother with the search function on this site, its finicky. Just type whatever it is your searching into google, bing, etc. but add "iforgeiron" to it. Much more reliable. Happy forging!

From the small amount of research ive done on the subject, it seems that induction hardening is a process used to isolate heat treatment to certain parts of whatever it is youre heat treating. So in a thick cross section like an axle, it could be used to harden only, say, half of the diameter of said stock, leaving the center soft. So saying it is similar to case hardening is not far off. It could be done with literally any steel, but an axle or shaft is likely medium carbon steel. Is it possible that your piece isnt coated or plated at all? Is there any rust on it, surface rust included? Induction hardening is a different approach to hardening, but the process is still the same. Whatever parts of the steel are hardened, in this case it seems likely that its only the outside of the shaft, they still form martensite, just like regular hardening. This leads me to beleive that a few normalization cycles should take the steel back to normal, where you can turn it into whatever you want and HT it. I am no expert on this subject, but i hope the little bit i do know helps in some way. P.S. a polymer is just a chemistry term for a certain type of macromolecule composed of repeating units held in place by covalent bonds. Its a category. Most plastics are indeed polymers, but not all polymers are plastics. DNA is a polymer, for example.

These are wise words you speak, Thomas. I probably messed up a dozen billets before i got one that kind of stuck. Another half dozen before i got a blade out of it. Im still not that good at it! Lol. With a teacher, however, im sure my success would have come quicker.

Frosty, just edited my post, read my short story about auto darkening helmets. I dont trust them unless im SMAW or MIG welding anymore. We always called it flash syndrome or arc syndrome. It is unpleasent. I second the part about getting flashed from behind as well, its nearly as bad as lookig right at it.

Wise words, to be sure. I know the feeling, Desmond. Back when i did a lot of TIG welding, i got flashed PLENTY of times. Sometimes i was welding on very thin stainless, and so i had my machine running at 10 amps, full throttle, so you were typically running between 3 - 7 amps. A lot of auto darkening helmets wont even shade at that low of output, so you get flashed even with your hood down. After that happened half a dozen times, i switched to a fixed shade. Anyways, do it enough in one day (especially if youre looking right at it when it arcs) and youll know it that night or the next day. Ive woken up a few times in the middle of the night with the feeling that my eyes are on fire, hurts so bad you can barely open them. My welding instructor always taught me that if it ever happens, put a cold wet washcloth over your eyes and wait it out. Its all you can really do. Its not fun, and not something you want to happen to you. Allow me to reiterate what Frosty said, DONT stare at the fire. Otherwise, youll end up with a whole gang of floaters like me. Elusive little buggers. There always there, but you never can look right at them...

329 years old? Its not worth your time, trust me. Send it to me and i will dispose of it. Ill pay for priority shipping . All jokes aside, that is one heck of a find, and as a collector of anything that is old, i can say i am very jealous. Nice find. Treat her well! Shes been through more than you and me combined and then doubled.

I... umm... yes? This sounds like something straight out of Monty Python lol.

And the "Most Accurate Sentence" award goes to... JPH: i know this wasnt your intention when you posted the pics, but thats a very pretty looking blade. It looks like a double hamon. I always love seeing your work.

Noted, and edited. One of those cases where i knew exactly what i meant, but it could be misconstrued by others. Apologies.

If you build an efficient retort for charcoal making, theres no need to cut it. I can break my charcoal apart with one hand.

I used to use anthracite and charcoal to get the best of both worlds. Nice quick heat from the charcoal, and longevity of the coal, but ive since moved exclusively to charcoal. Ive found it to be much cleaner, hotter, quicker, etc. Charcoal also has no problem with a hand crank blower. Its an uphill battle using one with anthracite. Plus, i have a VERY hard time making my own coal, an issue charcoal does not give me .

Yes, that is precisely what i was talking about. When your up to forge welding temperature for most alloys (not all inclusive) there will be a misty smoke or steam, just a jclonts has shown, that will come off of the steel. I do not know exactly what causes it, but, again, for *most* alloys, its a good indication that you are up to temp. Yes, that is precisely what i was talking about. When your up to forge welding temperature for most alloys (not all inclusive) there will be a misty smoke or steam, just a jclonts has shown, that will come off of the steel. I do not know exactly what causes it, but, again, for *most* alloys, its a good indication that you are up to temp.

Thank you for the sources. I relent on the nanotube issue. Seems they do indeed have hard eveidence of that. Its interesting, and ive honestly never heard about it. Seems i was quick to jump to conclusions. I still dont beleive that the wootz blades had up to 2% carbon in the *finished product*. It very well may have had that much when the steel was delivered to the smith, but repetetive forge welding would reduce the content by a whole lot. That much carbon may be alright for a razor blade, but not a sword. The article seems to be inconclusive as to whether or not that was the content of the finished blade or the pre forged billet.

Thank you for the knowledge, Daniel. This is all very interesting. I look forward to seeing more progress.

I would be quite interested in reading that Frosty. Looks like i have some screen time to put in. This was my exact reaction. Lol.

Yes, his skills at solutionizing carbides are legend. While speaking to the metallurgist at work the other day, i was shown a piece of steel that was explosively welded to a piece of aluminum... Steel.... To aluminum. Needless to say, it made me all giddy. But im sure Vulcan has better tricks up his sleeve.