Timothy Miller Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 This is mine, 6 pieces of 1/2 square welded to one piece of 7/8" round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 So hard to choose... For "traditional" forge weld perhaps this test piece, 24 continuous inches of 1/8" x 1", forged to shape, bent in half, welded, partially twisted. Thanks to Chris Winterstein for the inspiration. In the edge work/ pattern weld area, I was happiest with this one. I'm not a knife maker except for fun. The most mathematically challenging fab weld (modern) job I've done is this stair rail, the rise AND run of the stair was inconsistent as well as going from a straight run (with a landing) at the top to a short elliptical section to an increasing curve at the bottom. Lots of integration with thick glass barriers at the top and fine woodwork at the bottom. Photo is before job was finished, they were moving in and the wood hand rail was yet to be installed. For sheer number of (modern) welds this one is my tops, a 20' by 45' c channel pergola next to a 1/4" plate Corten clad retaining wall that wrapped up and over onto an exterior plaza guarded by a zig-zag steel/cable rail, curved of course, barrier rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 now we're talkin!!! attempted my first pattern weld today, had some scrap wrought and scrap rasp bits, welded them together, folded to 16 layers, twisted, and now i wait to see finished pattern etched.... should turn out to be a simple star pattern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yetti Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 this a good view of the barrier extension I made a few years back. it works well enough but its tricky to mount. it weighs about 1200lbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin K Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Don't forget good ol' oxy-acetylene. Not that I do it much anymore, but there is something very enjoyable about gas welding. Corner of a Harley motor stand fabbed from mild steel plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dereck Glaser Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Forging aluminum is great, make sure your tools are very well finished, near a polish as it is very sensative to any surface texture your tools may have. tongs, hammers and any tools touching it should be well dressed to ensure good suface finish after forging. The pine acts as a sort of temperature crayon, as soon as it smears a black line you have plenty of heat to forge with. You will feel it sieze up as it cools, do not foge too far past as then you may begin to work harden it. I use a pice split out of lumber, spruce will work fine as well, look for the black smear, pulling it in and out of the forge, gas would be preferable. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonjic Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 It all came together nicely when I welded up the tip on my first sword blade, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 that John is still an amazing job. here are some of my faves. staff hoard seax for nat geo a seax I made along side it this socket to body weld took me 4 failures... making a reproduction headsmans axe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I suck at electric welding, but forge welding is just fun. I'm good enough with the stick to tack things in place and then forge weld them up. I wouldn't say best welds ever, but here's a couple of recent ones. This is an arrowhead making tool for the hardie hole. Wrapped 4 pieces around the center post to make the tenon and forge welded. Forged out shape of upper part with beginnings of the horn and cut off. Tack welded in two corners and jump welded to bottom piece. Finished shaping horn and riveted on some L6 for the cut off piece. There's also the "forge welded hammer" I did in the "Members Projects" section that is all forge welded together from pieces. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/25909-forge-welded-hammer/ The more you do the easier it gets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I suck at electric welding, but forge welding is just fun. I'm good enough with the stick to tack things in place and then forge weld them up. I wouldn't say best welds ever, but here's a couple of recent ones. This is an arrowhead making tool for the hardie hole. Wrapped 4 pieces around the center post to make the tenon and forge welded. Forged out shape of upper part with beginnings of the horn and cut off. Tack welded in two corners and jump welded to bottom piece. Finished shaping horn and riveted on some L6 for the cut off piece. There's also the "forge welded hammer" I did in the "Members Projects" section that is all forge welded together from pieces. The more you do the easier it gets. that is a magnificent anvil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 timothy miller ... i LOVE that!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to do that!! love love love it :) thats just blinkin beautiful... looks so GOOD!... and david, theres no welder on here that could mend your broken heart, nobodies that clever... at least your smiling now :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 im sure a welder might be able to be turned into a difribulator, mad max style..... :) not welding a broken heart, but starting a stopped one! john and owen and timothy, thats what im talkin 'bout! love that sword tip john. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 and randy too! thank you all, i am inspired everyday by you lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 timothy miller ... i LOVE that!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to do that!! love love love it :) thats just blinkin beautiful... looks so GOOD!... and david, theres no welder on here that could mend your broken heart, nobodies that clever... at least your smiling now :) you are so rite. however a good power hammer would go a long way to doing that. I am currently in love from a distance with 3 french hammers (one a very old lady) and a german screw press (unrequited love is sweet but sad). The great thing with power hammers is the more you learn the more you love them , the more you love them the more you learn. I once welded up the heart valve of a massey (a massey with a broken heart) but alas it did break again. sometimes a transplant is the only answer to a broken heart...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbeast Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Owen, your're funny with your hammers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 owen - your very sweet with your hammers! easier to be in love with a hammer.... way forward :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 This has to rate up there pretty high: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D6-w1g3_30 Not even welding on the anvil, just swinging in the air! Just jump up on it and hammer some more! Wow! There's also one of forge welding a huge anchor where they're adding pieces to the pile and swinging away. Incredible! Oh, it's about 5 minutes into the chain making video posted earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KYBOY Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 This spike hawk was welded up from one large piece..Welded the spike first then formed the eye..then the traditional welded bit.. Then this little bag axe was welded up from three pieces..One for each side then the W2 bit.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KYBOY Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 A big wap&weld..This beared axe was welded up from 1018 with a 1075 bit.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Went from this: To this: To this: This was a first for me and I've been mighty pleased with it so far. Don that's beautiful work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfreek Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Recently I saw a nice inverter welder on Craigslist, and I mentioned it to the wife. She said that I've been doing more forge welding these days, and it doesn't use expensive equipment. So, I tried something different today with my precious smithing time. Usually, I do something that there is at least some guarantee of success so that I don't finish empty handed. Well, today I took a risk and ended up empty handed. I tried to weld a block of steel to a 1x1 bar to make a hardy block. The weld never really took. The bar was tapered on one end, and the other end was upset into a scarf. It was then put into a bolster plate and fullered out on the sides for the scarf edges. The block was dimpled with a round punch and then drifted square to fit the fullered tip on the shank. I used a flux made of filings, borax and boric acid. This has worked well in the past. The problem was that it was difficult to get both pieces hot enough at the same time. I burned up about 10 lbs of charcoal in a deep fire. What a waste! I ended up burning the backs of both my hands through my gloves due to the radiated heat. Those smiths who insist that their apprentices don't wear gloves must not have seen the fierce fire. One of the problems was that it was really difficult to handle both pieces at the same time. One would sink in and burn, and the other would tilt up and get heated unevenly. Technically, the old books say that this jump weld should be a two man operation, but I thought that if I rehearsed it, it would be OK. Not even close! Anybody do one of these single-handed and have any suggestions? Note, this is a trivial job, almost not worth mentioning, with a cheap buzz box welder and just about any garage sale rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Empty handed, but not empty headed, you definitely learned something from this experience You now realise why hardie blocks are jumped up, ie they use less fuel, and easier to manage on your own, amongst other reasons What sizes have you been welding prior to this? as this is a fairly difficult task to achieve on this size of materials. particularly as a first attempt. To get two pieces of differing configurations and mass requires a fair degree of patience, concentration and manipulation, hence the use of two 'smiths and on this size, probably two forges. You pointed out yourself the difficulty of keeping them in the fire to get them to the same heat, from the appearance in the pictures they were not near the required heat for them to stick, not quite sure all your preparation was necessary, Just a large dimple and a jumped up end should suffice. Long handled tongs also help keep the radiated heat away, I applaud you for attempting this not easy task and sharing the experience with us, Try something a little more handleable next time and suited to your set up and good luck with your future endeavours, if you don't try, you will never get there. Bruce Wilcox may come in and give an opinion if he sees this, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I would have looked at that from a different perspective and tried to weld a ring around the end of your bar exactly like a bolt head. that way you would be able to heat both the pieces in the fire at the same time. you would also be getting the stem up strait through the body of the hardy block. weld it up and then upset it back . I also think that it is always worth considering that the jump weld you are doing is rite at a stress riser, even if it took I think there is quite a probability it would have broken lose under heavy use. Even really good forge welds are still a weak point in the metal (potentially) so maximizing the contact surface and post weld manipulation to stretch the weld interface are important (where ever possible) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Emig Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Nice try-tough weld to do. You can also use another method to make a hardy block that I saw Mark Aspery demonstrate. He took an 1-1/4" bar-forged a taper on it and then drove it into the hardy hole with a sledge. Nice solution-hardy tool fits the hardy hole like a glove, and you can do it by yourself. I've seen pics of it somewhere-can't remember where-maybe someone else can help with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 It wasn't a waste. You learned something. Doing it in charcoal makes it even harder. It doesn't support the pieces in the fire very well. Any time you have two pieces, either the drop the tongs weld or the jump weld you have to learn the dance before you attempt the weld. That means doing it cold first, several times. Start at the forge, swing pieces around, position them, drop tongs, pick up hammer, hit it, cha, cha, cha. Now again... Keep doing this until you know exactly what you're going to do. Make sure the hammer is in the same place and same position each time. If you have to drop the tongs so you can grab the hammer then drop the tongs on the floor. Don't lay them somewhere, you're loosing precious time which translates to precious heat. Now do it for real. Once they are just stuck together, gingerly put it back in the fire as one part, another welding heat and go to it. It's always easier once they are already together. It's then a protected surface weld and a good deep weld. Another problem is just getting them lined up right. If you're off when you first touch them they stick and if you're off you've got a problem. I do the dance and go from there, but if I can I use the stick welder just to tack the pieces together in a couple small tacks and then do the forge weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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