welding

[edge9001]

I finally got my charcoal brakedrum forge to weld. with only on interestig issue.

I took the tips of several of my broken knives. (oh the joys of projects gone wrong) I stacked them together and tacked the broken edges together. I got the forge to welding heat. the metal was sparking pretty well. I gently tapped the layers together and let it cool. I used no flux, two layers were the sanded a bit from black, the third layer was rusted and i sanded it a bit too

when all was said and done, i got a weld that was the entire width of the layers but only the first inch from the tack weld actually welded on one layer, and 1/2 of the remaining 2 layers welded my original billet was only 3 layers tringle-ish shape about 2 inchesx2 1/2 inches. so the first 2 layers welded 1.2 way up and the third layer only welded about an inch.

anyone have any idea why only part of it welded? would the rust on the third layer have kept it from welding?

[don't tread on me]

you might of heated it to fast and the center didn't get to welding heat.

[ThomasPowers]

Could the one layer be an alloy that needs a little help to weld> Ni and Cr alloy steels can need an aggressive flux.

[edge9001]

the first and second layers welded 1/2 way and, the top only welded a small portion. the third layer that didn't weld well was originally an old flathead screw driver so it might have been a Cr allow, I don't know.

this is my first attemp at welding that got the stock to a welding temp.