mattinker Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Hi everybody, I need to understand about how to go about forge welding dissimilar steels. My long term project include hammer making. I have a lot of 40mm (1"1/2) square bar and some old leaf springs. I would like to weld hard faces to the hammers. How does one heat the carbon steel to welding heat without driving off the carbon? I could ark weld around the joint with 7018 rods and heat the mild end so that the welding heat arrives from the mild steel, but I need to understand how it would be done traditionally to learn the process! Regards, Matthew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgemaster Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 The high carbon steel will be at its welding point at a lower temp then the mild steel. That is an increase in carbon content decreases the melting point of carbon steels. Therefore if you were to heat both steels together to the same temp, the higher carbon steel would be ready to weld before the mild, then in getting the mild to weld temp you will probably burn the higher carbon steel. So how to successfully weld them together, have you ever cooked sausages on a BBQ with steak, the sausos take longer to cook than the steak so you put the sauso's on before you put on the steak, to give them longer to cook. So to with the 2 different steels, you start getting the mild hot before the high carbon, it will take some practice to achieve this coming together of heats, so as both steels arrive at their different welding temps at the same time. Practice. Oh I've assumed that you were looking to fireweld this hammer, if not disragard the preceding. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Also place the mild in the hotter region of the fire and the high C in a slightly cooler region. Old smithing books speak about using a chisel to raise a bur on the High C part and driving that into the heated mild steel part to hold them together when heating. (I believe it was Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I have an old hammer somewhere where the forge weld eventually failed and the steel face was held on with a bent nail through the steel into the wrought body. I do a lot of steel/wrought and mild steel/steel welding . the main thing to remember is you are not welding at sparking temperatures or you screw the steel. simple steels will be easier . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Also place the mild in the hotter region of the fire and the high C in a slightly cooler region. Old smithing books speak about using a chisel to raise a bur on the High C part and driving that into the heated mild steel part to hold them together when heating. (I believe it was Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson. I tried something similar for welding a steel bit into a tomahawk, and I had a very hard time with it. However, folks who've done it tell me that the key is to move fast. The burrs (more like little spikes) are small, and will heat up quickly. You need to make the mechanical connection before that happens. There's a vid on YouTube of a Japanese hammer maker welding a steel face onto a WI body. For all the world it looks like his flux acts as a kind of high temperature glue and holds the face on, unassisted by any mechanical aid, until the weld. I'd really love to know how he did that -- and what's in his flux! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattinker Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 Thank you everyone, now I need to get some practice! I would like to learn to forge weld not only for myself, but so that I can show my grandsons, they're only little for the moment, but I want them to see as much as they can. I'd love to be able to show them how to make a hammer from scrap! Thanks again, Matthew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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