Hey guys, forgive me if I have asked this before and gotten an answer , I do have a horrible memory, I have an old wagon wheel that I squared up and want to forgeweld to a cable blade to use as a handle, but try as I might I cant get them to stick together. I am using a very high temp ( high yellow ) which I thought was the correct temp to get old iron to stick but I cant seem to get it to stick....

High yellow seems a bit *cold* for welding real wrought iron.  A "snowball" weld is often suggested for it.  Of course the blade steel will need to be at a colder temp to keep it from burning up.  Makes it more fun when you have to heat two pieces to different temperatures and then weld them.

 I figured as easy as it was to forgeweld some A36 to cable that this would be just as simple, boy was I wrong...snowball weld? Not a term I am familiar with....

more white than yellow

Try a different tire piece or maybe some other wrought iron. Some of the old tire wrought iron is full of sulfur and welds very badly. 

 

Maybe you could split the wrought open on the end and close it on the short tang of the steel cable like people often weld hi carbon onto a ax edge. Then your wrought on the outside would get hotter than the steel inside and the piece would be one unit in the forge.

 

Good luck

 Actually that is what I am attempting to do is add the blade to the split end, if it doesnt work out this time I will probably either drill and use a couple specialized nuts or rivet it....havent decided yet really....thank you though for the advice guys....

Are you using a coal or propane forge? Some propane forges have a difficult time getting hot enough for wrought iron.

Another thing that may help is trying a different flux.

Good luck, Mike