51 Papy Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I did my first forge weld with borax as flux today. I welded mystery metal to mystery metal so I used borax. The weld was successful but I ended up with some black scale(?) very brittle on the metal and anvil. Is this normal or was I just lucky it took? All the forge welds before have been with known metals or RR spikes so no flux. It just looked strange and seemed like there was a lot of it. I stuck the cooled piece in the vise and rapped it a couple of times without any damage to weld. Thanks Papy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Black scale/slag is pretty normal. Spidery looking frozen droplets where the stuff splashed and froze on the cold anvil face? Yup sounds bout right. If you have been successfully forge welding without flux on a variety of steels including RR spikes (old and rusty I presume?) keep up the good work, well done. Flux helps but is NOT a requirement for forge welding. Keep working/practicing and note all of the variables when things go well or go badly. For a serious test bend your weld cold to 90 degrees in a vise . If it breaks or delaminates look closely at the weld, black spots are inclusions or places that never welded, bright areas were welded but failed from the stress of the bend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51 Papy Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Thanks Judson. I always grind or sand metal clean before attempting to weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Good Man! Cleanliness is one of the 3 legs of the forge welding tripod! The others are temperature and pressure: max anyone of them out and you can get a solid phase weld. Examples: Cleanliness---Vacuum welding; Pressure---Explosive welding; Temperature---Forge welding. So the more you use all of them the easier it is to weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51 Papy Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Thanks Thomas. I'm going to have to go back to work to rest up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Ha; Mid June I have to go in for a week of testing and will be spending 5 days "in bed", wired up and under video watch. Then I get to go back to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 27, 2017 Share Posted May 27, 2017 Nice work.. Looking forwards to seeing projects.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51 Papy Posted May 27, 2017 Author Share Posted May 27, 2017 Thomas that sounds like NO fun. Jennifer. I'm watching your videos (and others) trying to figure out how to do this craft. As soon as I have something to show I'll post it...but...don't hold your breath. I'd hate to have that on my conscious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickpea Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Thats fine, just the borax. i try to use minimal borax when I weld to avoid the massive cleanup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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