Sometimes making the tool better helps prevent the problem entirely. ~ JHCC

I still believe a forge weld is mostly magic.  ~ anvil

I remember one SOFA meeting 20+ years ago where a smith demonstrated a slack tub weld.  Heated two pieces of steel to welding temp and threw them in the murky depths of his slack tub. Then he reached in and fished around and brought them out perfectly forge welded together!    

Thomas,

Good grief what was in that water? I bet the EPA would like to take a test sample or too!

 

I call sleight of hand on slack tub welding.  Great trick, though.

GNM

I can think of a legit way to do it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Remember "murky"?  He had a forge welded set hidden in the bottom; of course.

"chasing two hares, you will not catch one". ~ alexandr

This is from Frosty, and it is very true:

"folk learn faster and remember more if they're entertained by the lesson, make them laugh and they never forget."

Required tweakage is to be expected.  Frosty the Lucky

As opposed to optimal tweaking? Or the the obsessive tweaking we find to be nessisary?

What's the difference Charles?

It's not really obsessive tweaking if it isn't tweaked to destruction. Is it?

Frosty The Lucky.

You can tell the quality of a Blacksmith by the quality of his scrap pile!  Anvil

Others You can tell the quality of the blacksmith by the quantity of their scrap pile.

"None of that's "scrap"; that's all good stuff!"    Thomas

Y’all don’t be lookin at my scrap pile!

A real blacksmith doesn't have a "scrap" pile, s/he has a research reference section to document previous experiments and provide future resources. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Alright y’all don’t be lookin at my research reference section! 

Good Morning,

A friend of mine says "I don't bother looking in Neil's "Bish" (RuBish), when he puts it in that pile, there is nothing left worth lookin for" LOL

Neil

A bullet can go almost anywhere; but a steel (weapon) is bound to end up somewhere.  Dorthey Sayers

"Do not repair what is not broken."  coworker of natkova

The blacksmith version is, "If it ain't broke we'll fix it till it is."   Frosty

"And then redesign it to make it better."  Glenn

Everything is a masterpiece in my head... just doesn't usually translate to the real world quite as well...   -   Wandering_Rogue

May the sparks of his forge light the fires in others.  Thom - Student of Thomas -

Well said Thom, Thomas’s posts have always given me the courage to light my forge and correct my mistakes, with the wisdom he supplied or given me the courage to try a new project