Welding axe bit takes many heats to blend

[Campbell Iron]

I have been attempting to make a bearded Viking style axe from mild steel with a 80crv2 bit. 

I have made axes before and I recently completed one of my first ones with a welded in bit. 

I was working on this one and I do not have pics of the end state… because i salvaged it in other ways… it is still an axe, just not in a form that illustrates the issue. 

The welding is not the issue… 

It welds fine, the issue is that I have to take a ton of welding heats to blend the steels together on bit. 

Should the bit be flush with the split ends of the body for easier welding? 

The other thing is that when I prepared the bit, I tapered the entire bit length, instead leaving the parts that won’t be fit inside the axe body the starting thickness (3/8”)  … this has led to the transition between steels to be extremely thin and prone to burning at the corners. 

Again, the steels are fused together, so it’s not that I can’t weld, it’s that it takes many many many welding heats to blend it. 

Any help would be great, thanks

[Latticino]

Two recommendations:

1. I do typically put the bit much farther into the mild steel body, unless a special construction where I want to reveal more of the core (i.e. a pattern welded bit).  This also helps with getting the full package up to welding heat without burning off the HC bit (ask me how I know...)
2. Make sure you scarf the ends of the two sides of the body where you are putting in the bit properly.  Hard to tell if you are doing this in your photos.  It is tricky, but I usually try to work that scarf down as cleanly as possible in my first welding pass (or second at most).  Be careful, since the ends of the scarf are thinner, they cool rapidly down from a welding heat.  You also need to flip the billet over after you get a few hits on each side so the anvil side doesn't suck out all that heat.  Note that when heating for welding it will certainly help to have the rest of the body hot as well so the heavy sections don't suck out the heat from the weld surfaces.

[Campbell Iron]

On 2/1/2024 at 10:51 AM, Latticino said:

 

1. Make sure you scarf the ends of the two sides of the body where you are putting in the bit properly.  Hard to tell if you are doing this in your photos.  It is tricky, but I usually try to work that scarf down as cleanly as possible in my first welding pass (or second at most).  Be careful, since the ends of the scarf are thinner, they cool rapidly down from a welding heat. 

Hmm well, that makes a bunch of sense! I didn’t scarf the split ends of the body at all.  I cut the end open 3/4” deep into the body with a bandsaw and then heated it up, pried it open, stuck the bit in, closed her up and went to the races.

            So the non-scarfed split end thickness was 3/8” flat cut. I imagine that’s why it felt like it took forever to blend….