belargehair Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Anyone have any advice on welding tool steel to mild? I was going to try to make a mini hatchet by using mild steel for the main part of the head and welding on some higher carbon steel for the cutting edge. I suspect it comes down to rod selection and pre/post heating techniques. Forge welding is out of my league for the time being. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otto Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 bring it up to 200, 250 pre heat weld with 70 s (tig) or 7018 (arc) and you should be fine. hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belargehair Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 Perfect! Thanks for the help. I'll pick up some rods tonight and give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Gomez Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Your best bet might not be arc welding. You really should concider forge welding a tool steel bit into a shalow cut in the front edge of the mild steel axe body. This method is tried and true, and has been in use for hundreds of years. Here is a link to a step by step how to on axe making that includes this technique. How to forge an axe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belargehair Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 Well, I was shying away from forge welding... but I guess there's no time like the present! I'll try forge welding some mild steel together first and then try the hatchet. I'm trying to make a VERY small hatchet, the head will be about the size of a business card. Thanks for the help everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbillysmith Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Simply put, just hard face the edge and grind it. That's probably the easiest and fastest way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belargehair Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Ease, fast.. I like it! I might try a few methods and compare the results/effort ratio. Again, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Thanks for the pics gomez:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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