Thread: Making a forge weld

Hey guys,
I have 2 smallish pieces of carbon steel left which I would like to weld to simple iron rebar for the tang / handle.
Waste not want not.

I have never done anything like this before.
What is the best way of going about this?

The most basic (Red Green) aproach is to heat both pieces of steel untill they are no longer attracted to a magnet then place them on top of one another and hamer away. If you are more into the color of the steel it is described as red (I find this more a mater of opinion than the magnet will not stick aproach).
Of course flatening the rebar before hand will make the forge welding much easier.

This is the way that I have been forging smaller pieces of high carbon steel to other pieces of metal. I prepare both surfaces so they are clean and shiny. Tack a small weld on the very end with a welder to hold them together. Put in the forge wait till the metal starts to get red hot then flux with borax. Then put back in forge and heat until yellow hot and flux starts moving around. Then bring the work to the anvil and tap lightly till I hear the metal connect then move on down the line a bit and do the same thing. The hammer ring kind of goes thud thud then rings when the metal comes in contact. After all the metal seems to be connected I reflux and put back in the forge, when I pull the metal out this time I hammer normal and listen and look to see that the weld has come together.

For me, my forge welding light bulb went off when I saw somebody else doing some forge welding. After seeing it in person it all made sense to me. I am a monkey see - monkey do type of learner.

Charlie

You can do this with your set-up Bruno. Both pieces need to be hot, as in near 2350 F. Non magnetic is down around 1450-1500 F. It is possible to weld steels at those temperatures but not for someone who is tool and knowledge challenged. Charlie's advice is the best. If you have a smith nearby, watching is worth a lot of time and effort. "flux starts moving around", or flux dancing, I would tell you about bubbling then bubbles collapsing and surface tension and scale melting....each are the same but referenced in different ways as our minds see what's going on.

Tack welding is helpful. Otherwise forge welding generally requires three hands.

Is the borax necessary, or more a convenience?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Is the borax necessary, or more a convenience?

It is always a good idea to have some kind of flux to keep the surface of the metal free from oxidation. Borax is just easy to come by, but you could use clean fine sand or ask a local smith for a sample of something that I use called Anti Borax.

You do not need a big hit to get a good weld, but it is important as Charlie stated to prepare the surfaces that are to be mated up to match. A weld on small pieces is sometimes done just with the squeeze of tongs as my mentor is famous for doing. The smack with the hammer pushes out the flux so that the surface of the metal(s) can touch while still molten on the surface.

I didn't mean to tell you how to build a watch when you only asked for the time!! Go and watch a smith do it once or twice and it will become clear I am sure.

Will N.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Is the borax necessary, or more a convenience?

For some experienced/talented smiths no, for me I need the flux to get a good weld.

Charlie

Thanks guys. I'll see if I can get Borax around here.
I have no local smith handy, which is why I asked here.

Old crafts are only now starting to regain popularity. Some nearly died out in the previous decades.
Smithing is one of them. The only smithing done around here is simple horseshoeing, or making art pieces.
The guys doing art pieces tend to be very protective of their art.

The mastersmith I talked with told me that that is a problem with the smithing community in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The people who are decent tend to be very protective of their art.
Sharing knowledge like we do and helping each other is unheard of

I do not know if it easy for you to locate borax or not. I have been able to find it in the laundry soap section at the grocery store and at a pottery supply store.

Charlie

You know the biggest problem to finding stuff locally is figuring out what it is called

Simple example: MAAS is unknown here. So if you are looking for MAAS, you'll have to figure out what the specifications are, and then figure out where you could get that and what it is called. And even then, you might discover that there is no direct equivalent, so you'll have to figure out what it is supposed to do, and then find something else which does the same.