Stumbled on a forge welding trick that actually fixed my cold shuts

I kept getting cold shuts on my damascus billets no matter how hot I got them or how hard I hit. After 6 months of frustration, I tried lightly brushing the mating surfaces with a wire wheel right before the weld instead of just fluxing and heating. Has anyone else had luck with surface prep making or breaking a forge weld?

2 comments

2 Comments

perry.lee1mo ago

Oh man I gotta push back on this one. If your heat and hammering are dialed in right, a wire wheel shouldn't make or break a weld. Sounds more like your temp was off or you weren't hitting clean enough for the flux to do its job.

gavin_clark1mo ago

Respectfully, surface prep matters a ton - wire brushing opens up clean metal for the flux to actually grab.