Talked to an old timer at a hammer-in last weekend about forge welding. He said I'm rushing my heats and it hit me hard how right he was.

2 comments

2 Comments

You ever try counting to ten before you pull it out of the fire? That simple pause saved me a ton of ruined billets. I started keeping a rhythm in my head, slow and steady, until the color looks right. Rushing is the number one killer of a good weld, man.

claire6419d ago

Three seconds is my magic number for anything under 1/4 inch, @hayden587. I actually tap my tongs twice on the anvil before pulling, gives me something physical to focus on instead of just counting in my head. Youre dead right about the color being the real indicator though - I ruined a whole stack of 1080 last month cause I got impatient and pulled at yellow instead of waiting for that orange-red. The rhythm thing works great but I also started keeping a little bowl of water nearby to dip my fingers in, keeps me from rushing cause I have to dry off first. Once I got that pause locked in, my welds got way more consistent and I stopped having to re heat stuff three times.

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