[TheForge] Welding Spring Steel

Sun Dec 1 16:35:04 2002

        Ed,  Four years ago, I welded the 4140 dies on my air hammer with
7018 and it's holding just fine.  I did preheat it to 200 degrees to keep
the condensation out of the weld coming from the block of steel.  It's not
as fussy as you think.  It does harden next to a weld just in air cooling -
so don't try to saw it for anything after welding.  Unless you get your
blades for nothing.  :-)
        4140 is somewhat like spring steel in that it is tough more than
hard when heat treated.  This is what you want for dies - so your on the
right track.

Ralph


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed F" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 12:59 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Welding Spring Steel


> Somewhere way back when I came up with the conviction that welding 4140 is
> like welding tool steel.  I have special rod and I pre-heat and post-heat
> then let cool slowly in vermiculite.  Seems to work ok but I've mainly
done
> it with H13, not 4140.
>
> Now I'm using some new soft spring steel as parts for my 2 piece lil giant
> die setup and I want to do the best I can welding it because it will be
> hammered.  I plan to use 3/4" thick pieces for the top of the bottom die
and
> I might weld stuff on for texturing and swaging.  I suppose I could use
mild
> plate (maybe superquenched) in many cases but I know I'll want to do some
in
> the spring steel.  I think it's 5160 spring steel.  I got it years ago and
> was told I could treat it like 4140.
>
> Recently, a couple people have told me welding 4140 is no big deal at all.
> Just use 7018.  Can that be true?
>
> Ed
>
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