[TheForge] A36 vs 1018

[Paul N]

Thanks to all that are participating. I was about to give up on forge 
welding with it "forever" until I found some words of encouragement :-)

I'd have to say that when I've had success forge welding A36, it's 
generally been on "the first attempt". I've made some really nice welds 
with it. Sometime so nicely, that I've been proud to hand over to 
someone, even someone who understands the craft and ask them if they can 
find the weld point.

And I'd also agree with "once you bugger it up, it seems impossible". 
And this is what confounds me. I don't really know if I buggered it up 
or if the reason the first weld missed was because there was a problem 
with the steel in the first place.

With different concoctions of alloys, I'm going to guess that it's 
probably pointless to attempt to determine if the problem is too much 
heat, too little heat, soaked too long/not long enough, etc. As the 
cause may vary from sample to  sample. Any comments on what others may 
have noticed when their welds failed to take with A36?

I've heard people mention that the metal can  be "too hot", but if 
that's the case, unless some transformation takes place, I would expect 
it to become suitable for a weld as it cools through the proper 
temperature. This doesn't seem to happen. (So my assumption is that it 
either was never suitable, or it substantively changed)

What I have learned it the importance of my scarfs. I need to keep a 
"horizontal flat" in the so the pieces don't slide off of each other. 
The A36 seems to tend toward being more "slippery". That is, rarely do I 
touch 2 pieces of A36 together at the anvil and have them immediately 
fuse. So having a flat allows a couple tacking hammer blows to get the 
pieces to join.

The "Bad example" would be something like:

   ______________    _____________
                 \   \
                  \   \
------------------    -------------

Where the "good one" was more like: (The tapers wouldn't be as steep, 
but I hope I expressed the idea)

_________________      ___________________
                  \     \
                   ---   ---
                      \     \
----------------------      -------------

What I found so frustrating, and prompted my initial question is that 
the weld was a true "faggot weld" of a "bundle" of rods. No scarfing 
necessary. Just heat 'em up and tack them together. In fact, aside from 
the very first time I did this, I don't think I ever had such an epic 
failure welding a basket handle together.

Lots of good information being discussed,
thanks,
**pn


Andrew Vida wrote:
> I've had very little trouble welding A36, but one thing I discovered was 
> that once you bugger up a weld with it, it is very difficult to get 
> things back to a state where welding will happen for the piece in 
> question.  I have no idea why this would be so, but so it seems to be 
> the case in my experience.
> 
> I agree with the opinion that advocates buying decent materials like 
> 1018 in the first place.  In the end it costs you less in both money and 
> stomach lining.
> 
> David Childress wrote:
>> I know there are a few smiths that weld A36 consistently, but their
>> skill level in general is so far above mine that they are just a spec
>> up in the sky to us common mortals.  Around here I only know of three
>> smiths that almost always get good welds on A36.  I have asked two of
>> three what the "secret" is and they claimed that they did not know.  I
>> doubt that I will ever be that good.
>>
>> David Childress
>> Rocky Forge Blacksmith Guild
>>
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