[TheForge] Welding preheat

[Paul Novorolsky]

One thing I left out of the original post, was that the size of that 
6011 rod is 1/8". What I'm really wondering is if that will provide 
adequate penetration to the heavy stock with the preheat.

On 9/17/2010 11:42 AM, Paul N wrote:
> That's fine once I get that hole punched, but it will be probably 4 or
> more heats squaring it up, etc before I even begin punching the hole.
> Then I have to hold it for those heats until the punching is complete.
>
> I already gave it a shot at holding in in my largest tongs, and it's too
> unwieldy (I can't get a good enough grip on it). I figured a 10 minute
> weld job is probably the quickest way to get me where I want to be. I
> really don't want to make a pair of big tongs because they'll be, well,
> big; I don't expect to re-use them anytime soon. Plus the tong exercise
> will be more time consuming than welding on a temporary piece for my
> initial forging.
>
> thanks,
> **paul
>
> On 9/17/2010 11:30 AM, Bruce Freeman wrote:
>> Paul,
>>
>> I'm no expert on hammer making, but in my limited experience, the
>> first step was to punch the hole for the wooden handle.  Once the hole
>> is there you have a couple options how to hold the piece for further
>> forging.
>>
>> One option is to use a hammer-handle-hole drift AS the handle.
>> Another is to modify a set of tongs so one jaw goes through the hole
>> and the other grasps the side.  If these tongs are a modified box-jaw
>> type, you can get a very firm grip while working parallel to the long
>> axis of the hammer head.
>>
>> In short, I see no need to weld at all.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Paul N<crosspein at sbcglobal.net>   wrote:
>>> I'm about to make my first largish hammer, and I intend to arc-weld a
>>> "handle" stub onto it. Since I only have hobby-duty welding equipment,
>>> I thought I'd get another opinion or two before I proceed.
>>>
>>> The hammer head will be forged in a coal forge.
>>>
>>> Here's what I've got:
>>> Material:
>>>    2.5" dia piece of railroad locomotive spring, about 5" long (around 7#)
>>>    1" dia A-36 for my "handle" (about 6" long so I can grab it with
>>> reasonably sized pair of tongs)
>>>
>>> Choice of welders:
>>>    Lincoln 225 AC/DC ("tombstone")
>>>    Lincoln SP-170T wirefeed (.035 FCAW)
>>>
>>>
>>> Here's the procedure I'm considering:
>>> I've beveled the end of the 1" piece leaving about 1/4" flat at the bottom.
>>>
>>> I was going to use the 225 AC/DC and 6011 rod DCEP to get the best
>>> penetration
>>>
>>> I'm going to preheat both pieces. From what I've read, I should preheat
>>> the spring to about 300 degrees.
>>>
>>> Questions:
>>> Is this likely to produce a weld that's adequate to hold up to the
>>> hammering? (Manual, striker with a sledge)
>>>
>>> Is the preheat temp critical? More specifically, is hotter better?
>>>
>>> thanks,
>>> **Paul
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>>
>>
>>
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