Like we talked about: 1) 5160 is NOT the easiest to forge weld. 2) I suggest you try welding some sacrificial steel over the ends first or welding the seams so you don’t get any oxygen. Kyle Royer does this for all his mosaics now and it’s really good insurance. Keep at it brother! ❤️
I have been soaking my billets in kerosene prior too the first heat and weld setting. The heat to red, flux with borax, get it hot, tap light too set the weld, then full heat and increasingly harder blows, borax in between each heat for 3-4 heats
Oh another thing. Going off the back of your comment of welding a shorter bit onto your billet and using tongs instead of the longer handle. I have found you don't have to re weld your handle on as much that way. You are holding the billet way closer to the weld, so it puts less stress on it. 👍
I haven’t been making Damascus for a long time, but everyone I have talked too about Damascus says to just lightly tap it to set the welds. If you start really pounding on it in the beginning it will weld right where you hit, but the rest will pop open. I have found this to be true. Also I like to use 2-3 heats of setting the weld to just to be sure. The final piece of advice I have been given was to “flux the heck out of it, bordering on wasting it” Hope this was helpful
Take a grinder and open up the seams where it didn't weld fire up the forge.Apply flux before the billet gets too hot when it turns a red set your weld then re flux. Bring it up to forge welding temp tap tap re flux you'll know real quick if it takes or not.I had an old billet i tried this method an it worked.
I never had great success with fixing a bad weld, other than boring the spot out or cutting it off. Usually, the most common spot to fail for me is on the end of the billet, so it's really no biggy. But if it's in the middle, I'll use a grinder or dremel to get it as clean as possible before continuing. To be honest though, I mostly use a press and if it won't close, I just keep squishing it out and hope it will migrate to the end. The metal is too expensive to just throw out :) have a good day.
Nice one man! Great tutorial on how to fix delams. Thanks! So how many btu does your burners kick out?? Just curious. I have a propane forge I built a few years ago, but also have a coke forge as well..
I have tried to repair a billet before. Came out with the same results. I think my heat wasn't hot enough addy the beginning. The videos of it are on my channel. Thanks for sharing!👍⚒
Dang brother your a beast💪🏾 I'm not a Damascus guy, but the few times I've struggled with forge welding was either a heat issue or scale because I didn't flux. When I fixed them I had to just cut into the cold shut with and angle grinder leaving fresh steel. Flux and rewelded.
I have tried to fix bad welds a couple times, I usually try to grind them out but if that doesn't work I flatten the billet out and try to fold it or I cut them in half and weld them again. And use a lot of flux (: I also trie to forge the metal at forgewelding temperature to make sure that if it opens up I can cloce it easier. I usually tap it down with a smaller hammer at the beginning, I'm not sure whether it makes a difference but it works for me
It’s been a big problem with me and I believe it’s because I’m using a gas forge..I can get plenty of heat to manipulate steel but not enough to properly forge weld ...just my opinion....Thanks for the channel 👍
Two 3/4 inch pipes I’ve covered one end of the forge and partially cover the main but still have some doubts..maybe my regulator isn’t pushing enough gas ? I’ve had better results on coal for welding but i really prefer gas
@@bernabesanchez387 I'm running 20psi to mine with .035 size orifice in the venturi. It does take some adjusting to get the heat right. I've never used coal but I plan to someday. =)
I made a billet using the same materials. It didn't want to weld at first. I added a layer to each side, got it well above welding temps and finally got everything to weld. I then had to grind off the outside layers because they were burnt up. Then I was able to cut and stack for another weld.
@@WJBlades if I had allowed the material to come up to welding temps the first time, I wouldn't have needed to add on sacrificial layers. The idea of soaking it in diesel or kerosene is good as well.
Like we talked about: 1) 5160 is NOT the easiest to forge weld. 2) I suggest you try welding some sacrificial steel over the ends first or welding the seams so you don’t get any oxygen. Kyle Royer does this for all his mosaics now and it’s really good insurance. Keep at it brother! ❤️
I've been a bit too lazy to do this but, maybe I should moving forward with more critical jobs.
I have been soaking my billets in kerosene prior too the first heat and weld setting. The heat to red, flux with borax, get it hot, tap light too set the weld, then full heat and increasingly harder blows, borax in between each heat for 3-4 heats
Oh another thing. Going off the back of your comment of welding a shorter bit onto your billet and using tongs instead of the longer handle.
I have found you don't have to re weld your handle on as much that way. You are holding the billet way closer to the weld, so it puts less stress on it. 👍
I haven’t been making Damascus for a long time, but everyone I have talked too about Damascus says to just lightly tap it to set the welds. If you start really pounding on it in the beginning it will weld right where you hit, but the rest will pop open. I have found this to be true. Also I like to use 2-3 heats of setting the weld to just to be sure. The final piece of advice I have been given was to “flux the heck out of it, bordering on wasting it” Hope this was helpful
All of that is good advice.
Take a grinder and open up the seams where it didn't weld fire up the forge.Apply flux before the billet gets too hot when it turns a red set your weld then re flux. Bring it up to forge welding temp tap tap re flux you'll know real quick if it takes or not.I had an old billet i tried this method an it worked.
I've done that... sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. 🤷
I never had great success with fixing a bad weld, other than boring the spot out or cutting it off. Usually, the most common spot to fail for me is on the end of the billet, so it's really no biggy. But if it's in the middle, I'll use a grinder or dremel to get it as clean as possible before continuing. To be honest though, I mostly use a press and if it won't close, I just keep squishing it out and hope it will migrate to the end. The metal is too expensive to just throw out :) have a good day.
Words of wisdom, thank you.
@@WJBlades yup! Keep up the good work, I enjoy your channel.
Nice one man! Great tutorial on how to fix delams. Thanks! So how many btu does your burners kick out?? Just curious. I have a propane forge I built a few years ago, but also have a coke forge as well..
Any number I give you would be just a guess. Thanks for watching and commenting maybe I'll feel well enough soon to go back at it.
I have tried to repair a billet before. Came out with the same results. I think my heat wasn't hot enough addy the beginning. The videos of it are on my channel. Thanks for sharing!👍⚒
Dang brother your a beast💪🏾
I'm not a Damascus guy, but the few times I've struggled with forge welding was either a heat issue or scale because I didn't flux. When I fixed them I had to just cut into the cold shut with and angle grinder leaving fresh steel. Flux and rewelded.
That seems to be the consensus, thanks for the input brother. =)
I have tried to fix bad welds a couple times, I usually try to grind them out but if that doesn't work I flatten the billet out and try to fold it or I cut them in half and weld them again. And use a lot of flux (: I also trie to forge the metal at forgewelding temperature to make sure that if it opens up I can cloce it easier.
I usually tap it down with a smaller hammer at the beginning, I'm not sure whether it makes a difference but it works for me
Thanks for sharing your experience.
It’s been a big problem with me and I believe it’s because I’m using a gas forge..I can get plenty of heat to manipulate steel but not enough to properly forge weld ...just my opinion....Thanks for the channel 👍
How many torches are you using and what size pipe? Although these Forge welds did not go well I've done a lot of Forge welding with my gas forge. =)
Two 3/4 inch pipes I’ve covered one end of the forge and partially cover the main but still have some doubts..maybe my regulator isn’t pushing enough gas ? I’ve had better results on coal for welding but i really prefer gas
@@bernabesanchez387 I'm running 20psi to mine with .035 size orifice in the venturi. It does take some adjusting to get the heat right. I've never used coal but I plan to someday. =)
I made a billet using the same materials. It didn't want to weld at first. I added a layer to each side, got it well above welding temps and finally got everything to weld. I then had to grind off the outside layers because they were burnt up. Then I was able to cut and stack for another weld.
I just cleaned up another set of the same materials... will be giving it another go soon. =)
@@WJBlades if I had allowed the material to come up to welding temps the first time, I wouldn't have needed to add on sacrificial layers. The idea of soaking it in diesel or kerosene is good as well.