Can I save a billet with bad welds?

T

Travis Fry

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Jun 11, 2010
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So I made some damascus a while back, and after about 8 layers of Ws, reorientation, drawing out, 4 waying, and Ferry flipping, I noticed when I surface ground the resulting billet, that the 4 way weld wasn't perfect. There are some tiny lines visible in a few places. If I flux and forge a blade with the first few heats at welding heat, will I be able to rescue this? Is it good only for guards and fittings? I'd hate to see all that work go to waste. I'm pretty new to forge welding, but am pretty comfortable with the process, and after 5 or 6 billets this is the first time this has happened to me.

I should add, it isn't trapped flux that was the problem. I think the middle of my stack wasn't heated enough. The cracks are hair thin and relatively clean, but are definitely there.
 
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I would see if you can surface grind a little more to get rid of them. They may get larger or disappear. The worst thing is to get a blade ground and heat treated only to find these inclusions and you have to start over.
 
Travis Fry said:
If I flux and forge a blade with the first few heats at welding heat, will I be able to rescue this?

I should add, it isn't trapped flux that was the problem. I think the middle of my stack wasn't heated enough. The cracks are hair thin and relatively clean, but are definitely there.
Click to expand...

Travis, I am by no means a damascus guru, however, I do know that a good weld depends on fairly clean surfaces with little contamination. If you have already welded a billet together and have discovered sections that did not completely weld, there is a pretty high probability that contamination now exists in the unwelded portion in the form of oxidation.

I would be very apprehensive about trying to re-flux and re-weld. Flux in itself has little ability to "remove" contamination, and contamination can and will cause weld failure.

I have first hand knowledge, not only in my damascus endeavors, but also through watching every step of a rather well known damascus maker on numerous occasions. On each occasion of a (sometimes small area) of weld failure, it could be directly attributed to surface contamination. This contamination did not result in the initial weld, but in subsequent "folds" and re-welds with less than "clean" mating surfaces. (Think "Slag-Inclusion as an example)

In other words, a weld failure is a weld failure, and I don't think re-fluxing and re-welding will be a total answer. It may help, but your mileage may vary.

I'm also sure others (hopefully with more experience) will chime in and share some insight on this.

Robert
 
Yeah, sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. Flux it good, give it a long soak at welding heat, and use a hand hammer to coax it together... your mileage may vary, but it does work sometimes. Be persistent, be confident, sometimes it could take a few tries. Be sure to hold your mouth right...:)
 
I reckon I'll give it a go. I have nothing to lose, really, except maybe some guard material if I ruin it, and a very nice blade it works. I'll try to remember to update with results, but I'm pretty bad at that generally, so no guarantees.
 
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