Can weld wothstand Heat treating temp?

David Stifle

David Stifle

Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
10,188
Hi Guys,

I welded up the socket to a spear I'm making, and got a good, rock solid weld. I still need to heat treat the blade and I'm wondering if the heat treatment could weaken the weld. I could heat treat the blade and leave the handle out of the forge somewhat. Anyway, what do you guys think?
 
No problem , just HT the entire thing and temper back the handle.
 
What rod did you use? Some will harden with heat treat, but the basic rods won't. They are basically mild steel.
 
I weld the tangs on damascus blades before HT, sometimes before forging them. I grind and then HT the blade as normal. I sometimes use mild steel metal for the tang extension if the tang will need shaping and drilling after HT. Regardless of the steel in the tang or blade, I just use the regular flux cored wire in the MIG welder. I wrap the blade with aluminum foil to keep the spatter off the blade surface if I will be forging. Any piece of weld spatter forged into the blade will haunt you later on.

Remember to give the weld a single temper right after welding to take out any brittleness at the joint, or it may snap on you in shaping and grinding.

BTW, in places where the joint will show, it will almost certainly show as a different color after HT....especially if etched or treated in some way to darken the blade. This is not always a serious problem if the weld is neat and evenly done, but if the weld is sloppy it will show up as a mottled surface. I think this is why some machine welded spear sockets get either painted with black paint or the neck gets wrapped with twine, leather, or twisted wire. Copper wire makes a good wrap, too.
 
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