Expedient, small scale welding

F

fnc

Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
328
I had some welding practice many years ago,
acetylene and electric arc, so I have some feel
for temps and muscle movement. I am trying to
find out if there are some expedient methods.

Here are simple examples of what I want to do:
Welding a nut or sleeve to a tang or
welding additional metal to a tang at the pommel or
welding a threaded segment to a tang at the pommel.
I think of these welds as slightly more that a spot weld,
in energy usage.

Is stainless vs carbon a big issue? If so I can stick to
carbon, I guess.

Are there some McGuiver methods like using a car battery
and dead shorting at the point of weld? Ruin the battery?
I am aware of hydrogen danger.

Is there a cheap LP torch that will work?

BTW, I would not want to heat the knife blade;
it is a finished product (final heat treated).

Any links or guidance would be appreciated.
 
I have some ideas that would work without any welding. If you want to add material to the tang and you want it threaded, get some all thread, file a groove down the middle and pin it to your existing tang. This will make a stronger joint than welding in my opinion. There are examples in the archive I bet, but it is pretty straightforward and simple to accomplish with hand tools.

If your using plain ole carbon steel, you could forge your tang round and then tap you some threads on the end. Take a look at some of Raymond Richards work for examples.

I am sure there is a time and a place for welding, but there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
 
Anthony,
Thanks for the info. I have used threaded rod, but I did not
know the name "all thread". Pinning a threaded rod does sound
like a good method.

My recent searches came up with quite a few posts, so I have
some reading to do.

My original Goal:
Remove-able handles for various Scandi's.

My original Thinking:
Generally Scandi tangs have no holes and pommel area is too
narrow to thread. I am trying to think of different ways of
making removable handles; two designs come to mind 1) the
Becker type with sleeves and bolts holding slab-half handles
2) tang threaded at the pommel area with pommel-nut holding
a wood or antler tube-shaped handle.
 
I use my wire welder to weld the tang on most of my damascus blades (about 1" up from shoulders). Since the joint will not be seen,It does not seem to matter if it is stainless or carbon. The weld takes just fine on either material. The same equipment can be used to tack a nut on or weld a die plate up for a press. IMHO the wire welder is the most useful welder if you are only to have one type in the shop.
Stacy
 
If you have an Oxy-fuel torch, try silver brazing the all thread on. when done right the joint should be as strong as the all thread. Make sure that you are using a high temp silver solder, not the stay-silv that is used for guards. They are rated by temperature, easy-flo melts the quickest, extra hard takes the most heat. Cut a vee in the all thread, as you would to pin it on, and make sure that the parts are clean. If you use easy-flo, easy, or medium, you should be able to make your joint without getting the tang up to critical.

Ken
 
I would like to add that this is not a long drawn out process. If you submerge the blade in a coffee can of icewater, leaving only the tang above water for welding, there is very little chance of ruining temper no matter which method of welding you choose. Practice on a junk piece first.
Matt Doyle
 
I have a Lincon ac welder(the cheap one you could get at home depo for $100) and weld threaded rod on tangs all the time. the trick is to grind the threads off in the weld area and use the thinnest rod of 6011 you can find.
Weld one side a little more than you think you need than chip and grind off the slag completly. if the back side needs a little touch up thanweld like before, just be sure to clean up all slag and remove all imperfections in the weld area. To get rid of the heat affected zone(thats the area where the crystaline structure changes) I heat the past the weld area to non-magnetic when I harden the blade and only qench the cutting edge of the blade, allowing the weld to cool slowly.
I've never tried to do it after heat treating the blade, your probably better off silver brazing it.
PS: cover the blade when welding arc strikes are a pain to get out.
jeremy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top