How To How do I tig weld bolsters?

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Maelstrom78

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Sep 21, 2013
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Lurking on Salem's Instagram page I notice he has a few knives where he tig welded the bolsters onto what I believe were SS blades.

This intrigued me as I would love to get into integral bolsters but I have no forging area to forge them in. I could, however, TIG weld bolsters in my "shop" ie. one and a half garage stalls.

Specifically for SS blades I could see this being problematic for heat treat although I suppose you could just plate quench the blade with the bolster hanging off. Maybe at a little angle so you make sure the heel of the blade is in there a ways.

Welding them after heat treat might be easier with a way to prevent too much heat transfer to the edge and I would think smarter to grind the bevel after heat treat anyway.

Does anyone have any advice or a link to a WIP or anything?

Thanks!
 
Your shop sounds bigger than mine and I forge nothing but integrals
I just use a simple guillotine fullering tool and hammer and anvil
I could post a WIP cause I had trouble finding one that didn't use power hammer or press but I have to finish 4 chefs knives I've already forged and won't be forging again til they are done
 
I've seen shots of Salem doing that with Damascus. What if you made your bolster slightly wider than the blade tapered like an "A" then at the joint make a shallow undercut in maybe 1/4 and under 1/8 high . Then lay the blade on edge and fill the void with bolster material and stress relieve. Fyi I'm no welding expert. Also I think I would use 4 quench plates even if the ones on the tang weren't aluminum I'd be afraid of warping.
 
Quench Plates for bolster knives with a small recess for bolster to key into? I saw a video where they were induction heating bolster/blank for a quick press weld. Will see if I can find it. How much more rust resistant is hardened stainless?

In one of his photo comments, didn’t he mention that it is fillerless tig before forge welding?
 
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Hmm yeah I believe he might be forge welding and just doing a fillerless TIG on the edges. Hmm ok thanks.
 
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