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- Mar 10, 2023
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- 4
Has anyone used stainless steel tubing as a canister for welding? As it is hard to forge weld I would think it should be easier to remove than carbon steel!
SS tubing for canister
- Thread starter Johnhudson
- Start date
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
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- 36,477
Many years ago, I sent Indian George a box full of thin wall stainless tubing in 3" and 4" size. I cut it all 3" long. He was experimenting with some patterns and such that he thought would work best in a round canister. I never heard how it went, and IG can't tell us now.
What I recall was -
He was ordering a bunch of 16-gauge round plates to fit the tubes and was going to weld them in the ends. The idea was to stack the metal and powder in them vertically and then compress them around 50% from the ends to get a squished pattern, then work the "puck" from the sides to cause curved disruptions on a different axis.
Don't know what came of the plan.
What I recall was -
He was ordering a bunch of 16-gauge round plates to fit the tubes and was going to weld them in the ends. The idea was to stack the metal and powder in them vertically and then compress them around 50% from the ends to get a squished pattern, then work the "puck" from the sides to cause curved disruptions on a different axis.
Don't know what came of the plan.
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- Jul 13, 2009
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If you're eyeballing temperature on colour, SS will show up differently.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2013
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- 141
When I do canister I'll use something like .051 (or similar I just measured something I would use ) I'll go thicker on the ends 3/16 or 1/4 inside the can. There's very little to grind off after forging, and the long soak you need. Going inside helps with packing the powder. Early on I tried chromoly tubing it welded. Also consider stainless San mai. Some thoughts for you I haven't tried stainless tube.
Gilbert
Gilbert