- Joined
- Nov 27, 2013
- Messages
- 1,626
Let me start off by saying, I have VERY little welding experience. I think I might have mig welded a few pieces of steel together while in high skrool, but that was long ago and I haven't retained anything from that other than a faint memory. I forge welded one billet of San Mai(15n20
I just got a new mig welder and am wondering how to go about welding smaller billet stacks for San Mai. It's a 180 amp mig/flux core Lincoln welder(Lincoln 180HD). I'd prefer to use the flux core wire for now because I don't have any gas/tanks yet.
In the operator manual it references steel thickness a lot, but being as I'd be welding on the side/edge of the steel, would that make any difference? I imagine not as I'm essentially just tacking the pieces together for a dry weld(without flux, borax, or kerosene). In that regard, I would prefer to weld up the entire perimeter for a dry weld. That way has just worked better for me because borax flux has already taken out a chunk of my forge innards. Any idea what would be the best setting to set the welder at? I would think one pass across the perimeter would be wide enough to hold the stack together and seal the inside. Then I thought, since there are two areas where steels come together(in a stack of three pieces) I might want to do two passes. One on each area were the steels meet together. Then I would imagine I could just let the wire rest in the groove between the two pieces, and let mud fly. That might be overkill though. If I was to do one pass, would I just want to do one pass around the middle of the stack(so the weld bleeds into both the two sections where the pieces stack together)?
At the moment I'm using 15n20 as the jacket and 1084 as the core. I'd really like to do a stainless steel jacket, with a high carbon steel core though. I REALLY like the high contrast look of bright stainless with a dark, black core. From what I've read, forge welding stainless and high carbon stacks is a little more complicated. How would I go about doing that? What would be the "best" steels to do this with? Would I just use the same method as I would with the 15n20 and 1084?
Lastly, and this is of little concern at the moment. How would one go about doing a dry weld on a thicker stack, like Damascus? It would seem like that would be a lot of weld material to put down if the stack was especially thick. In that regard, is it even worth dry welding? Again, I'm not really worried about this at the moment as I'm using an Atlas Mini-forge and the mouth isn't large enough to accommodate thicker stacks of steel.
I have a tendency to over analyze things too much, and I wouldn't doubt it if this is the case with this. Either way, I figure you guys would know how to get this done.
I just got a new mig welder and am wondering how to go about welding smaller billet stacks for San Mai. It's a 180 amp mig/flux core Lincoln welder(Lincoln 180HD). I'd prefer to use the flux core wire for now because I don't have any gas/tanks yet.
In the operator manual it references steel thickness a lot, but being as I'd be welding on the side/edge of the steel, would that make any difference? I imagine not as I'm essentially just tacking the pieces together for a dry weld(without flux, borax, or kerosene). In that regard, I would prefer to weld up the entire perimeter for a dry weld. That way has just worked better for me because borax flux has already taken out a chunk of my forge innards. Any idea what would be the best setting to set the welder at? I would think one pass across the perimeter would be wide enough to hold the stack together and seal the inside. Then I thought, since there are two areas where steels come together(in a stack of three pieces) I might want to do two passes. One on each area were the steels meet together. Then I would imagine I could just let the wire rest in the groove between the two pieces, and let mud fly. That might be overkill though. If I was to do one pass, would I just want to do one pass around the middle of the stack(so the weld bleeds into both the two sections where the pieces stack together)?
At the moment I'm using 15n20 as the jacket and 1084 as the core. I'd really like to do a stainless steel jacket, with a high carbon steel core though. I REALLY like the high contrast look of bright stainless with a dark, black core. From what I've read, forge welding stainless and high carbon stacks is a little more complicated. How would I go about doing that? What would be the "best" steels to do this with? Would I just use the same method as I would with the 15n20 and 1084?
Lastly, and this is of little concern at the moment. How would one go about doing a dry weld on a thicker stack, like Damascus? It would seem like that would be a lot of weld material to put down if the stack was especially thick. In that regard, is it even worth dry welding? Again, I'm not really worried about this at the moment as I'm using an Atlas Mini-forge and the mouth isn't large enough to accommodate thicker stacks of steel.
I have a tendency to over analyze things too much, and I wouldn't doubt it if this is the case with this. Either way, I figure you guys would know how to get this done.
Last edited:
