Welding S30V?

S

Steve Hayden

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Mar 7, 2003
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I have a blade that I broke the stick tang off of a year or so ago (by some stupid trick I not telling about) that afriend of mine wants to try welding back together. He knows what he is doing with normal materials-he has been an oil field welder for many years.

I just wondered if there was any special stuff to do with the technology of CPM SS that needs attention.

Crucible doesn't say anything on their site (I searched) about welding S30V. All else being the same I figured it would weld pretty much like the 14-4 class of SS, e.g. 154 CM etc.

Anybody got any advice on this?
 
shgeo said:
I have a blade that I broke the stick tang off of a year or so ago (by some stupid trick I not telling about) that afriend of mine wants to try welding back together. He knows what he is doing with normal materials-he has been an oil field welder for many years.

I just wondered if there was any special stuff to do with the technology of CPM SS that needs attention.

Crucible doesn't say anything on their site (I searched) about welding S30V. All else being the same I figured it would weld pretty much like the 14-4 class of SS, e.g. 154 CM etc.

Anybody got any advice on this?
Click to expand...

welding doesn't work good on hardened steel. For best results you need to aneal the blade and weld using the same steel and re-heat treat.
 
I'd say anneal before and after welding. We did some experiments at work welding air-hardening alloys and you'd be amazed how brittle the welds are as-welded (before being annealed), and conversely how much stronger they were after annealing.

One thought, though. My understanding of powder metallurgy (hopefully mete or Mr. Cashen will chime in) is that it's used to create alloys that can't normally be made in a melt because the steel will reject the high concentrations of alloying elements. I just wonder if you'll get some kind of carbide or alloy precipitation in your weld when the filler material melts.

-Allin
 
Allin is right about the joint being glass brittle after the weld.
I say -Go ahead and do it , you can't ruin a broken blade.
Aneal it,weld it,anneal again.If the break is right at the ricasso,shorten the blade so the weld is at least 3/4" in the handle. Reharden and draw the temper a little bit softer than normal.
 
You can weld hardened tool steel but it's not for amateurs. For that specific problem the best would be electron beam welding if you have access to a machine. There will have to be preheat and post heat in any case and perhaps rehardening too.
 
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