I finally got my forge welding to hold after 3 days of fails

So I've been trying to get a solid forge weld on a set of tongs I'm making. The first two days the welds would just fall apart as soon as I tapped them. I kept thinking it was a flux problem or my heat was off. Turns out the issue was I wasn't cleaning the scale off good enough before each pass. Once I started wire brushing the metal between heats and getting it bright, the welds stuck on the first try that afternoon. Has anyone else spent way longer than they expected chasing a basic blacksmithing skill like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles4421mo ago

Took me a whole weekend once just trying to get a fire poker welded. Turned out my anvil had so much oil on it from previous projects the metal kept slipping. Wire brush went on the anvil too before I figured it out.

rosebarnes1mo ago

Man that's a whole weekend I'll never get back too. I spent three hours once trying to weld a garden trellis, kept wondering why the metal was sliding all over. @charles442 nailed it with the oil thing. I felt like such a dummy when I finally wiped the anvil down and everything stuck perfect. My wife still brings it up whenever I complain about a project taking too long.