Finally hit 500 forge welds without a single failure today

Been tracking my weld count since March and just passed 500 clean joins - last year I was lucky to get 3 out of 10 to hold. Anyone else keep a tally to see if their technique is actually improving?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake16d ago

Hold up - "forge welds" or "forge welds" with a hammer? Because if you're talking about forge welding with a hammer and anvil, 500 clean joins is killer work man, but I gotta ask: Are you counting tack welds or actual full fusion welds? There's a big difference between a quick tack that holds and a proper forge weld that actually bonds the layers. I've seen guys hit numbers like that only to realize they were counting single sparks that stuck but never actually fused the material. That said, if you're tracking from March and improving that fast, you're doing something right - just make sure you're testing those welds to destruction every 10 or so to be sure they're actually solid.

miles_hall15d ago

Man, I totally get that distinction because I once bragged about 300 "forge welds" and then realized half of them were just hot sparks that stuck to my hammer (they looked like welds from a distance, okay?). Appreciate the detailed breakdown from @the_jake, especially the bit about destructive testing, which I learned the hard way when a "clean weld" fell apart while I was showing it off to my buddy. Gotta respect anyone who's actually tracking their real fusion rate though, even if we all pad the numbers a little when we're just starting out.

oscarc1215d ago

Pushing back a little on that, I think counting hot sparks as forge welds is a pretty generous way to track progress. If you're not actually testing those joins to see if they hold, it's tough to call them real welds. What's the point of tracking a number if it doesn't tell you how strong your bonds are?