Took me 6 months to figure out my forge was too small for welding

Everyone says you just need more heat to weld, but my little gas forge with one burner was never gonna do it right. After maybe 50 failed attempts over half a year, I borrowed a buddy's two-burner in Phoenix and got a solid billet on the first try. Has anyone else burned time on gear that just couldn't handle the job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_cole1mo ago

Time to heat kills welds, not just temperature.

susana661mo ago

Has anyone ever thought about how the size of your forge relates to the shape of the billet you're trying to weld? Like, a small forge might heat the middle of a long piece fine, but the ends stay cold and that kills your weld. I spent forever trying to get a twist pattern to weld up, and my little forge just couldn't hold heat on the tips. It's not always about more heat - sometimes it's about the heat being in the wrong spots, you know?

jennysullivan1mo ago

Knew a guy named Dave who spent a full year trying to weld a San Mai billet in his little propane forge. His issue was the billet was way longer than the forge fire, so the middle would get to welding temp but the edges would stay cold and just crumble when he hit them. He finally got desperate and cut the billet into three short sections (which felt like giving up, you know), welded each one separately in his buddy's big forge, then forge welded those sections together. Took him three tries to get that last weld right because the ends kept cooling off again. He still uses that little forge for knives, but he never tries to weld anything longer than his hand in it anymore.