Appreciation post: old timer who told me to slow down my forge welding

A guy named Frank at a hammer-in last summer watched me screw up 3 welds in a row and said "you're rushin' the heat, let it soak." I thought he meant like 10 seconds more. Turns out he meant a full minute past where I thought it was ready. First weld after that held perfect. Has anyone else had someone give them timing advice that felt wrong at first but worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_cooper19d agoMost Upvoted

That bit about "let it soak" is the real deal. Frank's advice sounds dead on - most people underestimate how long it takes for the heat to get all the way through the metal. I had a old timer tell me once that if you think it's ready, give it another 15 seconds and look for the color to even out. The difference between a weld that sticks and one that crumbles is literally just that waiting game. So many times I'd pull it out thinking it was hot enough but the core was still cold, then wonder why it fell apart. That patience part is the hardest lesson to learn.

ryan_hart3819d ago

Yeah that part about "if you think it's ready, give it another 15 seconds" hit me hard. I used to think that was just wasting time and charcoal, that the color in my forge was good enough. Then I actually set a timer one day and held a billet in for a full extra minute. That piece welded so clean on the first try I felt stupid for not learning it sooner.

ryan_hart3819d ago

That timer trick is exactly what got me too. I had a Damascus billet that kept splitting on me for two days straight, finally set a stopwatch and held it in the forge for a full minute and a half past where I normally would have pulled it. The difference in the weld line was night and day, that extra soak time let the heat travel through all those layers instead of just the outside.