Important Metallurgical question.

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
We all know that it is important to thoroughly clean all of your steel when attempting to forge weld a billet of any kind. Little pieces of scale or other contaminates can surely interfere with a good weld. In fact, we all have welded a billet and had it fail or at least contain some inclusions from a small unknown particle or something else. So tell me why is it that every time I intentionally use a contaminated can to weld up a cannister billet it welds solid as a rock every single time to the billet. The last can I made up had loose crusty rust all over the inside of the can but I did not stop there. I added a quarter inch of acetylene soot all over the inside of the can. I mean it, soot on my hands soot on my workbench soot on the ceiling of the shop. Guess what? FLAWLESS weld between can and billet. A quarter stick of dynamite would not get that can off. But leave a fly turd between two pieces of pristine steel and see what happens to your billet. Defies logic...Rant over
 
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tkroenlein said:
Isn't soot mostly carbon?
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Not sure I read somewhere it would keep the can from welding. Not. I have just decided to never try and peel a can again. I like making canister so I would like to keep it that way. By the time I draw the 1/8 inch can out to billet size the mild steel is thin anyway.
 
I dont know but I'm thinking it's the lack of Oxygen in the can. The O2 is what causes the scale to build up and prevent weld.
 
In the few I’ve done, the only thing I’ve gotten right is the can not welding. I use a cheap spray paint can of primer and it works great.
 
J. Doyle said:
Did I read somewhere about putting stainless foil inside the can? Or did I imagine that? Would that keep the can from welding to the billet?
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Either a stainless can or burned SS foil is supposed to work but I am done trying. I pay the $4.00 for a belt to grind it off.
 
J. Doyle said:
Did I read somewhere about putting stainless foil inside the can? Or did I imagine that? Would that keep the can from welding to the billet?
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Yeah John, Steve Schwarzer does that with old used stainless foil...the billet falls right out of the can
 
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