Got a piece of advice from a old timer that fixed my forge welding overnight

I've been forging for about 2 years now, mostly making bottle openers and hooks for friends. But forge welding was always my nemesis, stuff would just fall apart or not stick at all. I was at a hammer-in last month in Austin and this guy named Dale who's been doing it since the 70s watched me for like 5 minutes. He told me straight up "your steel is too cold when it hits the hammer, you need to pull it out and strike before that color even starts to fade." I was so focused on getting the flux right that I was letting the billet sit for a few seconds too long before hitting it. Soon as I started rushing that first strike, my welds actually held. Took me about 6 tries to break the habit of hesitating though lol. Has anyone else had a simple tweak like that just completely change a technique for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

milesbarnes8d ago

That thing you said about "let the hammer do the work" reminds me of my buddy Frank. He was at a hammer-in up in Oregon and this old timer watched him for a minute, then said "you're trying to guide the hammer with your whole arm, let your wrist snap it." Frank had been gripping the handle so tight his knuckles were white, and his strikes were all jerky and off. He tried the looser grip that same day on a scrap billet, and his first weld held solid. Said it felt like he was gonna drop the hammer at first, but after about an hour it became natural. Now he swears by it and tells everyone who's struggling to start with their grip.

williams.luna8d ago

My buddy Tom had the same problem with his forge welds for like a year... then someone told him to stop using so much flux and it just clicked overnight for him.

torres.riley8d ago

My buddy Kevin had the exact same thing happen with his hammer control... he was always choking up too tight on the handle and his strikes were super tense and stiff. @williams.luna would know what I mean about how your grip can mess up your weld, because Kevin spent months wondering why his welds kept delaminating at the edges. Some old timer at a demo just told him to loosen his grip and let the hammer do the work, like hold it at the very end. Next day he tried it with a set of three billets and two of them held perfect, the third only had a tiny crack at the end. He said it felt totally weird at first but now he can't go back to choking up on it.

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