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Eric McHugh
Industry Professional
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 Posted: Sun 21 May, 2006 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| Randal Graham wrote: | | Eric McHugh wrote: |
Modern mild steel and higher carbon simple steel do not like to weld (compared to the steel the ancients would have used) It requires high heat and fast, decisive hammer strikes (but not heavy). Usually it takes a number of heats to have it completely welded. One other note: I only heat treat the edge. I am a little nervous about blowing a weld by trying to harden the whole blade area. Plus, it is not necessary. The unharded body gives the axe more shock resistence. |
Funny how form and function dictates the process.... there's every indication that this was the "way" for the last 2000 years or so. Cool. |
No doubt! Here is another interesting bit. I use a two part construction to keep cost down, but as PJ points out, most of these axes were made from at least three sections, sometimes 4 or even 5 sections were welded together. So, they would have had to take great care in the way they hardened the edge. IMHO.
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Alexander Hinman
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| Posted: Sun 21 May, 2006 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Eric McHugh wrote: |
That's a good question. When I first started making these, I would make a "bow-tie" piece of steel with crude langets already in place. The result was misaligned langets etc. So now, I make an almost straight piece (still somewhat like a bow-tie) and just concentrate on making a good eye for the socket. I then clean that piece up and do some shaping on the grinder according to my drawings. I then forge weld the socket to the blade material. After that is done, I clean it up and then do the final shaping of the langets using my small diameter wheels. |
That sounds good to me. One option that I thought about is using a top and bottom fullers (with some help, of course) or maybe even a guillotine fuller. Assuming that I've compensated for the lengthening of the eye, do you think that's plausible?
| Quote: | | I use bolt tongs that I have modified to hold the eye in place when forge welding. Other than that, I have a variety of wolf jaw tongs that I use. You may have to modify tongs or make your own according to what you believe feels best. You need one to hold the eye when you are making it...I use wolf jaws for this...you need another to hold the eye when you forge weld it to the blade (I use a small tack weld to keep them from moving...this of course gets ground off) so that is where the bolt tongs come in handy. They fit in each side of the eye. I then heat the whole thing to welding temp. and then forge weld them together. |
Thanks, I'll be sure to try this out, except the tack weld. That's beyond my level of expertise, and isn't 'authentic' 
| Quote: | | Other than that it is trial and error. Modern mild steel and higher carbon simple steel do not like to weld (compared to the steel the ancients would have used) It requires high heat and fast, decisive hammer strikes (but not heavy). Usually it takes a number of heats to have it completely welded. One other note: I only heat treat the edge. I am a little nervous about blowing a weld by trying to harden the whole blade area. Plus, it is not necessary. The unharded body gives the axe more shock resistence. |
I'm actually going to use wrought iron from a tie in a 19th century ship. Granted, it's rather rusted, but I've managed to re-weld it (thank goodness for silica) so it'll be easier to weld together than mild steel. Unless I use some sort of mystery spring steel for the edge.
I wouldn't expect you to heat treat anywhere other than the edge (can you heat treat mild steel?). What colour did you bring it to? I've heard suggestions from a 'dark blue' to 'barely purple' to 'straw yellow'.
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