I want to make a damascus pairing chisel but i cant find a blank the right size so im left with the option of forge welding 2 smaller blanks together to make a thicker blank however building a forge for one project seems silly to me then i came across arc furnaces, well i have an arc welder and fire bricks are dirt cheap so could i get the blank hot enough forge weld or even just to forge? Thoughts and experience welcome
Maybe if i added a blower to move the heat into another part?
Hi @Accrington_joiner - welcome!
I’ll be honest - I think arc forge welding would be difficult, but I’m completely unfamiliar to it.
Are the blanks flat? Can you post photos of them? If I were in your case where you just want to do this small little project, I’d probably use a rosebud torch and a very small chamber of firebricks, have the rosebud hit the metal straight on. That should get it up to temperature. That’s assuming if you have a oxy-gas torch and tip lying around.
Alternatively, if you could find a blacksmith near you, you could perhaps reach out to them for help - if you have two small billets you want made into one, without much forging, then that would be pretty quick work for the experienced forge welder.
I’d like to see what you have currently, might be able to lend a better idea.