Finally got my forge welding to stick after 4 years of trying

I used to just glue my loops together or use a mig welder for my shoes. Looked like crap and failed half the time. Last Tuesday I went back to basics and actually watched my heat color instead of guessing. Spent 2 hours just practicing with scrap steel till it clicked. Any other farriers here switch from welding to forge welding and have tips for getting consistent heat?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.gavin1mo agoMost Upvoted

Read an old farrier's blog saying leave the scale on for first pass.

wendy2051mo ago

199 degrees is the sweet spot I found for mild steel, right where the color starts to look like dried blood. I spent a whole Saturday just burning through a box of scrap, trying to match that color by eye. @davis.gavin left a good tip about leaving the scale on, but I actually get better results when I knock it off with a stiff wire brush right before the strike. The flux does a lot of the heavy lifting if your metal is clean and you keep the heat steady. My first few successful welds were ugly but they held, and that was all I needed to keep going.