My first forge weld finally clicked after 8 tries

I spent 3 hours last Saturday in my shop in Nashville trying to get a simple forge weld to stick on a fire poker. Kept getting cold shuts and scale in the joint no matter what flux I used. Then I noticed my forge temperature was reading way hotter than it actually was because my thermocouple was loose. Fixed that, brought it up to a nice bright yellow heat, and the weld took like butter on the first try. Has anyone else had their tools lie to them about temperature like that?

1 comments

1 Comment

mark_cooper6h ago

Respectfully, I'd argue the tools weren't lying - they just wore out or got loose, same as any tool after enough use. A loose thermocouple is on you for not checking it before firing up.