Forging

Hey Josy,

I use a lot of concave in my daily work, and as such, I forge weld a ton of bar shoes. The process is the same for concave as it is for flat stock. However, I find that if, after I hockey stick the ends to be welded, I upset the stock a little more than I would for flat it makes a better looking finished product. Scarf your weld area, overlap your scarfs as you normally would, and bring to a dull red color; brush and flux (currently I'm using Sure-Weld, but Swan works well too). Heat your shoe until the stock is the same color as the inside of the forge, bring it to the anvil and weld it. Depending on your forge, you may have to repeat the process for the other side, but that is easy enough. As for jump welding a bar in, I've never tried it with propane, but there really isn't any need for it. It would be more work, more time, and extremely difficult in a gas forge. Even if you are using coal/coke, I wouldn't jump weld a bar in. Hope this helps. I have a video up on YouTube of me forging a heartbar out of concave, check it out, maybe it'll be useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YT4jRvLfks

Hope this helps,

Nick