Proper forge welding is a combination of surface preparation, heat and timing. All of the problems encountered while forge welding can be attributed to the improper execution of one or more of these three elements.

I hope this discussion and demonstration of forge welding techniques will alleviate some of the frustration many farriers seem to have in learning to consistently and effectively forge weld.

Surface Preparation

Surface preparation includes scarfing, cleaning and creating a scale-free environment.

Scarfing is properly tapering the lap joint to facilitate blending the edges of the material during welding. This also allows for stock reduction during welding so that the normal section of the shoe is maintained after finishing forge welding. Normally a lap that is slightly larger than the thickness of the shoe stock is sufficient to produce a strong and attractive weld.

In addition to scarfing, surface preparation includes properly cleaning the material to be welded. This should be done during the preheat phase. If you heat the material to be welded to a yellow heat and brush it vigorously, all of the scale can be removed prior to adding the welding flux.

Properly tapering the lap joint (scarfing) allows the edges of the materials to be properly blended during the welding process.

Applying welding flux at…