Gary,

I'm not sure what causes the white lines, but I am sure it is not unique to tile cut welds. If it was decarb that caused the lines, wouldn't they go away after another welding temp soak? Maybe worth a try.

I think it goes along with the question "how does forge-welded cable Damascus that is all 1095, produce a pattern?". Still a mystery maybe? Dan

Thanks, Dan. Certainly if the white lines are de-carb then a soak at welding temp should eliminate them. My problem is that I often don't see them until I do the final etch. I guess that I'm looking for a proactive way of eliminating them. If any of you have some thoughts on this please let me know.

Thanks,

Gary

Hi Gary, I had the same problem when i welded the tiles with flux, switched to tig welding the seams and the white lines went away.

Scott

You're right, Gary. It's just the nature of the beast - I think. One of the peculiararities of tile welding is that sometimes, there is very little subsequent forging after the tile weld. So there's the chance that the weld lines can remain visible in the finished blade. I think that line is really there in nearly all forge welding but goes away after further soak times and more drawing and reducing of the billet and migration of the steel's alloy.

Gary

What is the method that you are using to hold the tiles together? Are you using flux or Kerosene? How thick are your tiles?

I have to agree with Scott. TIG welding takes care of this problem. More forging as Karl said also works but this can be a problem with tile welding and distortion of the pattern.

Brian

Brian,

I normally cut the tiles 1/2" thick and spot weld the tops & bottoms with a MIG (I don't have a TIG). I then flux with borax & weld.

Gary

Gary

A thicker tile may help. My tiles are 3/4" thick even with the TIG method.

You can also weld your seams shut with the MIG then grind the welds off the faces, and most off the sides. This was my common practice before I got the TIG. I would grind a very tiny chamfer on the tile face so I had a small "V". When I say small, I am talking less than 1/32". Weld the seams with a MIG and then grind the welds off the faces of the billet leaving just the weld in the tiny "V" and grind most of the welds off the sides.

When you forge, the welds in the "V" become very small and are ususally removed when you grind the scale off the billet. Until you get used to it, you may want to forge a little thick and do a quick grind and etch to make sure you dont have any MIG weld left in the billet.

I did this with a 110 volt Mig welder using solid wire and 75/25 CO2/Argon gas.

Of course, there is always the Kerosene option instead of flux, or even the no flux method that has been discussed on another thread.

Brian