# Welding high carbon steel



## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

I got some really cheap weight distributing bars from the Airstream dealer in town. Patrick and I are building a skid steer mounted grubbing tool for the lightly rooted but numerous tar and creosote bushes at the ranch. The bars are solid and made of high carbon steel. We pre-heated the welded areas to glowing red then welded them to an old, stupid heavy skid steer back plate.

I had a chance to test drive the new tool yesterday mounted on the JD110, it works great and the best part is that it held together! Welding sucker rod is similar, as it cools you will hear the SNAP as the weld lets go.

Patrick called this job well and now I get to set on the tractor and "enjoy" the tool for 160 acres!


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

When I went to welding school the old instructor always had us use 7018H I think? It was a hi allow rod also using chipping hammer to peen the weld releaves stress in the weld .


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Or hit it with a needle scaler after welding to peen it.


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## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

Burning 1/8" 7018 running our Miller Pro400 diesel welder. Always use enough gun!


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

On US Navy Destroyers we had to preheat any high carbon steel that was over 3/4 thick for what it is worth, 350 degrees.

One day last winter it was -10 degrees (f) and I was welding a shell seam (hull) outside. Since a hull is only 5/8 thick, technically pre-heat was not required and I even asked the Navy Inspector because it did not seem right. Ten Below Zero is cold..."Nope, not required he said". It passed x-ray, but I am not sure I would want to sail on it and hit a 50 foot wave in the Arctic Ocean.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

RuttedField said:


> On US Navy Destroyers we had to preheat any high carbon steel that was over 3/4 thick for what it is worth, 350 degrees.
> 
> One day last winter it was -10 degrees (f) and I was welding a shell seam (hull) outside. Since a hull is only 5/8 thick, technically pre-heat was not required and I even asked the Navy Inspector because it did not seem right. Ten Below Zero is cold..."Nope, not required he said". It passed x-ray, but I am not sure I would want to sail on it and hit a 50 foot wave in the Arctic Ocean.


I'm glad I didn't know that 25 years ago when I was one one of those Sprucan destroyers in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club when I was floating around in the North Atlantic and made it to the north pole. Ain't sure I woulda went without a rifle muzzle impression being left in the middle of my back from where they "helped" me onto the boat.

Skip A Rope, Mark


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

Honestly, when I welded, I always thought about the end product. You see those 300 sailors walking around the shipyard and knew there was 300 lives on that ship, and that ship could see 50 foot seas...or possibly battle. Our welds had to have a certain shape to them, not for looks, but because an acute angle would capture the reverberations of an ordnance and crack the weld, so we shaped our welds so it would not. I was pretty particular on how my welds looked.

Towards the end of my career there I was welding the missile silos together and that was pretty cool. 155 weld passes per joint for 4 inch high strength steel. Yep...that was preheated, a bear in the summer, but I was well compensated. But it was not always about the money.

One year there was a US Freighter that got attacked by pirates and the Ship's Captain was taken prisoner for ransom. The ship let out a distress call and all through the night one of the ships we build sailed at full steam. The next morning the First Mate said they looked at the horizon and saw the USS Bainbridge ready to help; they had no idea their distress call was even heard. Anyway the navy did help...pirates 0, American's 3. (Navy Seal snipers killed the pirates). Its nice knowing, no matter where American's are in the world, presence on the high seas matters. I am glad to have done my part to put a few ships out there to help out.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

farmerbrown said:


> When I went to welding school the old instructor always had us use 7018H I think? It was a hi allow rod also using chipping hammer to peen the weld releaves stress in the weld .


7018 is a low hydrogen rod with very good ductile strength. In other words it actually has a little flex built into the bead where usually a mig weld can be quite brittle in the certain circumstances. Gonna do a lot of cutting edges etc? Spring for a roll of .045 7018 wire, better have a wad to spend though.


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