Two question on welding products

[alvin]

(1) How effective is welding Heat Control Paste.... If I apply it around welding area, will it protect the gun blue under the paste that close to the torch flame?

sample product: HEAT CONTROL PASTE

(2) What's the melt point of Nickel Steel Rod, roughly?

sample product: NICKEL STEEL WELDING ROD

[Thor]

D"ONT use nickel rods on anything you wish to blue

[Ron Wood]

I do not know anything about how a hot salt blue works on something that has been welded with nickle steel welding rods, but if you intend to rust blue you had better listen to what Thor has advised.

[policeluger]

Ron, hot blue/rust blue will not work with nickel rod.....

[alvin]

OMG. I should have asked before ordering. Ordered 4oz earlier. Brownells' description says "Blues Beautifully". Now I believe they probably refer to their stainless steel bluing agent.

While waiting arriving, I am rust bluing a small piece of chunk steel. The plan is to saw a few deep slots on it and weld them up. It will be used for impact evaluation and practising. I have never tried this before and it's useful skill.

I have a handhold Blazer Torch, originally bought from Home Depot to repair a broken water pipe. May it work for this purpose?

[policeluger]

Brownell's will take anythng back anytime...

[alvin]

How is this one?

http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...ml?id=kXtfF4yn

I assume this one requires inert gas protection in the process. TIG welder is not cheap.....

Will Oxy-fuel welding work on this rod?

[Norme]

Hey Alvin, I have really enjoyed your recent posts. First there was testing a mint C96 to destruction, then heating bore brushes with a blowtorch, and, most recently, your welding experiments. One question, is there a Mrs Alvin? Warm regards, Norm

[alvin]

She wants to throw all those things out as trash. I told her if a bad guy picking it up and kill someone, we're in trouble. As you can see, she does not care.

Please note: So far, nothing is broken yet.

I agree that welding is for fun. The skill, if learned, can be used on my broken bicycle.

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[Edit] For target shooting, I have a little bit different view. Earlier, I ordered a shooter, and found it's mismatching, and it was relined. It's cheaper, but I dislike it. Why cannot I pick up one from collection and shoot it regularly, ....., otherwise, I had to put more $$ into a pure shooter and it probably won't shoot well.

[alvin]

Tried OX2550 (a mini gas welder available in HD) on a scrap steel bar. Noticed a few things so far: (1) Need goggles and leather gloves. The welding rod bursts like fireworks in the process and affects operation; (2) Molten steel does not flow like water; (3) If not well controlled, oxide mixed with steel is welded on. That's my case; (4) Even adjusting type of flame needs some patience.

Some fun.

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[Edit] The general feeling: Gas welding won't work in gunsmithing. The welding skill can be improved via practising, but there is a fatal problem with this type of welding -- the pre-heating time is long and affecting area is big. That's unavoidable and unrelated with skill.

[Vlim]

Alvin,

Yes, the smell of burning flesh and the realization that it's yours

I did a welding course (even got my welding diploma) when I was getting into serious car restorations. I must say it was a great help to learn what tools were needed, what could be done and what shouldn't be.

For the car projects (thin sheet metal) I settled for a MIG welding set. The first MIG welder was useless, and with some luck I bought an almost brand-new (used once for testing) professional MIG welding kit that takes the industrial style wire. Another good investment was an LCD-welding mask (the one that automatically shields you when you start welding) and a pair of very good welding gloves.

Since I managed to burn myself regularly, even with mask, gloves and fireproof welding suit on, all I can advise is: be careful

I like the TIG welding kits, as they seem to allow one to work in much more detail, which is a big plus when working on gun material. What still scares me is the result welding has on the properties of the steel itself. A piece of car sheet metal doesn't have to take the pressures that a gun needs to handle... (unless crashing into inanimate objects is your thing).

[alvin]

Thanks for reminding safety. The kid watched how I worked on this thing and refused letting me repairing his bicycle. I agree.... MAPP + Oxygen will only make situation worse. That's the only possible direction.

Ordered a Lincoln V155 as my Christmas gift, the name sounds like a Howitzer, but it's a mini Stick/TIG welder. On video, TIG is super clean, no noise and no smoke. Have to sell a gun for this one. Hope it's a good one.

TIG Video

[alvin]

Brownells arrived. The 3.5% nickle steel rod after welding on base metal blues OK (rust blue). That's also a little bit surprise to me.

The pix shows how the trial bar looks after applying the oxidation agent the 2nd time (N times needed), not bad.... I mean it rusts not bad, my welding was horrible

[tomaustin]

it is apparent a lot of basic practice is necessary before you work on your project..............tom

[alvin]

Yes, Tom. I realized learning this thing via try and error could take years. Hopefully, TIG will be easier than OXY. But I don't know yet.

I did some brazing work on my basement water pipe in the past, that's way easier, no spatter (for some reason, copper or silver does not splash, but steel filler splashes like crazy during the welding process ). The biggest problem of brazing is color.

Copper filler in this pix, after applying oxidation agent 1st time. It won't turn black.

[alvin]

Finished 4 cycles of rust bluing. Boiling water does NOT convert rust on nickle steel into Fe3O4 well. After carding, more "floating" rust on nickle steel was brushed away.....

So, Thor and PoliceLuger were correct. Nickle steel (even a 3.5% one) does not blue as good as regular carbon steel.