My first try at a Damascus billet ended with a loud bang in the garage

I was in my home shop in Boise, trying to weld up a simple 1084 and 15N20 stack. I had it all clamped tight and got it to a bright orange heat. When I hit it with the hammer, the whole thing just blew apart with a loud pop and sent pieces flying. I realized I didn't get the steel clean enough before stacking, and some scale got trapped inside. It took me about two hours to clean up the mess and start over from scratch. Has anyone else had a weld fail like that from not cleaning the layers well enough?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakewhite1mo ago

Been there. That pop will make your heart stop. Gotta grind it clean, a wire brush just won't cut it.

masona622mo ago

Man, that's a scary sound when it lets go. Did you grind each piece clean or just wire brush them? I've found a wire wheel on an angle grinder doesn't always get down into the pitted surface scale, you really need to take off a fresh layer.

rowank692mo ago

Yeah, that pop always makes me jump. I ended up taking a flap disc to each piece to get past the pitted layer.