Wire for Forge Welding

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danhowl

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No welding experience. No welder here.

I have seen some videos of people binding stacks of steel with wire to keep the pieces together in the forge before setting the forge weld. What kind of wire is best for this? I realize that it is probably not the optimal method for setting a forge weld, but is it practical?
 
Not optimum but used for a long time before electric welders. Regular carbon tye wire will work. Clamp layers together the bind with wire, get wire tight as possible.
 
Annealed low carbon steel wire. I keep a roll of .063" diameter around, handy for all kinds of things. The annealed low carbon stuff will allow you to twist tight without fatiguing and breaking as quickly as other types.
 
Double your wire up though, and bind it with plenty of loops. The stuff will expand faster than the billet, so you need to be careful with billet positioning and movement while heating so that the pieces won't shift. Wiring from both sides is a good idea.
Also known as rebar tie wire, hardware stores have spools of it. As Kuraki mentioned it's handy for all kinds of stuff.
 
If you hadn't thought of this, I'd recommend either using a hammer with light blows to encourage the bend around the corners and to flatten the wire on the flats to get it as tight as possible.
 
Use plain annealed 16 gauge iron binding wire (which is actually low carbon steel). You get it at welding shops, jewelers suppliers, lumber yards, building supply yards, and ebay. It is used to tie together re-bar and wire mesh for concrete pouring.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anealed-Ir...618464?hash=item48ad07dae0:g:ZGwAAOSw1kRbBFN2

As you wrap it around the clamped billet, tap each corner to make a tight 90 degree bend. Twist the ends two or three twists and lay flat against the billet. Tighten the other sides by grabbing with the end of a pair of pliers and torquing.

All that said, a cheap Craig's list 110V stick or wire welder will do a far better job for this task. You can buy one new at Lowe's for $90.
 
Thanks, I'll give it a shot. I am hoping to use it on 1.5" elevator cable ends when I cut them into shorter sections. And maybe for bar ends which are too short for a piece on its own. I don't plan on attempting any 90-layer damascus with it.
 
You'd probably have better luck with 90 layer damascus than cable.
 
I use baling wire to tie cable together. Farms where I go always had some available or were going to throw it away.
 
argel55 said:
I use baling wire to tie cable together. Farms where I go always had some available or were going to throw it away.
Click to expand...
My dad always had 4-5 55gal drums full of bailing wire from hay he fed his horses. Always some under the seat of our farm trucks even found some in the trunk of moms Cadillac...The big 3: Bailing Wire, Duct Tape, Pledge will fix anything!:D:D
 
Busto said:
My dad always had 4-5 55gal drums full of bailing wire from hay he fed his horses. Always some under the seat of our farm trucks even found some in the trunk of moms Cadillac...The big 3: Bailing Wire, Duct Tape, Pledge will fix anything!:D:D
Click to expand...

yeah i was wondering if bailing wire would work. not that I have any laying around. ordered a small coil annealed iron 16 gauge so I can give it a test. Thanks for all of the suggestions.
 
As an option, you can purchase a functional 200A chinese IGBT stick welder for a touch over $100. A 5lb box of 7018 will last you many billets. Stick electrode runs 2-3$ per lb for most. It will save some grinding and preserve patterns better than a wire wrap as well. If you want to bump it up from there, there are a bunch of 200A stick/TIG combo machines (the AHP TIG springs to mind) that are still pretty reasonably priced and really are kick-ass tools that allow you to really do some good work.

Depending on the billet construction, TIG allows you to perform autogenous welds (using no filler metal) that are much easier to grind down afterword (and basically the grinding at that point is entirely cosmetic as you introduce no low carbon steel into the billet). As I remember these machines are about 600$.
 
Huh, if you are planning to do it on a regular basis and if you are looking for a good quality, be ready to pay a beautiful amount of money!
 
Bienvenue Audrper.

This is a an old discussion that is long finished. Take a look at the date of the last couple posts before posting on old threads.
 
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