Just realized my forge weld failed because I didn't clean the stock enough

I was in my shop yesterday trying to weld a simple steel loop, and the pieces just wouldn't stick together no matter how many times I fluxed and hammered. I finally stopped and saw a tiny bit of scale I'd missed on the mating surfaces from when I cut the pieces. What's your go-to method for making sure stock is perfectly clean before a weld?

2 comments

2 Comments

patriciah513d ago

Grind until you doubt your eyes, like hugomurray said, but you missed a tiny bit of scale?

hugomurray3d agoTop Commenter

My last failed weld taught me to grind until I doubt my own eyesight.