Blacksmithing Tutorials - Introduction to Forge Welding

Everything you wanted to know about forge welding but were too afraid to ask.
Forge/Fire welding is one of the trickier aspects of blacksmithing, in this video I share what I've learned, going from someone who used to struggle with it to becoming confident and now really enjoying it. I really hope I can help others gain confidence in this technique too.
I cover branch and scarf welds and let you know my thoughts on using flux.
Please put any questions in the comments and I'll be happy to answer them.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:46 Preparation
01:35 Heat control
01:58 The take home message
02:43 Branch weld
03:36 Do you need flux?
04:10 Forming scarves
05:47 Fire management
07:04 Scarf weld
08:10 Second weld under the power hammer
09:42 Normalising
10:20 Outro

[@rvb01]

Great and handy video, Tom! I suck at scarfing. Your method is straightforward and i'll be using it. Thanks!

[@TomFellBlacksmith]

Awesome! Try it out and let me know how it goes. Make the width of the fingers narrower than the parent width. Honestly, so much is talked about scarfs, but if you get the heat right you will be able to stick anything together.

[@stantilton2191]

Great video. I should do more of this, it is a lot of fun as you say. Thanks again.

[@TomFellBlacksmith]

Thanks for watching, and commenting. Really pleased you liked it.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

All great advice and well done video

[@TomFellBlacksmith]

Thank you for saying so. Appreciate it.

[@thesixfootsixblacksmith4772]

Your fire looks perfect.

[@TomFellBlacksmith]

Like I tell my kids, there's no such thing as perfect. A well looked after fire is vital for fire welding, and fire welding is great practice for looking after your fire.

[@janekroing842]

Very informative video. I alway find forge welding to be quiet unreliable. Sometimes it works and other times ist doesnt. But I have never thought too much about the oxygen. I might try being a bit more carefull with the oxygen, the next time.

[@TomFellBlacksmith]

A great starting place is to try to heat the steel up as slowly as possible. If you do that then you'll get to a slippery heat before you start burning it. Once you're there then you'll stick it together very reliably.