welding a cracked shovel? help pls

[Sparkeee24]

Howdy! I am attempting to weld a simple project, or so I thought. I have a fair amount of experience with a mig welder, 120 volt 130 amp output on 1/8" - 1/4" mild steel. So I thought, ok lets try to fix some old stuff laying around. I grabbed my dads favorite shovel, he's had for years, cracked in 3 places. I cut the pt back to a pt, then I drilled out about 1/8" before the cracks with a drill bit. Then I started to weld... Then I had issues /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif So! in your experience, is tempered steel (true temper #2 tempered steel shovel) much mor difficult to weld? perhaps the metal, the thickness or the rust pits were the problem. I finally did get it welded, but looks like a$$. What do you guys think? At least my dads very happy! (we'll see how long it lasts) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Deerlope]

I seriously doubt that it will last. A shovel has a very special tempered steel in it, so when you heated it from the welding it took most of the temper out.

 

[slowzuki]

I've welded shovels before, usually they break because the metal has worn too thin. The last one lasted a couple of years before it cracked again. I didn't bother drilling, I used enough heat to penetrate the whole thickness so the crack was replaced with weld.

 

[Kaliburz]

Same here. Welded a cracked shovel and made the inital mistake of chilling it in water. Made it brittle and cracked...so I welded it again (this was back when I was learning to use a gas and rod to weld /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif) Any how, after welding and letting it cool, I looked up tempering and attempted to retemper the steeling, heating it a certain color and then letting it cool by its self. Shovel has lasted so far.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[daedong]

This is what i do. heat the shovel a little, then weld it and immediately put it in builders or ag lime and leave for several hours. By doing this the cooling process is slowed down, no cracks this way.