Useful trick - tool steel welding rod

Saw this and it seems like a useful trick.

Apparently they make welding filler rod made of high-strength tool steel!

Meaning that an inventive person could possibly:
* repair a chipped or cracked cutting tool edge
* build back up a worn out edge
* put a hardened edge on poorly-made tools
* make their own tools(!!!)

Just a side note for those of a more traditional leaning:  As I understand it, the traditional way of doing this when blacksmithing (for instance when forging an axe) was to forge-weld in a chunk of tool steel cut from something like an old file to serve as the edge.

I'm pretty sure the TIG/MIG folks can build almost anything. If you already have the gear, why not?

Surface hardening of a junk tool isn't all that difficult though. Controlling the speed of the pass with an angle grinder is lo-tek, barbaric, and effective way to harden edges on junk tools. Note I said junk; quality tools will suffer harm.

Another option for those without TIG welders is hardfacing welding rods. I used some on my kindling splitter blade to make the edge last longer. They're not cheap, but very very useful. I'm sure they aren't quite as good as forged hardened steel, but it's far better than regular mild stuff!

Cam Haslehurst wrote:... hardfacing welding rods ...

A few more details please?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:A few more details please?

From my limited knowledge hardfacing rods are used a lot for putting layers of hard steel down on tractor buckets. The idea is that the beads wear down instead of the bucket, because those buckets are VERY expensive!! At my college they're actually refurbishing a relatively small one...even it would go for $10,000 canadian so they are no joke. I took some photos of the case I've got the rods in for more info.

They're 1/8" so not too big or anything. Run on AC or DC+. I used DC+ and it worked beautifully. The HRC rating is 55-60, which I just learned stands for Rockwell Hardness score. Here is a site describing the very basics. "Crucible Industries says CPM S30V steel has an ideal hardness of 58-61 HRC and gives knifemakers the different responses to heat treatment temperatures." So that sounds good to me.

This case of 10 electrodes was $22 CAD...so not cheap but still far less than $10,000 for a new bucket! Or for me far cheaper than actually buying hardened steel to make my splitting blade. I know someone who also made a kindling splitter did this before me, but I forget who. Feel free to chime in if you're reading this, mystery welder.

Quote off the case as it's hard to read: "Recommended for the hardfacing of plow blades, excavation equipment, guide and transport rails, chisels, scrapers, bucket teeth, and kindling splitter blades. " I added the last one lol.

Top paragraph: "Electrode all positions for rebuilding steel and low alloy parts, manganese subject to abrasion, moderate impact and metal to metal wear."

Cool stuff, Cam. Thanks!