King Tut's dagger--a blade of meteroritic iron

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Forge welding in coke or charcoal is not at all easy.
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The step from ordinary forge work to welding in the forge is a very big step, and the step from welding iron to welding materials with different weld temperatures is immense.

To weld meteoritic material in the forge is a step further again.

I don't mean to say that it's a trivial step. But IMO it's a much smaller inventive step than going from cold-forging to hot-forging. Cold-forging iron (with or without annealing) is just the application of existing techniques for forging copper and copper alloys to a new metal. Hot-forging is something different. Don't underestimate the difficulty of that step.

Is it a big inventive step from hot forging to welding? At welding temperatures, iron/steel is sticky. (I've had to remove tools with hammers, and that's just accidental sticking, not deliberate welding.) I don't think it's extraordinary to deliberately investigate welding iron after noticing that.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Timo, have you ever tried to forge weld?
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It took me about 12 months of trial and error to teach myself to weld iron + nickel + high carbon steel , in the forge. Subsequently I taught a number of other people.

From working in research, I'd say that if you can learn to do it, by yourself, in 12 months, it isn't that hard.

Of course, that's 12 months starting with knowing how to forge weld already. But you say that's an immense step from welding iron, compared to a merely big step from forging to forge welding iron.

I haven't tried it.