Welding annealed d2 to mild steel

Hey guys did a bunch of searching but couldn't find the answer to this.

Can mild steel be welded to Annealed D2? How should I go about doing it? After the part is welded and machined can I have them heat treated together?

Welded? Yes. But how critical is the weld? Is failure merely an inconvenience, or very expensive? Yes, you will be able to heat treat the parts after welding, but the weld will remain soft depending on the filler used.

There are a large number of dissimilar metal filler rods. Examples include 309 and 312 stainless steel as well as proprietary chemistries based on 312 stainless such as Supermissileweld, Crown 220, and Weldmold 880.

If its not critical you could just use 500F preheat and mig it with er70 or stick it with 7018. Heat it with a torch to 1100 and let cool slowly. Machine and heat treat as if D2, and check for cracks after heat treatment.

Or just skip the welding and make the whole part from D2.

Ok cool. I appreciate the reply.

I'm welding a handle onto a pair of shears so only the cutting edge needs to be hard. The weld just needs to have enough strength to bond the mild steel to the d2 and not break when cutting. It will be a short weld maybe .5" or so and only .25" in width. A crack in one or two isn't that big of a deal but if all of them crack it would be a bummer. Is it possible they crack after sending them off for treatment or would that likely only happen during the weld?

I have access to both MIG and TIG. Do I have to preheat/torch heat regardless of which filler I use?

I suppose I could make the whole part from d2 but would prefer the softer/cheaper handle as it has to be bent and having one cut would use a lot of d2.

One other question, will the heat treating process remove any discoloration due to heating near the weld or from pre heating?

how much moment (foot pounds of bending force) is put on that weld? I'm trying to imagine where you're welding it.

I'm thinking the mild steel will bend.

eyust said:

Ok cool. I appreciate the reply.

I'm welding a handle onto a pair of shears so only the cutting edge needs to be hard. The weld just needs to have enough strength to bond the mild steel to the d2 and not break when cutting. It will be a short weld maybe .5" or so and only .25" in width.

One other question, will the heat treating process remove any discoloration due to heating near the weld or from pre heating?

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I’m trying to get my head around the “handle on a pair of shears” thing and D2 in the same sentence. If this is a hand tool like I’m thinking D2 would be a crap ton poor choice to use.

The welding first, yes it’s weldable to mild steel, the parameters above are good enough (repairing already hardened is a different recipe). No – the HT won’t do anything for the oxidation you get on it when welding, the part that wasn’t discolored will be a very light grey. You gotta clean things up yourself.

Now for the material, the 1.5% carbon & 12% chrome in this stuff give it big compressive strength and the chrome makes it “slippery” when shearing metals (a good thing). Any bending that might occur, will end in disaster. Even at max draw (1200°F) and 40RC hardness the notch toughness and impact strength sucks rocks. Get some O-1 or brake die, save some dough and sleep well at night.

Weld recipe for the latter the same.

Good luck,
Matt

The shears are used to cut hot glass. As the shears make the cut the glass cools and acts as an abrasive against the cutting edge. In the past Glass artists have struggled to keep their shears sharp. We began using d2 as the blade material and these problems have been drastically reduced. We have a pair of shears at the university made of d2 10+ years old that have been abused by many beginning Glass students attempting to cut cold glass. After being cleaned they look almost brand new. The cutting edge hardly wears down and they rarely rarely need to be sharpened.

Here is picture of a d2 combo shear made by Jim Moore.

http://www.toolsforglass.com/store/popups/shear_d2diamondcompact.html

As for the moment maybe 100-200 in-lbs max... however tight your hand can close down on a pair of shears with 6 or so inches of lever.

eyust said:

Hey guys did a bunch of searching but couldn't find the answer to this.

Can mild steel be welded to Annealed D2? How should I go about doing it? After the part is welded and machined can I have them heat treated together?

Click to expand...

Not answering your question as the other members already have but have you considered attaching the handle to the blade using fasteners instead of welding?

Walter

Silver solder

eyust said:

The shears are used to cut hot glass. As the shears make the cut the glass cools and acts as an abrasive against the cutting edge. In the past Glass artists have struggled to keep their shears sharp. We began using d2 as the blade material and these problems have been drastically reduced. We have a pair of shears at the university made of d2 10+ years old that have been abused by many beginning Glass students attempting to cut cold glass. After being cleaned they look almost brand new. The cutting edge hardly wears down and they rarely rarely need to be sharpened.

Here is picture of a d2 combo shear made by Jim Moore.

http://www.toolsforglass.com/store/popups/shear_d2diamondcompact.html

Click to expand...

Ah-Ha, I see now, it’s actually a mature tool. The one you linked took a lot of work & prolly cashy. If I were to make a one off I’d start with some 120ksi steel (easy to machine or form), then weld a bead of 5% hot work tool steel and 2 passes with D2 rod over top.

Don’t know if that’d save you any money or be faster, it’s just how my head works.

Good luck,
Matt

Haha yes Matt you are very correct they are pretty cashy but for good reason! A pair like that sells for 100-250 bucks. The work part I don't mind so much, that's what makes the project fun.

But yea I like the ideas. Was thinking about this last night and if I'm going to be making the blade of fancy semi stainless d2 why not make the handle from stainless too? With a good polish the handle will be silky smooth and nice and shiny.

So assuming a stainless handle welded to d2 using either tool steel rod or maybe just stainless rod, do you think I can get away with welding it at room temp? Or is a preheat just about mandatory?

Heavey mentioned silver solder... not sure I want to go down that route. I know the ones made by the pros are welded and I want a solid connection that will last for many years. Plus I'd have to do that post heat treating which means it's more difficult to hide my ugly welds/soldering.

And Walter I have considered fasteners. A good idea which ive never really seen done. My guess as to why is probably the added weight and loss of cleanliness and sleekness. I think I want to try and get away with a solid weld first and use that as a backup.

eyust said:

And Walter I have considered fasteners. A good idea which ive never really seen done. My guess as to why is probably the added weight and loss of cleanliness and sleekness. I think I want to try and get away with a solid weld first and use that as a backup.

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If you go the fastener route, consider rivets. If you put a countersink in both end of the hole, you can shave/grind/sand the rivet flat after installation and hardly see it