Tribulus

[Primvs Pavlvs]

When I tried welding, I cleaned the joint faces, put some anhydrous borax on one, laid the other over top and heated- when it looked nice and bright yellow, I struck it solidly but that didn't do it. As I mentioned the metal really moved, so hitting it more or harder wouldn't have done anything but spread the middle out a whole lot, so I'm not sure what else I could've done- what do you do exactly?

Well it seems like I am too much of a dunce to explain it into words.

So, I drew you a picture with my childlike abilities in Paint.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p309 ... altrop.jpg

Also it seems that you are not letting your metal get hot enough. It should be darn near white, its just a feeling when you know its the right temp. :wink:

Another thing I failed to point out that the ones I have made were made from wrought iron. Wrought iron welds very easily, and will usually provide a very secure weld. I will usually hit it twice when welding it. Re-heat if needed, but not usually needed. Near white hot, hit one side, and then the other.

Its been about 3 or 4 years since I made these, so I am out of practise. I am sure I would make a total fool out of myself if I were tyring to demonstrate it to anyone. No one around I would make 3 dozen without a hitch. Person walks up and I would screw up 3 dozen!

I would like to add, I personally do not believe that these would have been made on the spot ie on campaign. They were probably production items produced in workshops for this type of materials. Of course they could have been made as needed, but as a rule I think they would have been left to factory type settings.