Thank You Yomax4,
It is good to hear from someone who has a lot more experience with cast iron welding especially with a gas torch. Like I said before I'm not a PRO welder with no formal or certified skills. I would like to know more about avaiabily and brand of powdered, stamped casts iron rod with flux. I learned that I could use a gas torch for welding repair of cast iron and aluminum from a elderly blacksmith who didn't have an arc welder until the late 1950's. He wasn't practicing his art when I got to know him, other than repair on his farm. He gave me his Hossfeld #2 Bender for steel bending after I built a front porch railing for him for his new home. He had me use 1 1/2" black pipe. He told me how to put the needed curves in it with just my forge, a torch, hammer and anvil. This wasn't a work of art like a spiral staircase just simple curves. Well simple until I got to the down turned rams horn ends put on the street side bottom curving ends. The final ends were hemispherical domes done with heat, hammer. torch, and filing. The 8" inside radius 3/4 turn rams horn ends were the challenge. They took a while, the curving was done by heating many times, tapping gently on a large block of wood on the floor. As the curves slowly formed I had to keep adjusting the pipe cross section from egg shaping or kinking with light 2# hammer blows either on the anvil or the wood block. After doing mirror ends on the top rails, which were very close, the rest of the curves for the top at the house to the bottom steps were quite simple. straight vertical posts. The plates that fastened to the house were a shield shaped 1/4" heated and hammered to look like wrought iron with pyramid hammered 1" square head lag bolts.
All done and railing mounted. We then walked out to his shop. He had me help him drag out a bunch of scrap in a dark back corner. He told me the project could have easier if I would have had this pile of scrap pieces. It was the Hossfeld Bender and he gave it to me for building the railings. Best payment I ever have had. Still is paying me 35 years later.
Yes I got off the subject of this thread subject. The reason was the blacksmith was testing me to see if I would use what he wanted to pass on. Cast Iron Ferro Flux and torch rods were soon to follow, and their usage. He gave a pile of piston rings to use if I ran out of commercial rod. They work just as well as the store bought rod they are made out of cast iron.. I have cut across sections of base metal and the welds and I can't see a difference in color or grain. The welds have held up for me through all kinds of normal abuse vibration, hammering. extreme cold, and wood fire heat For me this form of welding cast iron works well with out a large hunk of preheated metal hard to get close to and use nickel electrodes with no peening. The only preheating I've needed was for a few minutes with the torch in the general area of the V'd out crack or joint, you need to need to drill the end of the crack always. I would not recommend on using this form of welding on anything structural or otherwise with the possibility of anything that could be life threatening. You do it at your own risk. Get a Professional .
