Cutter bar welding

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While making a splitting wedge for my wood processor I though I'd use some cutting bar material because it was already bevelled. Knowing that it's some tough material I pre heated it and used 7018 rod for the weld. Then I cooled it slowly. It didn't last long before it broke.(one log). What did I do wrong?
Reply:Tough to say without picts and more info.By cutting bar, I assume you mean a cutting edge from a piece of heavy equipment. These are usually impact or wear resistant steel and can become brittle when welded. If the weld joint puts a lot of strain on the welded connection, you are applying force to a  hard brittle location and it may want to snap rather than flex or bend..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:What is cutter bar material? In the 70s and 80s a local guy was a employee welder at Howe Scale. He made dozens of hollow wedges using pivot stock. I guess pivot stock was high in manganese, a steel that work hardens. It is amazingly tough. In that era I didn't have access to pivot stock. I built wedges using pie shaped 1/2" hot rolled welded down to the 1/2" x 6 slide plate I used to reinforce the top of the beam. The wedge surface was made of two pieces of 1/4" plate, one overlapped the other. Substantial filets inside and out held these to each other and the beam. A series of pie slices of 1/4" horizontal 1-1/2" apart reinforce. Mine is enclosed on top and back. The overhanging side at the cutting edge was cut off with a torch, and ground to an edge with a 9" hand held grinder. Mine was built by tilting both big plates out at the top forming a wedge longer at the top resisting the tendency to slip upward as a chunk passes over the wedge. Once in a while I hit a hidden piece of steel in a chunk of wood. It does nick the cutting edge, I occasionally grind it to a freshened edge.
Reply:Are you talking about cutting edges such as grader blades or dirt equipment? I rebuild ours all the time - we wear down app. 12 18"x!6  x1" edges to app 7"x 18" every 5 weeks. I have a jig built to line uthe bolt holes correctly and then weld short ones edge to edge then wear down agian.   I make a straight cut with torch and take the bevel off the two sides im gonna attach, the bevel each of these cuts and leave app. 1/4" land in middle , put 1/8" gap and tack together. Put in jig weld fast root pass on one side then flip over and grind the root halfway smooth then weld two passes flip over weld last pass.   When i first started i used 11018 rods but was kinda slow , switched to mig with 70 s 6 wire and have only broke one blade. The blade didnt stand much chance - pull these pans with 500 hp. tractors at around 6 mph and it was the back pan and i cut into a shelf of solid Granite , but only 1/4 of the weld broke then it snapped the blade cross wise thru original metal.  Once i weld them up i throw them on the groung and shovel a little dirt on them to slow the cooling and come pick em up once cool and put on shelf till we need it.   If you get a chance shot a pic.
Reply:Originally Posted by augercreekWhile making a splitting wedge for my wood processor I though I'd use some cutting bar material because it was already bevelled. Knowing that it's some tough material I pre heated it and used 7018 rod for the weld. Then I cooled it slowly. It didn't last long before it broke.(one log). What did I do wrong?
Reply:The material I speak of is wear blade material for the bottom edge of a loader bucket. After the failure it went to the scrap! So no pics.
Reply:I went with hot rolled material and milled the edge, just took some time to do it. Haven't had it fail yet, we've done around 150 cord with it and some of the wood was real knarly stuff!
Reply:Originally Posted by augercreekI went with hot rolled material and milled the edge, just took some time to do it. Haven't had it fail yet, we've done around 150 cord with it and some of the wood was real knarly stuff!
Reply:Originally Posted by augercreekThe material I speak of is wear blade material for the bottom edge of a loader bucket. After the failure it went to the scrap! So no pics.
Reply:A fellow told me today of the loader cutting edges on a big Cat loader. His big boss, the owner, showed them how to cut ice. Stand the bucket on edge lift the tires off the ice and go. The chatter cuts the ice. After the demonstration they noticed the cutting edge had cracked around the bolt holes. These edges can be too hard, and not tough enough for a splitting wedge.
Reply:Originally Posted by augercreekwedge for my wood processor
Reply:It is a firewood processor. It cuts, splits, and piles the wood in the wood shed. All done by hydraulics. A 404 wood harvester cutter bar does the cutting, wood drops into the splitting chamber and is split, then drops onto a conveyor and into the wood shed.