How to soften steel after welding

January 17, 2009

hi i need some information on how to make regular steel more malleable i repair musical instruments and after i weld them they get so hard that the sound changes and produces a ugly metalic sound specialy cowbells and steel drums .if there its any procedure to bring the metal back to the original soft sound .thanks

Jesus Delro
hobbyist - Hialeah, FL

January 20, 2009

Hi, Jesus. I am not sure that I agree with your premise that the ugly metallic sound is caused by the steel being too hard. But you soften steel by annealing it, that is, raising it to red hot temperature of about 900 C, and then cooling it very slowly.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey