Talking to a retired welder at the hardware store about old-school heat control

I was picking up some 7018 rods at the local supply place and got talking to this older guy, Frank, who used to weld on ship boilers. He said they'd use a piece of wet leather as a heat sink on thin-wall pipe when they couldn't get a good purge setup. He called it 'poor man's chill paste'. I tried it last week on a tricky 2-inch stainless job in a tight spot, and it actually kept the warping way down. Anyone else have a weird old trick like that they still use?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan28915d ago

Read about using a wet rag wrapped around copper pipe for heat control.

grant46515d ago

Yeah, that old trick really works, doesn't it? I had to solder a valve in a tight spot last summer and the rag kept the nearby plastic fitting from melting. You just have to keep the cloth really wet, almost dripping, so it pulls the heat away. Once it starts steaming you know it's doing its job. It's a simple fix but it saved me from a real headache.