Welding cast iron stove top

[yomax4]

Ok, I expect to hear a lot of crap from you guys but here goes. V out crack drill the ends so it cant spread, pre heat w torch. I usually get cherry red then let cool till turns a brownish, straw color, then weld with any cast iron rod I have laying around. Have even used 7018 and mig in a pincch. Take a small hammer and without breaking anything, use your judgement, and slightly beat the weld with the hammer. Heat the area back up with torch, than cover with a welding blanket and let cool slowly. The hammering helps freeze molecules in place and almost stops shrinking process from a liquid to a solid.

That's how you do it with Ni rods. Always peen to relieve stress.( ball peen hammer) If you do short little skip welds at low heat, You still should peen the bead a dozen times to relive it. When you blast cast with voltage it piles the molecules together and peening jumbles them back up and spreads them back out making a more sound repair.If you post heat and cool slow without peening, You often see a crack next to the weld where the molecules were pushed away.. Sounds odd but that's kind of what it does.