I found a hard facing wire made just for the 115 volt MIG welders. It
is a flux core wire so no shielding gas is used. So I hard faced the
tiller tines and then did a shovel. My ground here is so full of rocks
that even my expensive tempered shovels wear very fast on the tips.
Tired of this so I tried hard facing one. I did have some trouble
with burn through at first because the hard facing wire needs a
minimum amperage which was really a little too high for the thin
shovel blade. So after welding as if I was using a stitch timer I got
the hang of it and filled in the holes where I burned through. Then I
ground the welds flat and sharpened the shovel. The difference in wear
is huge! Not only is the tip not wearing concave it is staying sharp.
Very handy for cutting through black and salmon berry roots and canes.
Now I am going to do my other shovels. The wire is spendy, 17 bucks a
pound, but is worth every penny. And I got it on sale for 11 bucks a
pound so even better.
Eric