Silver steel is a strong high carbon steel but its particular feature is that it is supplied in a conveniently fairly hard state suitable for lots of things without the complication of heat treatment.  If it gets hot it loses all that and becomes soft until it is re-tempered.
So you need to be able to keep the part that is going to get wear cool while the welding is done or the whole lot will need new heat treatment.

Welding silver steel will probably end in tears. The heat affected zone will be very brittle.

This link tells you about the weldability of EN 19, similar problems. Does it have to be welded  ?

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/engineering-steels.htm

I would use some EN19 T or EN24T larger diamiter and turn the shank to suit the new holes and with a collar with hole drilled through on the other end and a heavy spring clip to hold it in situ. So in effect you would have a shaft with two collars on to stop it sliding out and it will be stronger than an original and no welding to harm the steel strength.

David

Don’t use silver steel ! I doubt you need to weld to the pins, drill a cross hole at each end, a roll pin in one end and a spilt pin the other , if you want to stop it rotating weld a small U plate on to hold the roll pin.. Plan B drill an axial hole in both ends and Thread, then bolt and a plate washer. Or use mild steel and weld anchor plates on. Fit a grease nipple and use regularly.  Noel.

I’d open the pivot hole a little more and fit bushes with the standard pin, when they wear just knock them out and replace

something like this: MB2530X Bronze Backed Steel Bush 25x28x30mm Simply Bearings Ltd

https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?products_id=142958&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23436705313&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1bnGz5_8kQMVpphQBh221B7TEAQYBCABEgKjSvD_BwE

Make the pin(s) with a flat bracket on one end and a hole for a lynch pin on the other? Washers as appropriate to reduce end-float.  Flat bracket plug-welded or bolted on?

An alternative to bushing is to weld on wearing items to the current parts and use a longer pin.  That was the quick fix for old front-end loaders on the farm.

Though welding silver-steel is unusual, should be possible.

Silver-steel is specifically formulated to simplify heat-treatment.   Excellent at what it does:

• Supplied annealed so it can be machined easily.
• Hardened simply by heating to red-heat for a short time before plunging into oil, water, or brine.  Usually water.   Oil produces less hardening.   Brine hardens more, probably far too much.
• As hardening leaves steel brittle, it’s usual to temper it by either:
  • heating the cleaned object in a flame and quenching when the colour of the Oxide Layer indicates the desired temperature has been reached. A straw colour (≈200°C) is good for cutters – tougher with somewhat reduced brittleness and hardness.  Blue (≈300°C) toughens the metal considerably, with much reduced hardness, just what’s needed for springs.  Other colours described here.  OR
  • For best results,  soak in an oven at the desired temperature for an hour per cubic inch, and allow to cool slowly.

None of the above is critical, so even clumsy oafs like me can harden and temper silver-steel.   Other hardenable steels are fussier, requiring more skill from the operator, and maybe special equipment.  The main disadvantage of silver-steel is cost –  it’s pricey.

Problem with welding Silver-steel is that it will leave the internal state confused.  Likely still soft annealed at the cold-end becoming randomly hard/brittle/tough as the weld area is approached.  Random unreliability is not good!

Normalising should fix the problem.    Not difficult: heat the part to about 800°C throughout for a minute or two and allow to cool in air.   The result is silver-steel as it was before the maker annealed it.  Any confusion in the grain structure caused by welding should be gone.

The steel will be harder than in the annealed state and I guess fairly tough and brittle.  Might be “good enough”.  If not, harden and temper in the usual way.  Or anneal for further machining by heating to ≈750°C and cooling slowly (longer the better).

Not much call for normalising in model engineering so experience may be thin on the ground.  Any experts out there?  And I can’t think of reason for normalising silver-steel apart from returning a welded part to sanity.  And I guess silver-steel is almost never welded;  it’s not what it’s for.   So a suck it and see job.  Please report back.

Dave

On 9 January 2026 at 13:44 Diogenes Said:

…. Who fancies a motorcycle wheel spindle made out of it?

A use of silver steel that is specifically warned against in “The Vintage Motorcyclist’s Workshop” by Radco.

I’d definitely push for one of the alternative steels mentioned above, or just hope that nothing else gets damaged when the silver steel fails.

Rob

Since the problem is wear, why not drill and tap so that a grease gun can be use to lubricate the pin and the bush, to reduce wear? Grease exuding from the assembly should act act as a seal against moisture and debris ingress. An occasional top up should keep out the dirt and water.

Howard

Do not weld silver steel,it will break under load, A skilled welder once advised me,that for the average self taught welder dont weld steel with an en no higher than 8 ,in the case of the truck pin why not use en 8  bar 1 inch diameter which is 25.4 mm dia ,  0.6 clearance will make fitting easier and make a few spare pins and replace pins when worn,lot cheaper and safer. Just consider a broken pin causing an accident .Many years ago I made the pivot pin for a stationary engine trolley, when pushing the trolley on the path path past the house the 5/8 dia pin broke at the point where it was welded to the angle iron axle and the out of control trolley just missed the french doors . Have learned over 50 years of making stationary engine trolleys that en8 welds ok ,does not bend easily provided sensible proportions are used and dont quench the welds.