Sam, you are right on regarding the weld "hardening" issue That weld is harder than "superman head" LOL ... almost "file hard". Wire must have been all iron. ESAB has a "Easy Grind" MIG wire in 0.023" (which is about the largest that I can melt with this welder) that might be an option.If welding to fill pits/errors make sure the filler metal used will not turn hard when it cools or graver tips will cry foul! I shortened a floorplate once by 1 1/4 inch and had a friend weld it back together. Very hard and took three attemps to anneal so it could be cut. The last one of those I have done I welded myself using SpoolArc Easy Grind mig wire and could not tell where the base metal and weld were joined. Worked great. Have no idea what difference hot blue would make between the two metals though. I never had any problems with rust blue, plating or case colors.
Another possibility is while you are cutting lines or removing background you can save curls of metal and use for inlaying small blemishes/errors with no worry about finish problems.
No idea how I missed your reply, thank you for the explanation.Hollow Gold Jewelry. Hollow simply means there is an empty space inside. ... The less gold is used - the cheaper final price will be. Hollow gold jewelryis stamped in the same way as solid gold jewelry is (10k 14k 18k) because it is made of gold only.
Gold-Plated vs Gold-Filled, Hollow vs Solid Gold Difference – Automic ...