Forge welding achieved

In my second attempt at forge welding, today I managed to achieve a forge weld. There are three things I did differently the second time around. First I tried a different steel, instead of the mystery stainless steel from the scrapyard I used GCR15 from the deep groove bearing steel I had. Then at a forging heat I lightly hammered the mini billet together to try and get the surfaces as close as possible before welding. At the heat is also when I applied the borax, from some trouble shooting on the internet. I can across Walter sorrels saying that if the billet is heated too high before applying borax, scale starts to form. So those were the three changes I made and it seemed to have been more effective in achieving a weld. Here is a small piece I hammered out I tried not to get over zealous and try forging massive on the first try. 

Forge welding attempt1

Now that my forge is up, running and ready. I decided that I would try some pattern welding, that I've been wanting to do since I started building my forge.... It didn't work. I'm not entirely dissappointed, the failed welding is minor compared to the actual experience of going through the actual process. Seeing for myself the welding temperature that I have been reading and researching, the occasional spark flying out of the forge indicating the steel reaching temperature, and seeing the flux dance around. All these things were what many smiths taught to look for. My diagnosis is that the "stainless steel" I got from the scrapyard in of a disagreeable alloy ,smiths say certain fire scales are hard to get rid of therefore difficult to weld. I will Change steels and try again, it feels so close!