Forging temp
- Thread starter Larylambo
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BlackAnvil
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- Apr 24, 2025
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When I first dipped my toes into forging, I didn't heat the steel sufficiently and ended up with cracks galore, definitely a quick lesson learned. It's best to work the metal when it's glowing bright red to orange, which is around 900 to 1,200 °C, depending on the type of steel. If it starts looking dull red, you've let it cool down too much, and that's when those cracks can show up. Also, make sure the heat penetrates all the way through the metal, not just the surface. And if it's cold outside, keep your anvil warm, that'll really help out a lot.
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- Apr 25, 2025
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1450 degrees is a good forging temp. About a high medium orange. A Magnet will not stick to a glowing piece of steel that is 1450 degrees. That is also known as the Currie Effect.
A lot also depends on the steel you are using. Wrought iron will disassemble itself if worked a 1450. Some high carbon steels will crumble like cornmeal if forged at too high a temp like yellow. I just recycled a neighbors stair railing. I knocked all of the welded-in ballisters for making tent stakes. It was 1/2" square so I thought I was golden! It turned out to be hot short - it could not be worked at a yellow or bright orange. Seems that if steel is high in sulfur, it will be hot short. This steel, I forged at light orange and it seemed to work fine.
Work the steel at as high a temp as it will take. There are only so many pounds in an arm. Beating on cold steel will wear you out and you won't accomplish much. And, it is one of the reasons blacksmiths go to hell...
Work the steel at as high a temp as it will take. There are only so many pounds in an arm. Beating on cold steel will wear you out and you won't accomplish much. And, it is one of the reasons blacksmiths go to hell...
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- Apr 25, 2025
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- 100
Get it orange and hammer it. If a magnet won't stick to it, you are at 1450 degrees .... the perfect forging temp. What you start to lose color, stick it right back in to the fire. STOP POUNDING ON IT !!!! People want to keep hammering on metal when it is losing color and the ability to move.
Don't hammer at a red color as that might be too cold. High carbon steel will crack if the heat is too low. Back to orange and hammer away.
Ohio Rusty ><>
Don't hammer at a red color as that might be too cold. High carbon steel will crack if the heat is too low. Back to orange and hammer away.
Ohio Rusty ><>
