Cut stock in half the easy way

[arftist]

Thanks Thomas for the info on "mild steel". I had to check with my suppliers on this, and sure enough they did not know, nor could they determine the carbon content of A-36. That is a little scary if you think about it too much. In spite of this new to me information, here is how I often use a hardy cutter: Forging multiples of same piece, as many irons in the fire as needed, after last heat, cut part way through, quench, bust finished piece off, bar goes back in forge, repeat.

[blafen]

sort of off topic but i once had a piece of orange hot steel i was cutting fly off the anvil bounce off a wall bounce off that wall hit my anvil and then bounce into an open gas can my dad left in my shop luckily it had no gas in it but i stood there marvelling at how it bounced and bounced finally to go right into the inch and a half opening on the can.

[ThomasPowers]

I had a friend teaching his wife to forge once and the piece escaped the tongs, whizzed by his ear, bounced off the trunk of the tree behind him, whizzed back by him and dropped neatly into the slack tub.

He called off the lesson fpr that day.