I was hoping to get some safety advice for a project. Being a small machine shop, we usually try to avoid heating up work pieces. We signed up for a job to make some large J-Bolts. We have turned the threads and are ready to attempt the bend. The bar is 4340 annealed 2" DIA and the radius on the bend is 1 -9/16". Length is approximately 40in. Any advice, cautions, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. My main concern is safety. We are going to practice moving from the forge to the fixture cold before going hot, but I have no idea how a diameter this large is going to behave.
My other concern is providing enough heat. We are using my home built forge. I am still in the learning process of getting to tuned properly but I can get metal to a bright orange.
The picture below show the sample bolt we received and the machined bar for our first attempt.
Thank you for your time,
Don