50 minutes ago, gote said:

Interesting tip. I would never have thought about it. I would be afraid to lose the residual heat that allows me to clean up the cut without an extra heat. Will try it.

It is only dipped momentarily so you remove very little heat from the workpiece. The small thermal mass of the ismuth relative to the workpiece means it chills (and reheats) very rapidly

Speed is key.

If you hold the soon-to-be cut off piece in your tongs when you pop it in the water you lose no time and do not allow the ismuth to reheat. If I am cutting a waste piece off I often just plunge in and then bang the bar on the edge of the water tub to knock it off...you have to watch that though because some times it manages to come off on the rebound and come visit! You may realise how I know that.

Alan

when cutting on a hot cut you lighten your strike as you get close to the center. straight or curved the surface contact is the same

I really like the look of the larger hardie cutoff. What did you use for steel?

5 minutes ago, keeplokd said:

I really like the look of the larger hardie cutoff. What did you use for steel?

Torsion bar. 

Yah I think the shank of the hardy needs to be a bit taller so the shoulders sit above the top of the anvil. I made a cut off just like that and I got stuck like that also, I forge another one and it had taller shoulders its snug but just a tap and it pops out.

On 8/27/2016 at 9:45 AM, Alan Evans said:

When using a hot cut I find it advantageous to plunge the workpiece into the water bucket for a second or two, after hitting it down onto the hot cut, the only bit that is chilled is the ismuth left from the part cut, and because it is cold the end will break off clean rather than having to bend and twist with your tongs. You obviously have to be a bit quick or the residual heat will travel back into the ismuth almost as quickly.

With this method you do not need to risk going so close to the hot set with the hammer face. 

A straight edged hot set will produce a parallel strip/hinge/ismuth which will break cleaner and more readily than the hinge left by a curved edge hot set. The more ragged edge left by the curved tool will require a few more blows to clean up and consolidate. But probably not enough difference between them in the real world to worry anyone. 

Alan

This is exactly how I was taught to cut.

It is so much easier.

Interesting, I've never quenched twards the end. When I get down to that small connection I use a sheering blow.

 

I might give it a try. 

Thanks

i do the nick, quench,  break thing myself but i add a step. After nicking it nearly through, i bend it about to 90 degrees then quench just the nicked portion so that the rest of the bar doesnt even touch the water just to minimize any chance at all of cooling.

I made this "hot cut" before I knew anything about hot cuts. It's a chunk of draglink from my pickup.  It's soft enough to not mar the hammer if I should hit one too many times.  If it gets dulled, it's easy enough to fix with a few licks from a file.  I've cut leaf spring, up to 1 1/4" round, and square stock, both HC, and mild.  As long as the steel is hot, it will cut.