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I Forge Iron

Claying a blade


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There you go being critical of my looks; I'm way past losing my temper!  Luckily I have an "Old Rasputin" on hand to quench my wrath when I return to my domicile tonight!   However if I'm ferrite---that makes me an alpha male!  Shall I break out all o'tropes said Thomas metaphivically!

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Perhaps; my wife recently complained that one of the reasons she liked me was that my chest wasn't all covered with hair, didn't tickle her nose when she laid on it; but now my beard is doing that!   I told he we could braid it and tie it behind my head---use a ribbon until it gets long enough to tie the braids together.  (Be safer around the forge too!  Hmm "Borax Beard Balm"  I may have come up with a way to fund my retirement!)

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Hmmm, borax beard balm. You just might have something there. Doc uses flame retardant shampoo. His shop is almost local I could get his number to put on your white board.

You could suggest she sleep in a mask so you could grant your beard it's freedom. They make lots of plastic spacer gizmos to make space around your mouth and nose. I must have half a dozen around here somewhere, I'll be happy to ship some of the unused ones to you.

Anything for a friend.

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm ditching the idea of claying the blade but still need to figure out the best way to temper it.   It's too big for my oven and I'm sure my GF would leave me if I decided to just cut a hole in it to fit the tang.  (Hey, it's my house.   Last year I was claying my coal forge in the kitchen).  I'm looking at 3 ways,  and since I've not heat treated the blade yet I figure I could practice on it without compromising it's structural integrity.  (I think...?)

1.  Fire up the coal forge, run minimal air through it and drag the blade across at an even speed and turning it over every pass.  Pro;  I have plenty of coal,  it's getting colder out, I can build the coals into a trough across the whole width, Increase airflow if needed. 

Cons; could easily overheat the blade wrecking the heat treat,  the blade is 33 inches long with a 6 inch tang It can be hard to handle when hot and tongs are annoying.  Visibility for the colors could be a pain and temps could spike causing me to redo everything. 

2.  Throw it in my grill with a couple of steaks. 

Pro; lunch will be great, large flat area for the blade to rest

Con; temperature control.   My grill is an offset smoker I haven't ever actually put charcoal in the main chamber so I'm not sure how it would react.   Definitely would put down bricks to help moderate heat fluctuations.

3.  Hot iron bar; I need to study this one and practice this one as it seems to be what would work best for me.   I have an inch and a half fuller and some nice 1 and 2 inch bar.  Heat the bar to red and run it up the fuller watching the color run.    Pros; steady heat source, controlled area where heat can be applied

Cons; heat loss from bar stock might make it so it needs to be done in multiple heats.

I know,  long read but is there anything else I could do or any tips on these methods?

 

 

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I use my offset smoker for tempering swords, I add/remove coals as needed from the  floor of the food holding area, not the fire box, to get my digital BBQ thermometer to read the correct temps its not rocket science, really it isnt, tempering cycle is a few hours so a few minutes above or below the desired temp is not a problem, if it gets way to hot remove the blade or open the lid to cool it off until temp drops... then resume the temper

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