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I Forge Iron

Slack tub is freezing


Steve Sells

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On December 8, 2016 at 6:58 PM, Frosty said:

How often do you  need to cool stock in winter?

Pretty often. I use water to cool the isolate exactly where I want a bend. Either water or heating with a torch instead of a forge which I find slow and tiresome in general. 

I guess we all work differently. 

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This might be an odd question but here goes.

With winter being here and temps now well below freezing, my cooling bucket for my tools has frozen solid in my shop as I only use a gas space heater when actually out in the shop. When I used my coal forge I didn't do any forging in the winter but now that I built a gasser I can work in the shop (as long as it's not 0). Do you guys have any suggestions to help the freezing or am I simply going to have to empty when done and fill it when I go out to forge? I thought about using some anti-freeze mixed in the water however I think it may not be safe. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Ray

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On January 14, 2017 at 4:57 PM, CTBlades said:

With winter being here and temps now well below freezing, my cooling bucket for my tools has frozen solid in my shop as I only use a gas space heater when actually out in the shop. 

If your slack tub is freezing you're not slacking enough Ray.

Us cold country folk went through a long thread on the subject a while ago but thanks for the opportunity to tweak you. I appreciate it. :P

Frosty The Lucky.

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Actually I think you have it backwards Frosty, I'm slacking way to much and not using my tank or hot tooling enough lol.

Thank you for the link beech, I wasn't sure where to look in the forums. If I was working full time with the forge I am sure I'd go with the heater but it seems I'll just empty and fill when I do use the forge for now.

Thank you gents!

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...

There are good stock tank heaters for this.  The right one sits on the bottom, never gets so hot that it would melt even  a plastic tank, and has an internal thermostat so doesn't even turn on unless freezing temperatures are met.

IIRC, my stock tank heaters ran about 24 bucks USD.  In a roughly 20 gallon tank, there is no freeze at all until it's been below zero F for a few days and then only minimal top freezing around the edges.  Wattage is remarkably low to accomplish this so it doesn't make you go broke on electric bills.   Image is the 500 watt version which is for a much bigger tank and is listed at $ 33 USD.  IIRC, mine are 250 watts.

2132393133_zzzzstocktank.jpg.5e908e19e0f6f17c787952aa981caaf7.jpg

For smaller tanks...say about a 5 gallon bucket size, they make a water heater for chickens--it's a galvanized platform with a built in heater which the chicken water...or a sslack tank...can sit on.  I've never had the chicken water freeze on me but can't say how a more open tank would react.  These are a bit more expensive, about 125 watts.

907477778_zzzzchickenwaterer.png.2409a0690acc56c80e3d205ae03ebc74.png

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Why do you need a quench tank?  I have a bucket I fill on the way to the smithy and dump out on my favorite tree on the way back to the house.   As I like bladesmithing I try to NOT to have a "blade killer" near my forge and anvil!  Most steel for ornamental work nowadays is A-36 which can have problems being quenched too.  All I need is a little water for cooling tools and stock I am hand holding.  We are not 19th (and earlier) century smiths forging real wrought iron that can be quenched with impunity.  So we do not have to work like they did too; besides which modern steels are BURNING at the temperature a lot of real wrought iron is forged at.

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I live in a place that rarely gets to freezing and not for very long when it does, but I've read that a wooden stick, any piece of scrap really, stood up in your quench tub will keep it from freezing solid.  Never had to try it, YMMV.  

At the very least a length of 2x4 at hand will make breaking the surface ice easier.

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I'm with Thomas. At 7500 feet and 41 degrees North things freeze around here.  I fill a bucket on the way to the shop and dump the slack tub when I'm done for the day.  The latter is easy to forget but the next time out I have a slack tub-sicle with the ladle for a handle.  Not fun to chip out.

If you are in marginal freezing conditions salt would lower the freezing point but might tend to rust things more aggressively. Just fill and dump and consider it the price of not having the summers they do where freezing is not a problem.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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I'm lucky: a few years back, a friend gave me an empty half-barrel beer keg that makes an excellent slack tub once you cut off one end. Since it's seamless and designed to withstand pressure, freezing isn't a problem; since it's stainless steel, I don't have to worry about it rusting.

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1 hour ago, JHCC said:

I'm lucky: a few years back, a friend gave me an empty half-barrel beer keg that makes an excellent slack tub once you cut off one end. Since it's seamless and designed to withstand pressure, freezing isn't a problem; since it's stainless steel, I don't have to worry about it rusting.

I also have a stainless half keg with the end cut off for a slack tub. Best one yet!  Killed the prior mop bucket by accidently dropping a BIG clinker in it, on the way to the clinker bucket, and burned a hole in the bottom.

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