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Old timer told me I was burning my steel, took me a while to get what he meant
I've been forging for about 3 years now, mostly on my own with YouTube videos. Last month at a hammer-in near Portland, a guy in his 70s watched me work for a minute and just said "you're burning your steel, son." I was running my forge way too hot, bright yellow almost white, trying to move metal fast. He showed me how to keep it in that orange range and let the hammer do the work instead of the heat. Took me about 20 tries to unlearn that habit and I ruined 3 railroad spike knives in the process. But now my leaves actually punch clean and I'm not losing material to scale. Has anyone else had to drop their forge temp and felt like they were starting over?
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lucas_grant831mo ago
Man, a buddy of mine went through the exact same thing. He'd been forging for a couple years out of his garage, thought he was a hotshot because he could beat a billet into shape in ten minutes flat. Then he took a class with a bladesmith who just watched him for a second and said, "You're burning all the carbon out, you're basically making mild steel." He had to swap to a coal forge where the heat is harder to control, and for a solid month every blade he made cracked or crumbled. He said he felt like he'd forgotten how to breathe while he worked. Took him ruining a dozen good files before he got the rhythm of a slower hammer with a lower heat.
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