Loading…
22
Warning: My coal forge choked out mid-quench last Tuesday and I almost ruined a good knife
I was finishing up a 1084 skinner in my shop out back in Knoxville last Tuesday night, and about 20 minutes in I noticed the fire was acting strange. My coal had bridged up into a big clinker dome and the air blast was just blowing right past it, so the heat dropped off while I stood there watching my blade sit in the fire. I pulled it out to check and the edge had gone dull gray on me, way past the point where I should have quenched. I ended up having to normalize it twice and start the whole heat treat over, which cost me about 90 minutes and a fresh batch of coal. The part that bugs me is I have been forging for 6 years and I still let a clogged grate sneak up on me because I was too focused on the grind. Now I keep a piece of rebar bent into a hook hanging right on the forge so I can rake the clinkers out every 15 minutes whether things look fine or not. Any of you run into this with coal versus charcoal, and did switching fuels fix it or just change the problem?
0 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In0 Comments
No comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this discussion.