Drawing the spine/variable temper

Has anyone tried slitting a length of pipe to fit over the spine of the blade,to direct the heat flow? It seems like there are at least a few makers who do spine tempering, I am surprised to not see some ingenuity brought into the process.
My over-ripe mind is churning out bad ideas for how to do this with more consistent and repeatable results. I can't be the only one:confused:
 
I guess maybe I am the only one...or maybe just the only one who is speaking up!
I spent some time this weekend experimenting with an electric heating element from a hot plate and a reject blade and managed to come up with a setup that gives a nice, controllable color pattern along the spine and can be mainatined for as long as the power stays on. It requires a small insualted hood to cover the tip area of the blade or this area will not reach a high enough heat. I am going to get a spare TC/readout soon and will do some more detailed recording of temps, but this looks like my answer.
Before anyone tries this I should add that I checked the element repeatedly to be sure the outside of the element is not live when turned on. I do not know a lot about heating elements but this one appears to be immersible, I assume it has an internal element and a sheathing covering it, with zero connectivity betwenn the two. At any rate This should obviously be done only with caution and the judicious use of a multimeter to be sure things are safe.
 
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