Forge heat thermometer

[panch0]

What do you guys use to check the temps in a gas or charcoal forge? My friend has a forge, and said I could ht some 1080 blades I am working on. I want to get the most out of the 1080 and being able to see the temp instead of using the waiting until it gets non magnetic would give me peace of mind when I hand them over to the new owners. Maybe a hand held one? Thanks guys.

-frank

 

[69_knives]

Frankly, I've been getting better results from using decalescense than I did using a pipe muffle and PID.

 

[silver_pilate]

Decalescence is useful, and it's how I use to judge the steel state when I was heat treating in a one brick forge back in the day. However, it takes tome and practice to learn what to look for.

Frank, see if you can find a handheld pyrometers and couple that with a k-type thermocouple. The pyrometer needs to read at least 1600-1700 hundred, but one that can read up to around 2400-2500 would likely be useful later on. If handhelds are looking too expensive, you can pick up a cheap PID/pyrometer and wire a K-TC to it from the likes of auberins.com. That may be cheaper than someplace like Granger.

--nathan

 

[DrThunder88]

I found my HF thermocouple to be as accurate as my PID. It needs a new probe for kiln temperatures, however.