Thermocouple for Forge

[Bühlmann]

I would tend to go with the 12" option to keep the wiring more distance away from the forge. 6" will work, and might be plenty. Wait, are you talking about the solid sheath as 6" or 12"? 6" should be plenty as the TC can stick out as far as you wish.

On the segmented ceramic sheath - it will work, but doesn't provide as much protection for the TC wire itself, but when using the #8 wire it's pretty sturdy. AND - "IF" you slide the TC back out of the forge after forge temp has stabilized it will last a long time I'd think. Now, with a 2 brick forge, I don't have a clue about those - does it have a regular burner? OR, is it using a propane torch?

It has an Atlas burner installed at a tangent to the cylinder-cut chamber. I have a .375'x2.5'x8" thick piece of SS plate as a forge floor, and the TC sits in the "corner" of where that meets the curved sidewall. Almost the entire TC is in the forge, with the tip near the midpoint of the chamber length.

I hope that makes sense. I get reasonable temperature values that I have to assume are accurate to the abilities of the TC and the multimeter it's plugged into. Just didn't know if the ceramics were critical or not.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Those are ceramic spacers, not a sheath. They keep the TC leads separated. A sheath is a ceramic tube about the size of a glass cigar tube. The TC is placed inside the sheath (along with the spacers). The sheaths are right at .8" OD.

These are the things you need: 8 gauge TC with spacers, TC block, TC wires to connect to the PID or reader, ceramic sheath. The whole set is $40 on eBay.