[TheForge] Scale

Tue Jun 18 15:43:00 2002

The Japanese water technique works fine, but it must be done properly:
It works best when the anvil is warm to hot.
The anvil face is brushed with a wet whisk broom to wet the surface .
The hammer is dipped in the slack tub and finally the piece is removed from
the fire and positioned above, but not touching the anvil.
As you swing the hammer down the work should contact the anvil at the same
time the hammer hits it. That way it is very effective in removing scale.
Also if you are using a gas forge, throw in a few chunks of metallurgical
grade coke every 15 minutes to consume the excess oxygen in the forge.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Rackers" <[email protected]>
To: "TheForge" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 10:41 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Scale


> I'm curious how everyone deals with scale?
> I've got a couple of problems with it that I find irritating.
>
> The first problem results from the fact that I often hammer metal pretty
thin.
> The thinner it gets, the more important it is I have a high heat, or else
it
> cools by the time I get it to the anvil.
> It also means I have often have no time to brush off the scale before
working
> it, so I end up with the texture of the scale pounded into the metal.
> The high heat, though, creates a lot of scale, which creates a lot of
texture
> in the metal despite my best efforts to avoid it.
>
> I could leave it thicker and file/grind to final thickness to remove the
> texture.
> I could also try working it at a temperature that doesn't create scale,
though
> I doubt I'd get much accomplished trying that.
> So what's the solution?
>
> The second problem is that I notice that when I take a high heat, and
attempt
> to brush off the scale, sometimes it comes off very easily, and other
times
> some comes off easily and some refuses to come off. I can't figure out why
some
> of it's so tenacious. I've attempted taking it to a very high heat to make
it
> easier to remove, but that often fails as well. I hate to work the metal
in
> that condition because I end up texturing the metal from the scale, but up
to
> now I've not found a way to remove it all first when it does this.
> Anyone else encountered the same problem?
>
> I've heard some bladesmiths use water on the anvil to blast the scale off
as
> they're working.
> Anyone ever tried it?
>
> Bob
>
>
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