[TheForge] Scale

[Steve Smith]

If you do a lot of this kind of work, switch to pure iron. It still 
scales, but you can work it at a *lot* lower temperature without 
cracking. You could probably keep it no hotter than red, minimizing 
scale, and work just as long or longer.

Does the scale form in the forge (which should be improveable), or after 
you bring the piece out?

Steve Smith

Bob Rackers wrote:

>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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