[TheForge] forging steel bamboo

[Ben Barrett]

And on that note -- I've found that it is nearly impossible to get
pipe quenched to a bare-hand temperature because of this... and I know
pipe should not be totally closed off when heated or else you'll be
dealing with a bomb (the air pressure, locked inside a vessel, rises
with temperature).  However, if you use a stand to support the pipe
horizontally once you have it in the fullering tool, then you only
need to rotate it evenly, and don't have the bother of supporting
either end of the pipe's weight :)
Bruce's suggestion reminds me of the old forging videos I've seen
where a huge bar is suspended by crane and made able to roll on its
support; these monster beams were maneuvered from forge to power
hammer fairly easily this way, although that is relative -- the videos
I've seen have teams of workers on a single large piece.  Woot!
If you do the upsetting horizontally, which I've found I prefer for
both control and minimal body stress, then the pipe can stay
horizontal until it becomes bamboo...

cheerio,

ben


On 10/28/07, Fiorini & Skiles <bkmetal at mwt.net> wrote:
> Thanks Ben.  Mark, let us see your experiments as you try it.  Be careful if
> you decide to quench pipe.  If you dunk it in a water tub, boiling water
> will shoot up out of it and toward whatever direction the pipe is pointing
> in.
> I know you can plug the ends of the pipe, but I'd rather just avoid the pipe
> quenching altogether.
> -Kirsten
...