[TheForge] Now cold shuts - 304 stainless

[Grant Marcoux]

I have forged ATS-34 blades by hand as well as 304 and 304L.  I have found
that these steels are very poor conductors of heat  compared to simpler
steels and they must be worked very hot.  Forging color for these is in the
yellow range and you must experiment with the steel in question for best
results.  These alloys are absolutely unforgiving of being worked too cold
(or hot) and will crack or crumble if worked at the wrong temperature.

ATS blades must only be worked at full heat, so you are forging small
sections at a time.  To forge a 10" slicer blade takes me all morning.

Also, these alloys do not like to be struck on a narrow rectangle section if
they are the least bit cold...a sure fire recipe for a longitudinal crack.
Eeeek!

Grant

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of David E. Smucker
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 3:43 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Now cold shuts - 304 stainless


Try forging at a higher temperature and quit as it cools.  I don't know if
304 has problems with going hot short but it might, if it breaks up at the
high temperatures -- it is going hot short.  You are now too HOT.

But the core problem with high strength materials such as 304 or tools
steels is that at colder temperatures you are only forging on the surface --
the reduction work is not going very deep and this can lead to cold shuts --
and making cracks once started move quickly along the path between the
"forged area" and the unmoving center.

Get it HOT and hit it HARD, no cold dinking allowed.

Dave



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer" <artgawk at thegrid.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:06 PM
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Safety -- Turning Things Off topic

> Good sirs;
> I like machinery too,and the first few exchanges were interesting...but.
>
> BS then.
> I've been forging 304(?) scrap stainless recently and the cold shuts and
> their propagating cracks are getting frustrating. Same with some bronzes
> and tool steels.
> Especially true when extensive upsetting is called for.
> I end up spending time grinding out the surface flaws, flaps, nicks and so
> on, isn't all that much fun.
> Help, hints or expositions please......pete f
>
> Andrew Vida wrote:
>>
>>
>> Peter Hirst wrote:
>>> This is not my field, but I just did a little reading and its pretty
>>> simple. A lot of right aileron, AND just a little right rudder.
>>> Apparently all that right aeleron increases drag asymmetrically, and a
>>> LITTLE right rudder is needed to balance it.
>>
>
>>
>>
>>
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