Forge scale

[Lord Farquhar]

ok it happens but is there a way of reducing or the ammount of its effects on the surface when you wollop it?

[PS_Bond]

Well, you can work with a more reducing flame if you're using a gas forge; alternatively, try the Japanese method of slopping water onto the anvil & dipping your hammer in water (exciting) or the old standby of a stiff wire brish to shift it before you start hammering.

[Kevin]

ok it happens but is there a way of reducing or the ammount of its effects on the surface when you wollop it?



In forging...scale is part life, but can be controlled. If your getting a lot of scale then maybe you are getting the steel too hot?....

.....A good coarse blacksmiths wire brush is useful....use it when the steel is red and keep brushing till it goes black will remove a lot of scale.
As your working , keep reducing the amount of heat it takes, until the last few heats are only just a notceable colour (in low light).....I find a lot of scale pops off at this stage and I can sometimes see bright steel...reducing the heat is also a form of thermo cycling and helps reduce grain growth.

During the final heats, some smiths wet their anvils with water ( a wet rag or brush), dip their hammer head in a bucket of water to dampen the head....the scale then pops off when struck...sounds like the crack of a small calibre gun going off if you get it right.

I grind my knives to about 90% of the finish I want before heat treatment...but I then have to pass them over the grinder again after heat treatment....so scale isnt a problem, as its easily ground off.

If your getting deep scale intrusions in your work then its probably either your hammering technique/choice of hammer/hammer face is marked/anvil is pitted...or a combination.

[Lord Farquhar]

i read somwhere that you can gring up the scale and mix it with clove oil to make a great abrasive for polishing and bringing out hamons. Any one tried it?

[Kevin]

Ahhh...a simple 'thanks' for trying to answer you first question would not go amiss before asking your next question...but then..I am from the olde school......;).


But in answer to your question....I havent tried it myself, but I am sure someone probably has somewhere........ :)

[Lord Farquhar]

Ahhh...a simple 'thanks' for trying to answer you first question would not go amiss before asking your next question...but then..I am from the olde school......;).


oh sorry i did not mean to offend or anything i am not quite myself. i have just come diazapam and my brain is not working rightly at the moment.

thank you very much for your advice and comments :thanks: