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Blew $260 on a thermocouple setup for my forge, and my old eyeballs did the job just fine
I run a small shop out of my garage in Akron and got talked into buying an infrared pyrometer setup for $260 so I could hit exact temps on my knife blanks. Used it for three weeks and realized I was staring at a number instead of the steel, and my quench results were the same as when I just watched for that cherry red to go past orange. Sold the whole kit to a guy in Columbus for $150 last week and went back to my magnet and a dim shop light. Water quench on 1084 hasn't cracked a blade since. Anyone else think these temp gadgets are solving a problem that color reading already handles?
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kimdixon1mo ago
Staring at a number instead of the steel is exactly what got me too, and I spent more time squinting at the readout than I ever did watching color. I'm the guy who can't read a ruler without his cheaters, so dropping $260 to avoid looking at the one thing I'm actually good at was pretty dumb. Your magnet and dim light have probably quenched more good blades than half the gadgets in my shop.
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