I think annealing angle iron is overrated

Tried forging a set of bracket arms last week without annealing the stock first, just went straight from the forge to the anvil. They came out straighter and took less time than when I bother with the annealing step. Anyone else skip this and get better results?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden14d ago

Funny you mention that. I've noticed the same thing with a lot of "essential" prep steps in life. Like, I used to always wash my new cast iron pans three times with soap before first use because that's what my grandpa said. One day I just skipped it, cooked bacon right away, and it seasoned up perfect. Your mileage may vary, but I think a lot of these rules were made for folks who didn't have modern tools or consistent heat sources. You might be onto something with just trusting your forge temperature instead.

owens.laura14d ago

Oh man, you're speaking my language. I did the exact same thing with a set of gate hinges last month (my shop was freezing and I just wanted to rush through it). I heated the angle iron straight to forging temp, worked it hot, and they came out dead straight with no cracking or warping. The whole annealing step just adds an extra hour of waiting around for the metal to cool slow in vermiculite. Now I only anneal if I'm doing something really thick (like 3/8" or up) or if I'm planning to cold-bend it later. Trusting your heat by color is way more reliable than fussing over a soak time that might not even matter for simple stock.

drews5514d ago

You said "trust your forge temperature," so how do you know it's really hot enough without the pyrometer?