Loading…
12
Switched from eyeballing my temper colors to a $22 thermocouple and I feel like I cheated
For 6 years I judged temper on my chisels by watching the straw color run and I was proud of it. Last spring a retired toolmaker in Dayton watched me do it and just said the words "you're guessing with your eyes, that's all that is," so I clamped a thermocouple to the next batch and found I was running them 40 degrees hot. Anyone else given up the color chart or am I the only one who got lazy?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
miles_garcia18d ago
The color chart was built for open air and daylight, not whatever setup you have in your shop. Straw at 400F can read closer to 440F under a dim bulb or if your eyes are tired, which is a big window when you're chasing a 20 degree temper band. The thermocouple didn't make you lazy, it just took the lighting out of the math. What got me was how fast the surface color lies on polished steel versus forged scale.
7