Field notes · Comstock, NY
Reading the Iron
Judging forge heat by eye, hand, and wind — not the dial.
I / IV
The heat, in colors
Every shade of steel is a temperature, if you know how to read it.
blood red
cherry
salmon
orange
white
Blood red: too cold to move. Cherry: it bends. Salmon: tool steel. Orange: shaping hot. White: carbon's leaving — you're about to ruin a good piece.
II / IV
Why the dial lies
The dial reads the air. The iron lives in the fire.
A draft shifts the wind; a cold anvil drinks your heat. Your eyes see what the work is doing right now — the dial only guesses.
III / IV
Learn the steel's language.
The thermometer can break. Your eyes won't. — Alan Destin, handyman, Comstock NY
reading-the-iron · alan-destin.4ort.net
IV / IV