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That $80 forge thermometer I bought was useless after week one
I picked up a digital thermometer from a surplus shop in Phoenix because my old one died mid-project, but it read 200 degrees off after a few heat cycles and I ruined a batch of knife blanks before I noticed, has anyone else had luck with the cheap ones or should I just stick to reading color?
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evan_grant701mo ago
That $80 thermometer failing after a week is rough, I feel your pain on the ruined knife blanks. I've been down that exact road with cheap digitals, they always drift bad once they get hot a few times. Honestly, I gave up on them for anything critical and just use a cheap analog pyrometer with a K type probe for my forge now, but I still double check with color. Reading color is the real skill, but it takes time to trust it, especially at lower temps like 1500 for hardening. My tip is to use a known good temp like the magnet trick for steel and then calibrate your eyeballs off that. If you stick with digital, make sure the probe tip is fully inside the forge wall, not just hanging near the door, that's where most of the error comes from. But yeah, for the price of a good unit you can ruin a lot of steel, so learning color is the way to go.
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