My dumbest question yet.

[VanceHanna]

So I am considering building either the trash can forge or the coffee can forge, and the only thing i dont get, since it will run on propane or mapp gas torch is how am i suppose to know when i have the metal hot enough? I wont have any computer controls.

[damon]

ray has a forge building dvd thatll answer a lot of questions about what/how to build. (just don't make mistake of eating peanuts while watching it)
http://www.rayrogers.com/books.htm

are you going to be forging, or heat treating?

big reason everyone has been suggesting the materials to start using is you DONT NEED computer controls to work with the simpler steels while building experience and working knowledge. they forge easier, heat treat easier.... and produce just as good of a blade.

[Ray Rogers]

Magnet, magnet, magnet, magnet . Not sparkly lights, not subjective colors...a magnet is all you need. Providing, of course, that you are using one of the simple steels that work well with a magnet. If not, then you need a much more advanced shop than most beginners would have and none of that 'advanced' part need include a computer as any part of the knife making process.

The bottom line is that we try to support any method of knife making that a person wants to use but I think most of us favor thinking about knife making as a more or less manual skill, i.e., hand tools and hand controlled power tools. I spent 40 years with computers and manufacturing processes and from my point of view computers or CAD only make sense for knife making if you are a manufacturer. If you want to be a knife maker in the sense that most of us practice then computers and automated machinery are completely unnecessary....

[Doug Lester]

If you are talking about forging steel then your hammer will tell you if you have the steel hot enough. If you are also talking about heat treating then use a magnet as Ray said. Use a simple steel, like 1080 or 1084, that you don't have to worry about putting too much carbon into solution. You then bring the steel up to where it won't stick to the magnet and then get it just a little hotter (brighter) to assure that it has changed phases. Later on you can learn to spot decalesance.

Another steel you could look at is 5160.

If you get into higher carbon or higher alloy steels then you will be looking at using a regulated oven or molten salt pots to austinize the steel for heat treating to get the most out of the alloy.

Doug