-1

A guy at the Montana fair showed me a trick with a wet burlap sack

I was at the state fair in Missoula a few years back, watching a farrier work. He was shaping a big piece for a gate and it was cooling too fast. He grabbed a burlap sack from a bucket of water, wrung it out just a bit, and draped it over the hot steel. He said, 'This lets it cool slow, right where you want it, without shocking the metal.' I tried it the next day on a leaf spring I was working on, and it made a huge difference. Has anyone else used something like this for controlled cooling on larger pieces?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_young7d agoTop Commenter

Yeah, that wet burlap trick is solid. It's basically a cheap way to make a steam blanket, which keeps the heat in and lets the piece cool down evenly. I've used soaked welding blankets for the same thing on bigger projects, like when you're trying to avoid warping a whole frame section. The key is just keeping the air off it so it doesn't cool in spots. That old farrier knew his stuff, lol.

betty_scott187d ago

Reminds me of my granddad cooling down a big cast iron skillet he'd just re-seasoned. He'd pull it off the wood stove, wrap the whole thing in a soaked flour sack towel, and just leave it on the porch overnight. Said the slow steam kept the oil from getting spotty. Always worked, too. That pan is still slick as anything.