How hot is red-hot iron?

Anabstercorian · Feb 10, 2005

Similarly, hot hot is white-hot iron? And does the color glowing vary depending on the metal?

My character is planning to create a portable, magically-powered forge, and I want to know just how hot this thing is getting. Some of the numbers I'm going to make up (the melting point of Mithril or Adamantine, for example) but I'd like real world references for the rest if possible!

Phineas Crow · Feb 10, 2005

I'm far from an expert, but from what I understand it makes little difference what the object is, the temperature determines what spectrum it glows.

Objects take on a dull red glow around 1100F and objects become white-hot at about 5000F.

Torm · Feb 10, 2005

Iron's "red-hot" temperature is right at 700 degrees Centigrade, "white-hot" temperature is at 1094 degrees Centigrade, it becomes viscous enough to pour into molds at about 1100-1150 degrees Centigrade, and its melting point is 1538 degrees Centigrade. Also worth noting is that at about the same temperature it becomes red-hot, it is no longer magnetically responsive.

Andor · Feb 10, 2005

According to my pocket reference book Iron glowing red visible in daylight is about 1000 deg F.

White hot it 2550 deg F.

Yes the type of iron (Wrought, cast or steel) affects everything.

To temper steel you don't really need to get much hotter than 600 deg F depending on what hardness you want.

Checkout www.anvilfire.com for lots of information about blacksmithing.

It occurs to me that an Iron golem or equivilent animated widget would be strong enough to run the bellows for a Bessemer furnace. Which would make steel very very cheap. Of course that's the sort of world changing innovation that happens all the time in real life, but for some reason breaks peoples suspension of disbelief in a fantasy world.

-Andor

BryonD · Feb 10, 2005

Red: 8d6
White: 14d6

Mercule · Feb 10, 2005

Torm said:
Also worth noting is that at about the same temperature it becomes red-hot, it is no longer magnetically responsive.

So, does that mean that Heat Metal can be used to counter an Attraction spell?

The Grumpy Celt · Feb 10, 2005

Anabstercorian said:
Similarly, hot hot is white-hot iron? And does the color glowing vary depending on the metal?

Hotter than toast, not as hot as the surface of the sun in the middle of the afternoon.

Galethorn · Feb 10, 2005

To put things simply, you'll need the forge to get the metal into the 1700 degree F range to forge it (the part where it's hot and you hit it with a hammer) [orange glow], the 1500 degree range to harden it (the part where you get it hot then quench it) ['cherry red'], and the 300-600 degree range to temper it (the part where you bake it to make it a lot less brittle, but a little less hard as well) [surface gets a yellow/blue/purple/black oxidation layer (depends on specific temp)].

So, you'll want at least 1700 degrees to work with...2500 would be better.

Oh, and you should keep in mind that the melting points for the hardest-to-melt metals in the real world are in the 2000-3000 F range, so adamantine would likely need to get into the