Fornax: Steel Heat Colors

The heat-color chart, off the forge wall and into your pocket. Every smith knows the old printed color chart taped up by the forge - the one that says what cherry red or bright orange really means in degrees. Fornax is that chart, made interactive, for bladesmiths and blacksmiths who read steel by its glow. PICK YOUR STEEL, SEE ITS HEAT Choose an alloy and the whole screen fills with the glow color at that steel's representative quench heat, with the temperature called out big. 1084, 5160, 80CrV2, W2, O1, 15N20, 1095 - the workhorses are built in, each carrying a cited working range so you know the number is a starting reference, not gospel. SCRUB THE WHOLE SCALE Drag along the heat scale from a dull dark red up to bright white and watch the glow color track the temperature, roughly 500 C to 1,500 C. It answers the question every smith asks the wall chart: what does 1,500 F actually…