I was thinking of taking a big clay/ceramic flower pot.
You know, the orange colored ones with the hole in the bottom.
Fill it up with charcoal and run ductwork to the hole in the bottom.
Blow air into the charcoal as it burns to increase the heat.
Take two floor tiles and place over the top leaving a gap between them in the center.
Then place the flat steel over that gap at the place I want to bend it.
Would this heat it enough to bend it.
What about if I took a small propane torch and used it to heat the top side at the same time.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Pooh Bear

I'm building a 3 point hitch for a tractor implement.
You can see the part I'm trying to bend in this picture.

Pooh Bear

There are small oxy-mapp torches avail for under $50, if you want to do it yourself.

Pooh Bear

Your clay pot forge will work surprisingly well, but you'll burn up a few bucks of charcoal briquets making it all happen. If you can get some cokeable coal you'd prefer it.

If you have a shop vac or blower you can get plenty of air. Only problem I see is that you need a bigger hole in the bottom of the clay pot. Three inches would be great. Two would work, smaller becomes more marginal. (You want to move a largish quantity of air not too fast, or the air flow will actually disrupt and cool the fire and blow the coals out of the fire.)

If you can get a copy of "PRACTICAL PROJECTS FOR THE BLACKSMITH" by Ted Tucker, Rodale, 1980, you will see how to make a small cheap forge for almost nothing. A small one can be made with a gallon can, if you're just using it once.

Heat the steel to a nice orange color. You can hold on to the long end with your hand, but you'll need something to grip the hot end. You could probably do this with a pair of vice grips, but I'd lay it over the edge of the anvil (in your case any fairly heavy, straight piece of steel) or clamp it in the vice right where I wanted the bend to form, and then apply pressure -either with the hammer (gentle, persistent rapping blows) or by grabbing that cool, long end and pulling. This would let you locate that bend just where you liked. If need be you can punch the steel a little when cold to give you marks you can find when it's all hot.

Try to be decisive. Although you can fix any errors it's a whole lot easier to just get it right at once, and you have enough time. The 1/2" will hold heat for a reasonable period, and you can always go back to the fire for more.

Good luck,

Mark

I have bent metal before using an o/a torch.
But I don't have an o/a torch anymore.

Gosh this project is going slow.
I keep getting sidetracked with other stuff.
I expected to be done by now. not a chance.

Pooh Bear