How to mark steel for cutting

[julianthegypsy]

Bump-sort of-but you can get a nice fine end on a stick of french chalk by sliding it corner to corner along a hacksaw blade in a motion familiar to adolescent yoofs.
if it starts to turn red, its over cut.

I just put my chalk in the grinder to give it an edge, but I find when I'm cutting with oxy I just can't see a chalk mark well enough, hence the scribe and dot punch, especially for freehand cutting circles. If I'm cutting straight lines then I clamp a piece of angle down and use it as a guide. Not only is it accurate but I get really smooth cuts that don't need half an hour on the grinder afterwards!

 

[thinfourth]

For plasma cutting

I use a variation on the chunko method

Get some spray mount glue and stick some paper to the steel

Then mark it with a pen

Follow the marks

Because plasma is silly hot in a tiny area the paper doesn't catch fire it just runs away about 1mm either side of the cut

 

[Maker]

I would recommend blue Sharpies over black ones as the black ones can rub themselves out if you shade an area to scribe lines more obvious. I think red ones work too.

 

[sardine]

The sharpie pen is my favorite.

Silver for black steel
Black for bright steel