Hi Chris,
I have already admitted that I dont know what color temperature the fence is ( Quote - "I admit that I dont know for certain the color temperature of the metal but if its accepted that the heat of the baffle is enough to trigger ignition then what color would you pick? ") and regret using the phrase "red hot"- it was more a figure of speech since really, none of us know what temp it could run at.
But the gases coming up from the transfer passage are usually a mix of spent combustion gases that bounce back off the incoming charge quite significantly and the evaporative cooling effect may not be what is expected because of preheating and diluting of the charge.
And no, I have not missed the screamingly obvious, small pressure and heat differentials have great meaning in small engines.
How does one burn and pit a piston crown and yet millimetres away the cylinder wall does not suffer the same effect?
Much we dont know.