Thread: Introduction
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  #11  
Old 05-30-2017, 06:39 AM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: ny
Posts: 1,438
I would bring it out side,,,,I have built a couple forges (and yes I used rays video he shows you how to make a lil one or a big one same concept) The KEY is to also make a PROPER burner to go inside there. I have seen many people try the torch from home depot thing.....but never seen any one make it work its just not strong enough (even inside a forge). Even if you get the steel to non magnetic most likely you will get the outside hot enough but not all the way through the steel. The forge I am using now was make from a piece of vent pipe 8in in diameter (the chamber is 6in diameter after the inswool or kaowool). This one is al lil over 2 feet long. I made it a long time a ago to heat treat a sword...Its set up so it can use 2 burners but most of the time now I made a "plug" that I slide inside so I can use it with 1 burner and is only a foot long....Point is it doesn't have to be that long. but you do need to make the right burner for sure. So with this forge I have it on a small metal cart that I roll out of the garage. I do have a small one that is much shorter that I can pic up and put where ever I want. So make it as big as you have shelf space for and just bring it outside when you need to. The only downfall of having it outside is you can see the color of the steel inside the forge but as soon as you take it out it looks much darker instantly because of the sun light. Now if your just heat treating a knife that is fine because it goes into the oil as soon as you take it out you only need to see the color IN the forge and use a magnet to check it to. But if you plan on taking it out and hammering it. It gets hard to see the color to know how cool its getting. What I have been doing is rolling it out right outside my garage. Then having my anvil about 3-4 feet inside the garage (just so the anvil is in the shade not the sunlight. So you can see it....Again with rays video you can apply what he talks about to what ever size you need....Also learning to heat treat right takes a bit of trial and error I would agree get some 1084 as that is the easiest. And start there. There are many tests to check your heat treat one of the most important one is breaking the knife on purpose to see the grain. I am sure many of us here are willing to help when you get the forge built.
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