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Ed Caffrey's Workshop Talk to Ed Caffrey ... The Montana Bladesmith! Tips, tricks and more from an ABS Mastersmith.

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Old 04-12-2009, 06:02 PM
Uncle Buck Uncle Buck is offline
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Building a forge

Hi All,

I guess I'll attempt to build a new forge. My question is this I have an old kerosene heater shell can I use that. It has vent slots all in it, will that be a prob. Also, I need a good cheap way to cut out blade blanks. I was on planning on buying a good bandsaw to do this, but the sale of my kiln fell thru, so I guess you could say I am very broke LOL. Thanks for all your help UB
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Old 04-12-2009, 06:58 PM
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Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
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Just about anything will work for a forge shell. All it has to be able to do, is to support the Kawool or castable refractory you use, and be non-flammable . When building a forge, one very important thing to remember is the forge size versus burner size is critical if the forge is to operate correctly.

I would assume that you going to build a forge that is round in shape? If so, the ID should be approx. 8" diameter, and a burner that is 1" in diameter.

If your going to forge, you won't need a way to cut out blade blanks....just forge them to shape. Even though I have a band saw, I seldom use it for cutting out blade blanks....if I'm producing something via stock removal, it generally done on the belt grinder.


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Old 04-13-2009, 09:30 AM
Burke Burke is offline
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transform your kiln into a forge.


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Old 04-13-2009, 01:41 PM
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DaveRuhlig DaveRuhlig is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Buck
Also, I need a good cheap way to cut out blade blanks. I was on planning on buying a good bandsaw to do this, but the sale of my kiln fell thru, so I guess you could say I am very broke LOL.
I use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel. You should be able to get a chaep Harbor Freight version or maybe a used one from a pawn shop for $20-$30. You won't get much cheaper than that unless you go the hack saw route.
-Dave


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Old 04-13-2009, 05:22 PM
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I cut blanks from truck leaf springs. I cut sections by heating a "slice place" with a mapp torch until it gets good and red to remove the hardness, then cut with an angle grinder. The resulting section is then normalized in the forge and sliced lengthwise to billet size.
My forge is $36 of fire brick and a $12 bathroom exhaust fan, burning charcoal and wood.
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Old 04-14-2009, 09:46 AM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Uncle Buck,

I built this over the last month or so, with advice from Ray Rogers and Ed.



It's 8 inch black stove pipe lined with 1 inch ceramic wool insulation, coated with fireplace cement. I overlapped the sides of the stove pipe so that my chamber, after adding insulation and cement, was about 3.5 inches across. The chamber is about 12 inches long. I'm only doing stock removal at this point, so I just need something to heat treat. I don't have a blower yet for a forced air burner, but so far it heats up just fine with a nice swirl using my Bernzomatic JTH-7 torch burning propane. It's held down with muffler/tank strap from the auto store, and the base is scrap lumber from other projects. Aside from the torch, the entire thing cost me less than $30 to build.

By the way, Thanks Ed and Ray! I'm getting a much better (even) heat than I did with any of my single-brick forges.

Nathan
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Old 04-14-2009, 11:10 AM
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Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
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Your welcome Nathan! Just a note....please be VERY CAREFUL with that wooden base! I would like to see it made of steel. Sooner or later your going to drop something hot on the wood, or the interior heat will get that stove pipe hot enough to ignite the wood.


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Old 04-14-2009, 11:48 AM
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Thanks Ed. I try to be as careful as I can--operating the forge outside, keeping an extinguisher nearby, etc. I don't get much time for the hobby, so I don't usually have more than 2 or 3 blades at a time to heat treat. I've been keeping an eye out for some steel plate. I have some aluminum sheet that might do for now, though it would likely be no match for hot steel.
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