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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 01-21-2010, 12:04 AM
Arccher Moon Arccher Moon is offline
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Location: Marsing Idaho
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Small Forge Plans

I can not seam to find the plans I am looking for. I have seen them around here some where, but have lost them. I am just heat treating 5160. I plan on useing propane, some that I can get easily. Looking for a toaster oven for the tempering. Might just do the Wally World thing at $15. I need lots of pictures. I really do not want to blow myself or my house up. The wife will not like that one little bit! Soft fire bricks are really hard to find around here. I can get the wool. That is good. Thanks.
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Old 01-21-2010, 12:31 AM
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DiamondG Knives DiamondG Knives is offline
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I belive Ray has a design on his site for a coffee can forge, and with all of his tutorials, its well explained with lots of photos.

God Bless
Mike


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  #3  
Old 01-21-2010, 08:15 AM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Ellis Custom Knife Works will have the supplies you can't find locally. Ceramic wool, refactory cement, etc.

I built this one for under $30, not including the Bernzomatic torch I already had. It easily gets up to forging temps. Does great for heat treat.

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Old 01-21-2010, 08:35 AM
Arccher Moon Arccher Moon is offline
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That is just what the doc ordered! Need more pics and details. I can get the wool. An idea I had is wrapping the wool around a pipe then putting it in a bigger pipe, to keep the wool good. Good idea, bad idea? How big?
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  #5  
Old 01-21-2010, 09:43 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Putting a pipe within a pipe with wool between might work but I don't know of anyone who's done it. Since this is your first forge I don't think I'd recommend trying it, save the experimenting for later when you know something about what you're doing. Wool is cheap and you can expect to replace it now and then. I rebuild my forge about every two years it seems.

My forge links are:

http://www.rayrogers.com/forge2.htm

http://www.rayrogers.com/miniforge.htm

http://www.rayrogers.com/miniforge.htm Dirt Simple Venturi burner design

The mini forge is probably more along the lines of what you should be building now. If it's too smal then scale it up. They can be built virtually any size. The important thing to know is you want the interior to be as small as practical for whatever job you want the forge to do. My main forge has a big interior because I put large blocks of steel in there, the MiniForge is barely big enough to hold a blade.

There are two major assemblies on a forge: the body and the burner. The body is the same no matter what burner you use so concentrate on building the body first. The size will be partly dictated by what you can find to use for a shell (outer casing). A section of stove pipe is perfect for heat treating forges and should be easily available in Idaho. Wrap a layer of wool inside, maybe two, and you're done. Close the ends of the tube with wool and/or fire brick (soft or hard) and poke a hole in the front to allow the blade to enter. If you can't get brick at all, use a steel plate with wool on it (furnace cement might help with this). Put a brick on the bottom of the forge to add some durability, coat the wool with Satanite.

As long as the inside of the forge is round you can't really do it wrong. Some things will work better than others but most anything will work.

Choose the burner according to the intended use, your budget, and the parts you have access to. For heat treating, in many cases a simple Bernz-O-Matic torch is all that's needed. - just stick it through the side of the forge body. This works with the very small forges. For larger ones try my Dirt Simple Venturi. If you want to really get hot and do some forging or damascus making then build a forced air burner.

All of this stuff can be done without welding, none of it is high precision work. As long as you use a good regulator designed for propane there is very little chance of making a serious mistake as long as you remember to light the gas IMMEDIATELY after you turn it on. Waiting a few minutes after turning the gas on to strike the match could end your forge building career early.

I know this stuff looks daunting at first but, trust me, it's not. Just get started, tell us what you have to work with, and we'll help you get it built ....


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Old 01-21-2010, 10:26 AM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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ArrcherMoon,

My forge chamber is about 3 inches in diameter and 12-14 inches deep. I used black stove pipe that was 8 inches in diameter, but since I was using the Bernzomatic torch I wanted a smaller chamber. No big deal. I just overlapped the sides and held it together with a few sheetmetal screws. For the back of the forge I used sheetmetal sheers to cut a few slits, then folded the flaps in toward the middle to form the back. It's just enough to support a disk of the wool for the back of the forge.

My base is made of scrap lumber, but if you plan to use this inside a building (I use mine outside) then I would find a metal base plate for everything to sit on. The metal straps that holds the forge to the base is fuel tank strap, $3 at the auto store.

I used fireplace refactory cement to line the wool. It was $4 for a small tub, and I still have some left over. It probably doesn't hold up as well as the better stuff like ITC, but it keeps the ceramic fibers from flying all over. It cracks occasionally, so I need to patch once in a while.

For the torch, I cut 3 sides of a square in the side of the sheetmetal, then folded the tab down. I then use a metal spring clamp to hold the torch to the flap. I do need something more permanent, which I hope to remedy in the spring.

Nathan
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  #7  
Old 01-21-2010, 07:11 PM
Arccher Moon Arccher Moon is offline
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Thank you to all the help! This will get me on the right track. This weekend likes like good weather to be inside working on my knives!
Great place we have here. The ideas we share, the friendships we forge, and the people we become. This is GREAT!
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  #8  
Old 01-21-2010, 10:40 PM
reefera4m reefera4m is offline
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Re: forge Plans

I posted a lot of info on a propane forge I made a while back, suitable for forging, welding and heat treating. Several people have built this forge and like it. It cost between$20 - $50 to make.

Send me an email address (I can't attach the file on this forum) and I'll send you the build document I created. It has the materials list, tools required, instructions and photos/illustrations on how to build you own.

Reply via this forum

ps no charge!
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