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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 05-10-2013, 03:36 PM
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Walt- Walt- is offline
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Dayton, Ohio
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Adventures of my First Heat Treatment

Hello All

I decided it was time to heat treat my knife blade after getting all of the prep work done. I have one of the hand held propane torches, the kind you would use for small plumbing work. I got everything set up, the knife held by lockjaws in one hand and the torch in the other and I started heating up the blade. I moved the flame all around the knife at different distances and speed and after an hour of doing this and the knife not even getting anywhere near the color of red it dawned on me this wouldn't work.

After talking with an experienced knife maker he told me I need a forge. I did some research and I decided to get one of them hand held propane torches that are used for burning grass and weeds. They cost 30 bucks at Harbor Freight for the one with an igniter attached. I get all set up with the knife in lockjaws in one hand and the super flame thrower in the other. I proceed to heat this baby up. After about 15 minutes of this blower just tearing up the blade with a giant blue flame it is not turning red. This is not working.

I decide I need to make a forge out of something. I go scrounging around and I find this clay pipe about a foot long that has been laying next to the shed for years. I find some bricks and pile the "forge" onto a rock in the yard

Forge.jpg

I am holding the knife now with pliers inside this old pipe with the flame thrower just blasting into the pipe. Stuff starts to crack and the brick behind the pipe is literally blowing apart slowly but surely. It took only about 3 minutes and the blade was cherry red and non magnetic. I let it cook just a tad more and then quenched it in oil.

The moral of the story is any containment of the heat really makes a big difference.

I can get some fire bricks at "Menards" pretty reasonably so I can build a safer better forge in the future.

Now the disclaimer - although I was wearing safety equipment do not try this method at home. Exploding hot stuff is not a good thing


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Old 05-10-2013, 04:13 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Location: Wauconda, WA
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Regular brick and that clay pipe are very dangerous to heat up as you have learned. Too much water in that stuff.

A simple but suitable forge body can be safely made from a metal tube and a few dollars worth of Inswool. The metal tube can be a piece of 6" stove pipe or, if you don't have access to stove pipe, then some steel flashing (not aluminum) from the hardware store rolled into a tube will do. Line it with the wool, paint the wool with Satanite, and maybe put a firebrick in the floor to lay the blade on and you're done. A fire brick at the back can be used to close off the rear.

All these materials are available from http://www.hightemptools.com


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Old 05-10-2013, 04:14 PM
migolito migolito is offline
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Dang! I thought I had it kinda rough with my homemade electric kiln. I admire those who heat treat 'the ole fashioned way'.
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Old 05-11-2013, 07:46 AM
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Naboyle Naboyle is offline
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Check out rays website. He has some great info on forges and burners. His mini forge is awesome, and its battery powered!
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