2 brick forge

M

mwaters

Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
24
I know it's not the best option, but as a pure hobbiest I want to use a two brick forge for heat treat.what heat source do you guys recommend. My little propane torch ain't hot enough.
 
contact Charles at atlas knife company the atlas mini burner is made for a 2 1/2 brick forge, I have a atlas mini forge and love it.he sells the burner and regulator alone I think. Charles is on here but I don't remember his screen name
 
A propane torch can be adequate as long as it has the proper tip and is arranged in the forge correctly. A pencil tip is no good. You want a rosebud or swirl flame tip.
 
Yeah, the MT245C is the best commercial torch out there for HT(and it is a pencil tip). Tip arrangement doesn't matter inside a forge, only BTU output. That said, the Atlas burner is roughly 5x the BTU output and really does work that much better.

Now, onto your statement about the 2BF not being the best option. That's true that an oven is better, but I was talking to an ABS MS the other day and he says he uses one of my Atlas Mini Forges for heat treating everything under 10", as well as most of his small forging, guards, etc. This is coming from a guy who has salt pots available and a 1,000,000 BTU forge. Don't underestimate the efficiency or usefulness of a small forge. I'll put one of my 2BF against a larger forge for everything except large billet welding. I've made lots of peanut butter and jelly billets in it, and haven't had a forge related failure yet.
 
Atlas Knife Company said:
Yeah, the MT245C is the best commercial torch out there for HT(and it is a pencil tip). Tip arrangement doesn't matter inside a forge, only BTU output. That said, the Atlas burner is roughly 5x the BTU output and really does work that much better.

Now, onto your statement about the 2BF not being the best option. That's true that an oven is better, but I was talking to an ABS MS the other day and he says he uses one of my Atlas Mini Forges for heat treating everything under 10", as well as most of his small forging, guards, etc. This is coming from a guy who has salt pots available and a 1,000,000 BTU forge. Don't underestimate the efficiency or usefulness of a small forge. I'll put one of my 2BF against a larger forge for everything except large billet welding. I've made lots of peanut butter and jelly billets in it, and haven't had a forge related failure yet.
Click to expand...
I stand corrected.
 
I used the same tutorial by Atlas that was shared above and have used it to heat up and straighten out 2"x1/4" spring steel as well as heat treat 4 or 5 of the blades I've done. I don't get a lot of time to get out and invest in making knives but it's held up over the past 12-18 months and works great. I think the longest blade I've done in it is about 4" or so and probably wouldn't try anything longer. With the MT245C it will do just fine. As said above the pencil just won't cut it, I tried... I've used just regular propane in mine so far because I already had it laying around but I just bought some MAPP gas and am curious if it will make things a little more efficient.

But the two brick forge was a HUGE step up from using a tin pan with charcoal and a hair dryer!!!

I'm working on a small kiln project that will be PID controlled but that's because I'm going to use some steels that require specific soak times as opposed to 1080/5160 that I've used so far. That and while I've been heating to non-magnetic, heating up a shade or so more before quenching, I want to get more aquainted with recognizing the color of the steel at specific temperatures.

I'm sure even when I get my kiln running that I'll use the 2 brick forge for a long time as I don't have plans to start making larger knives any time soon!
 
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