Beginner forge?

[gscreely]

I have been making blades stock removal for a while and would like to play around with forging. I don't want to spend too much, but I do want to get a small propane forge. What do you guys recomend?

 

[kuraki]

I'd recommend making one. For a couple hundred dollars and an afternoon of work you can have a respectable forge with atmospheric burners, kao wool insulation, satanite refractory.

Starting with a harbor freight $25 spare air tank and you won't even have to make legs or a handle.

 

[JTknives]

I love my air tank forge but I love my verticle forge more.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you are handy and build things well, making a forge is pretty simple. There is all sorts of info in the stickys.

However, if you want to forge knives instead of build forges, a small commercial forge is a good alternative. Check out the Atlas forges. They are made by one of the BF guys here. They are great for the beginning forger. If/when you outgrow it, it will still have a place in the shop, and you can build/buy a larger forge for things like making damascus and big knives.

 

[gscreely]

Thank you guys for all the input. It sent me down a couple different paths. That Atlas looked interesting, but I had pulled the trigger already. I seriously looked into making one, but it was a good bit of work and still would have cost approaching $200.

I was thinking about this one, but I read some reviews that said its design was very inefficient and lost a lot of heat out of both ends.

Here is the one I went with from ebay. I liked the sliding fire bricks on the end, and the fact that the body is .250 thick. Here is its picture:

 

[john april]

that should work well :thumbup:

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

One thing that isn't shown is the interior. If it is unlined, like the first one, it is not good. You need to apply a 1/4" layer of stannite over the wool, and after curing it, a thin coating of ITC-100. Running a forge with a bare wool blanket is not a good idea for several reasons.

 

[Lieblad]

That Skullforge appears no hard floor material ? Non insulated steel plate doors?? Energy lost & how long do they last before warping or just scaling away ?

Would need see more detail, but it might be a pita for relining too when that time comes.