best heat treating set up on a budget

[kssmith3448]

whats the best set up for a two brick forge? for quick setups, ive heard regular kiln bricks hollowed out with mapp gas torch works, but what something a little more sturdy and permanent? would propane be a good choice? what about the material for the kiln itself? ive seen some videos with steel pipe lined with insulation. basically, i want some opinions on a solid, well built forge for heat treating, as i will be using a band saw/ grinder for shaping

 

[thegeek574]

Your budget fully determines the forge that you get. You can do a basic 2 brick forge, and a mapp torch, and get by, but it won't be that accurate. the next step up is a little forge like a freon tank forge with a bernzomatic torch or something of the like. the next step up is adding a venturi or forced air burner running on propane to the aforementioned solution. as your forge gets bigger, so does the cost, and the convenience. my little freon tank forge works fine for blades up to about 8 inches, but after that it is less than stellar. It will eventually get the forging test, and if it does not pass, then it might be due for an upgrade.

 

[Remyrw]

I use about a dozen forge bricks to make a chamber with a fair bit of length and about a 2" square cross section. I use a half brick at the back to mostly close it off, and am messing around with a piece of pipe as a baffle to help even the heat out on larger blades. I use a particularly powerful weed burner style torch hooked to a 20lb tank as my heat source. They key for mine was finding out just how far to place the torch from the opposite wall of the heating chamber. In my case that has the end of the torch several inches clear of the outer wall, but the flame is directed almost entirely inside anyway and due to things I'm not quite 100% on it's more efficient and provides more even heat that way rather than if I move it closer. I'm not sure how that will change with the pipe in there now, I'll have to do some reading and testing.

Like thegeek's, mine doesn't handle longer blades well, anything with an area to be hardened longer than about 6-7" is not happening in mine right now. Without the new baffle it was more like a limit of 5" to be efficient.

 

[SkaerE]

whats the best set up for a two brick forge? for quick setups, ive heard regular kiln bricks hollowed out with mapp gas torch works, but what something a little more sturdy and permanent?

i think the one you described is probably the only way to make a "2 brick forge" If you're willing to step up to more bricks or a different style there are a ton of designs out there.

Here's mine, its a 9 brick forge i think. i built the burner for cheap, the most expensive part was the propane regulator at $70. i think all in all i have maybe $150 wrapped up in it. I would wrap it in steel if i were to rebuilt/revamp it as the bricks are VERY brittle. Still needs some design tweaking too. you can pass a larger blade all the way through the back as well to heat the entire thing. I think internal dimensions are about 4x4x9'' which is probably too small for 1 burner if you want to forge weld anything. it just doesnt seem to get that hot. i can get 1/2'' rebar to orange but not white.

that being said, I saw a nice NC Tool 2 burner forge on craigslist for $200/bo locally so if you can find something someone else has made..... might not be a bad option.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Well, there is another design for a 2 brick forge. Incredibly sturdy, I just did the HT on a 16" machete with it.