Building new forge

K

kerk

Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
9
Hi all, first time posting here and might not be the last.
And i hope this is the right forum part for it :P

Ive been making some knives, no good ones yet tho but im getting there :P
Now i have i have a huge problem getting coal for a good price around where i live, i have to pay like double price what it should be so its no fun, so i built a small propane forge.
It works great, with some luck i even get a forge weld in! :P

Now, the forge i have atm is just sloppy work, thrown together just to try it out. So i want to build one that looks a bit more professional :P

The messurements ont he picture are in centimeters and the flame is supposed to go after the inner line (the box in the middle is the actual chamber). Its powered by one or two 3/4" burners. (Homemade so might not be that optimal, very basic burners, gonna build better one for this forge tho) The chamber is 25 cm deep and the forge in all is 35cm.

Lined with 2" of ceramic fibers i was hoping to be able to get up to welding heat with this badboy :P

What do you think? The only input i got so far from one was that i should get a pipe and make it from that.

The design is from Master Bladesmith book but ive changed it abit i think :P

Anyways, hope someone has something to say.

Cya :>

(I havent started building yet ;P)

lets hope the image stays up for a while.

pict13139lq.jpg
 
Welcome to Bladeforums. What you have lookes good, I think. My advice would be to do some searches for forges and see how other people built theirs. I find that to be a good way of drawing ideas when building.
 
Ive been looking around beleive me .. everyone has round forges it seems, except the ones that has flames straight down from the top.
How do you think that the weld heat capability is in a forge like this? The current little one i have i have to be exactly at the tip of the flame to realy reach welding temperature. But this one the flame never actualy is supposed to touch the material .. or it will in some ways but not totaly :>
 
Everyone seems to get hold of that ITC-100 .. but seems to be an american thing .. i live in sweden and have asked around, searched the web etce tc etc etc only to run into sites like anvilfire and those american sites ... shipment if im not mistaking costs buttloads to send over sea. I guess it would be easier to reach welding temperature with it, but like i said its freakin impossible to get hold of around here. Dunno why thought .. loads of smiths in sweden so someone should be using it :P

Thanks for the links and tutorial tho :> Gonna check it out. Btw, do you have any numbers on how much gas you burn in your welding? :>
 
I have heard a lot of good stuff about ITC-100. I am thinking that I am going to order some of it. I just wish it wasn't so expenve.
 
Trying to make my own mix that atleast fixes the fibers in the forge, and preferably have about the same if not better reflective properties then the ordneary kaowool .. but i dont know how, i suck at this stuff. . trial and error so far have made me a coating from waterglass and firemortar. It stands ALOT higher temperature then the kaowool itself does, i can turn a acetylen/oxy tourch on it without it going under compared to just water glass that melts and just kaowool that melts :> So one step further, does anyone know what it is that gives the coatings the reflective properties? Ive heard something about aluminium but im not to sure about it :>
 
Tried the "mix", it contains borax without a problem .. not a fiber tht i can see has been destroyed in the kaowool after two teaspoons of borax have been allowed to boil in a small "pit". The borax is clear when its cold .. that signifies it havent disolved anything right? :>
The crust is hard while its cold but is somewhat soft when its heated to orange... go figure maybe? :P

But im still trying to figure out what is in the actual coating that is used . .cant be THAT expensive stuff :>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top