Can I make a forge with...

[GQGeek81]

Alright so I’ve been looking at making a knife from an old file. I’ve never been much into knives per se but the metallurgy aspect has piqued my interest. I already have far too many hobbies eating away at my pocket book but I THINK I can put together a forge just with scrap around my grandfather’s farm.

So here’s what I’m looking at:

For the forge there’s a square tube of masonry that is usually used in household chimneys. I have absolutely no idea if it’s suitable as a forge material but it is made out of the white fire brick masonry stuff. It’s something like 10” square and maybe a foot and a half long. There are also some white fireplace bricks I can use but again I have no idea if they will work at forge temps.

To power this I have a propane tank/regulator and can do the setup I’ve seen on several sites using 2” steel pipe and a blower going into the forge.

Oh also there’s a barn with some actual blacksmith tools my grandfather has had long before my time. Apparently he had a friend at one time that ran a smith up the road. He passed away and the tools fell into my grandfather’s hands. Its been years since I’ve poked around with the stuff but I do remember an assortment of tongs and odd shaped hammers up there just collecting dust.

So does this sound like it would work or would I just have a small Chernobyl on my hands?

 

[aarya]

Unless you`re incredibly clumsy, i`d say go for it. Just try it out, and see if it works.
I have absolutely no experience with gas-forges, so there i`m of no use, but still, i just say go for it.
My first forge, was an old charcoal BBQ that i just cut holes in the sides so i could connect a vacuumcleaner, set to blow. I melted a hole in that one. (The BBQ, not the vacuum.)
My latest endeavour, was simply a hole in the ground, some steel-piping, welded together so i could get the vacuum to blow air into the hole. Filled with charcoal, that hole would melt 5160 steel in 10 minutes..
So you most definately don`t need anything expensive, nor advanced to make knives. How it is when you plan to use gas as your fuel, i wouldn`t know much about. But, if it`s done safely, how hard can it be?

 

[HomeBru]

I've been considering a similar project. (neighbor's barn with some old smithy tools) Get Wayne Goddard's "$50 knife shop", it's a GREAT book and in it he describes the world's smallest forge made of a single soft fire brick and a propane torch. I'm planning on starting there.

From my research on gas forges, smaller space is better, don't make it any bigger than necessary. Also, the brick/refractory of the forge actually heats up and radiates heat to the steel, not just insulates to keep hot air inside. I'd imagine that the chimney brick would not hold heat well, or at the least would make it difficult to control the heat.

I'm no expert, so the more informed here may have corrections...

J-

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

even i made a forge and i had a couple of members from here weld what i needed welded. if you look at my thread called Forge Pics you will see the final result. i used the forced air blower that indian george designed and just used a 30lb propane tank for the body. if you dont have enough fire bricks just goto a brick place or ask around at who has them and they are about $1 a piece. mine are 2"x4"x8". i still have 4 im not using. good luck with the forge. keep us informed with the progress.

 

[ritzblitz]

The one brick forge is by far the simplest and easiest forge there is to build. It is just very limiting as far as size goes.

Keep poking around because there could be an old coal forge and stuff to go along with the tongs and hammers.

Make sure your firebricks are the soft, porous kind. The hard brick won't work very well at all.

Good luck.

 

[GQGeek81]

Can I get the proper fire brick at like Lowes? What's its commercial use compared to the solid looking fireplace bricks?

There is an actuall forge out there. Its huge though and I suspect its missing parts. Its something like 1/4" steel about 2.5 feet high in a big ring a good 2 foot or more across. It has large pipe holes coming into the side that I guess was for air intake. I'm not sure how it went together. Bits of the side are slit and then bent in in places if I recal. I'm not sure what it looked like in use but I'm pretty sure it was of a much larger scale than i need.

What would be cool would be to find an anvil but I'm pretty sure there's not one out there.

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

i would suggest going to a brick place or going to darren ellis's site. http://refractory.elliscustomknifeworks.com/ he has the soft fire brick. in wayne goddards book he explains the difference between the bricks. ill quote him here on the matter: "A hard brick wont do for the forge chamber(one brick forge). As an experiment I drilled a hard brick with a masonry drill, fired up the torch and after five minutes the chamber was not close to glowing. If you dont have any firebricks lying around you will find them in the yellow pages under "Refractories." If you dont find taht, call a brick mason to find out where he gets firebricks." that was one paragraph out of the section where he talks about the worlds smallest forge. in that section he tells you exactly how to set it up and everything. he says you need one soft firebrick for the forge chamber and four or more heavy and hard firebricks as a base. the base is necessary to bring the opening in the brick up to the level of the torch tip. he uses a bernzomatic model ts4000 for his propane torch. i know for a fact you can find that at lowes. home depot, and similar models can be found at any plumbing supply store. if i were you i would goto the local book store and grab his book and if you cant afford it just sit down and read it. in my 2001 version he talk about the forge on page 25. hope this helps explain it a bit better. also he says to wrap the soft brick with wire in a few places to keep it from splitting. good luck and hope to see some knives from you soon.