charcoal forge?

H

hurley0816

Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
103
how would i go about using charcoal to heat treat? if you havent figured out from my other posts i am looking for a way that isnt going to cost alot upfront to heat treat.mainly to feed my new found addiction until i can afford to make a forge. and again sorry for all the posts as i cant search because im not a member. thanks
 
If you go on Youtube and search for "knife making" you'll find all manner of cool videos going through various knife making processes from start to finish.
 
while on youtube search for greenpete and you will find a good set of videos about backyard knifemaking
 
bottom line is you need to find someway to contain the heat. be creative I once hted a couple of knives in a "forge" made of huge pine tree logs, and no it did not just burn down
 
A common bootleg heat treat kiln (the one I used for a while too) is just a few cinder blocks laid on end so the hollow parts form a tube.
 
I once asked the same question on this forum and I was told that the kind of charcoal you cook hamburgs with doesn't generate enough heat to HT a blade....so I forgot about that idea.
 
Hurley816, what steel are you trying to heat treat? That should tell us how hot you need to get.
No Virginia, grilling charcoal will not get hot enough to heat treat. Been there and done that it was frustrating and UGLY!!! If you are doing 1095/1084 or 10 series carbon steel, have a place for a wood fire and access to a lawn blower you my friend are in luck. A wood fire with hot coals can get to around 1500’F use a gas or electric lawn blower and you can get there a bit hotter or quicker. The knives I made in this thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=685300 were heat treated using that method and McMaster Carr 11 second oil. This chart http://www.blksmth.com/heat_colors.htm will ballpark you heat by color and is what gave me the wood fire idea. Also pickling salt pure NaCl melts at 1484’F or there abouts so putting some on a scrap piece of metal of the same thickness or the piece you are trying to heat treat will tell you that you hit that mark. I have to thank Jason Carter again for that very useful bit of information.

Search- if you google add bladeforums in with your search criteria and it will effectively let you search 95% of this site.

Good luck and lets see pics when you are done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top