Forge Advice

G

Goodmonkey

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Aug 19, 2014
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I am new to the BladeForums and want to ask a question for all of you who forge your blades. I am planning on setting up a my first forge, and want to know your thoughts on a charcoal vs. a propane gas forge. I have only forged one blade (at Dragonfly Forge in Oregon) and used a propane home built forge there that seemed great. What are your preferences and why?

Thanks!
GM
 
Propane has far more advantages than disadvantages. Charcoal has far more disadvantages than advantages.

Propane is the way to go if you only have one forge.
 
Propane all day I say! It is a nice pure flame, cheap and convenient, instant heat.

I tried to go coal, because a farrier friend of mine extolled the virtues of how clean and great it is for steel 'smithing, metallurgy-wise, because you won't get much slag or contamination. However, it was difficult to keep the heat even without a lot of practice, not to mention people kept thinking that it smelled like the building was on fire. It also can get too hot!

I later determined that coal is very hard on the titanium I was working (it greatly dislikes carbon and hot spots), while the propane is a breeze to control.

I bet you had a great time at Dragonfly. They had some amazing swords at the last knife show I attended.
 
Propane for sure for blade smithing. I can see the advantages of coal if you are making big ornamental pieces just for the sake of having a wider open area to accept your workpiece. I've burnt a 1095 blade clean in half, melted, gone using coal. Propane you can just set it and let the flame so it's thing.
 
I have melted blades in propane, so it can happen. Propane 100% for a beginner. You can do some neat stuff with coal or charcoal, most have to do with really specific heat control or forging large pieces that wont fit in a propane forge but none of that is needed for bladesmithing. Charcoal can be cheap or free if you have access to wood scraps and build a charcoal retort, but again how many smiths are really doing that and saving money when time and effort are accounted for.
 
I'd never grill my burgers over gas, or charcoal for that matter. If it ain't real wood, it might as well be fried on the stove top. Gotta love my big green egg! Wait, wrong subject.
Click to expand...

Propane for knifemaking, regardless of skill level.

Here is a list of some commercially available knifemaker forges. There is no need to build your own just to get a round chamber. The first two have round chambers, but you can't fit a 4" tall billet in either of them. The Whisper has a square chamber but is highly recommended for large billets.

http://www.atlasknife.com/forge
http://www.hightemptools.com/forges.html
http://www.chileforge.com/forges_tabasco_details.html
http://usaknifemaker.com/knifemaking-forge-whisper-dual-burner.html
 
Great response, thanks to everyone! Sounds like there is no question that for a noob like me propane is the way to go. Much appreciated!
Thanks Zaph for the links and advice!
And Mecha, yes, Dragonfly was a blast. Great people, tons of learning and hands-on work. If anyone is considering a visit or a class at Dragonfly Forge I highly recommend it: one of the best 5 days I have spent in a while!

-GM
 
Ok i'll be different. You should have both a charcoal and propane forge. A charcoal for working on larger pieces and for spot forging on projects(also forge welding when you don't feel like feeding the propane gods there fair share) and a propane forge for general forging.

Oh yeah there also the accidental factor, i.e., propane is in a compressed tank and can go boom charcoal can set fire and spread. So it depends how you wanna go out, in an explosion or in a fire.
 
Don't forget carbon monoxide poisoning! :D
 
In over a half century of reading the newspapers daily-
Every winter I read of several families who die from CO poisoning by using space heaters to stay warm.
Every year I read of people who die from CO caused by bad hot water heaters.
Every year I read of hunters/campers who put a heater inside their tent/camper and die.
Every year I read of a mechanic or person who runs the car in a closed garage and dies.
.............but I never heard of a bladesmith/blacksmith dying of CO poisoning.

BTW, charcoal is far and away the high output CO source to worry about over propane.

Any shop that has potential sources of Carbon-monoxide should have a CO detector. The shop should also have a heat type fire detector ( smoke detectors are problematic in a forge shop). An oxygen depletion detector is also a good idea in shops that are closed up. The best solution to most shop problems is to have an open-air smithy.
 
Unless you have one of those big-city induction heaters. Then the carbon monoxide from your forging activities is spewed out of a power plant elsewhere.
 
That's not how induction heaters work.

And yes charcoal does put out more CO than propane, but it's rare to see a charcoal forge in a tiny shop. Which ever you decide to use make sure there's plenty of fresh air around.
 
I was just confused by that statement altogether. I haven't seen anyone use induction coils for forging steel. AFAIK They have to be gauged to a specific size and type of steel on a use by use basis thereby useless to a smith who works a variety of steel and iron in a variety of sizes.

The electricity use of my blown forge is less than a lightbulb.

I consider it moot anyway mostly because I've yet to be around any forge I would want to have in a closed in environment with no airflow. Simply for the heat exhaustion factor I keep a steady flow of air rolling by. Or roll the forge cart outside...

-Eric
 
Buying a $35 welding cart or a $45 shop cart from HF and putting the forge on it is always a good idea. Same goes for HT ovens and other equipment you need to roll outside or out of the way when not in use.
 
LucyCustomKnives said:
I was just confused by that statement altogether. I haven't seen anyone use induction coils for forging steel. AFAIK They have to be gauged to a specific size and type of steel on a use by use basis thereby useless to a smith who works a variety of steel and iron in a variety of sizes.

The electricity use of my blown forge is less than a lightbulb.

I consider it moot anyway mostly because I've yet to be around any forge I would want to have in a closed in environment with no airflow. Simply for the heat exhaustion factor I keep a steady flow of air rolling by. Or roll the forge cart outside...

-Eric
Click to expand...

There are smiths that have induction forges and use them for forging steel. The late Grant Sarver (sp) made a bunch of his Off Center tooling with induction forges to heat the steel and uploaded vids. Very cool stuff and you could easily run one inside with no ill effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVv0AfaGdNo&list=UUHM4D8_ih1OdIK9iSZQl9UQ
 
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Good to know I guess. Seems inefficient and there's zero atmosphere control. And there's still the matter of limited size and material type. But nifty I guess.

Cheers.

-Eric
 
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