Generating enough heat for HT

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
Short of having a forge, one-brick forge, something that insulates heat a little, is there any way to really get a 10xx knife up to critical for HT without using half a dozen propane or MAPP torches? I've been frustrated by the total lack of firebricks in my area to make a little tiny forge out of to get my blades up to heat and I'm just curious if there is something I'm missing. I don't want to build a whole forge with a burner and Kaowool and all that because I only need it for getting blades hot enough for HT. Anything? The one-brick would be perfect but everything I have bought for bricks are more like fireplace brick, they aren't the real soft refractory stuff. Or, ideas on a supplier other than a home store or brick specialist?
 
Get some kaowool and satanite from Darren Ellis. Line a coffee can or small peice of pipe with it and use your torch/torches. Won't cost much at all and will be so much easier to work with than a pile of bricks.
 
Chiro75 said:
... Or, ideas on a supplier other than a home store or brick specialist?
Click to expand...


Chiro, shoot me an email, I can hook you up with whatever you need at reasonable prices...whether it be the parts to build a one brick forge or a coffee can forge or a full size forge! :)

-Darren
 
I just used one of those fireplace liner bricks to make a one brick forge and heat treat some 01. I found that a single propane torch didn't generate enough heat so I drilled a hole in the side and fired the propane torch into it and a Mapp gas torch firing in by the tip on the long axis. It worked fine on a 4 3/4 blade of 01 that was about .180 thick at time of heat treat. The Fireplace bricks get a little brittle after a couple heat cycles, but only cost me around a buck each. I did spend near $15.00 for a 7/8" x 10" carbide masonary drill bit to make the holes, but I was able to use an old 3/8" Black & Decker drill to make the holes. No big tools were required (the brick dust was NOT getting near my mill).

It worked for me. Give it a try. Just make sure you do it outside. I did mine in my shop and was terrified the whole time that I would knock one of the torches over and light the house on fire :eek:

John
 
Or a bag of charcoal briquettes in a BB-Q grill and help from a hair drier. That is, if you're really wild about scale. I've done it a time or two.

MaceG
 
How is the scale caused by charcoal on a grill compare to, say, the scale that would be caused by a MAPP gas torch?

I ask because I have a small MAPP gas torch that I've been using for my knives (all of which have been pretty small thus far) and I've been wanting to go bigger but have been limited in doing so by my ability to heat treat the blades.

Whatever I do, it's going to have to be cheap. Right now, I have almost no money, and I've not made any money off of knife-making thus far. I'd say my budget is $30 to build one.

Darren, mind if I inquire as well?

Daniel Denton
 
Charcoal is the cheapest to build. At base minimum you can get by with just a hole in the ground and a hair dryer taped to a piece of pipe. If you already have a hair dryer and a piece of pipe (non galvanized) then the whole forge is free.
 
This is what i'm looking for also. Darren I sent you an email. Thanks
Scott
 
I actually did a few blades over a turkey fryer/fish fryer burner. It was like roasting hotdogs, except you had to keep the blade moving a lot. :D
 
The coffee can forge with kaowool works great! I put two 13 oz coffee cans together end-to-end, lined with kaowool, to make a narrow but long chamber. (be careful of the dragon's breath coming out the front). Get the benzomatic torch head with the improved swirl---about $26 or so, works better than the standard cheapo burner. I did my first heattreat last weekend on a little 1095 utility knife and it was up to non-magnetic in a just a few minutes.
 
ok guy's here is something i made just for heat treating .take a piece of 4 inch thick wall pipe about a foot long line it with Kao Wool or castible refractory , drill 2 1 inch holes in the side about 5 inch apart . place blade inside use 2 bernzomatic torches with " Rosebud " type of head's and you get " Cherry " in 2-5 min . Weld a couple bolt's on for leg's and your good to go ! i like this way beacuse i get a vortex/ swirly hot flame inside that surround's the blade . it keep's the scale down . try it
 
Good ideas... Now, to find 4" walled pipe! Wow! I can do a fine job with one propane and one MAPP torch on 1/8" thick 1084 up to about 4 inches, assuming I'm only using 1" wide stock to begin with. But my latest knife I tried to harden the spine for a portion, too, where the false edge was, but between the clay and everything else it just never got up to temp, so I can really only do a very limited type of HT. Sounds like it's time to go scavenging for some pipe or coffee cans and go nuts! On the pipe, do you seal one end up? If so, how (wihtout welding equipment)?
 
Coat that Kaowool boys, or she'll rip your lungs up! Not a joke, a fact! No knife is worth ceramic fibers in your lungs so coat it.

Most of what I've read in this thread so far is pretty typical. Spend a little money on the right materials (Darren has them) and spend a good deal more time researching the principles behind what you want to accomplish. You'll burn up more gas (read that $$$'s) with a poorly fabricated forge than you'll spend on the proper materials. If.....you think and plan ahead. You'll also save yourself a lot of frustration.

Don't get me wrong, ask any of these guys that know me. I scavenge and scrounge almost everything and rarely spend any money. But...I do my homework up front. You can do it quite cheaply but you got to plan, plan, plan.

So simple you wouldn't believe it!

Have fun,
CRex
 
What do you coat the kaowool with? I sent an email to Darren and am eagerly awaiting a reply, although my wife wasn't all that pleased when my Coote showed up yesterday, so maybe I'll have to let the smoke blow over before I do anything else cool! :D
 
Like I said at the beginning of this thread, Kaowool and Satanite to coat it. You can get enough for a 4" pipe, or coffee can forge for less than $20 from Darren.
 
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