heat treat on forge?

T

tao_m

Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
175
i'm just trying to get started on knife making and you guys are going to excuse my ignorance, but can you heat treat the most of the steels in a regular forge, or do i need the buy a heat treating oven?

how do you heat treat air cooled metals on a forge, just lowering the gas?

thanks
 
Read the stickies at the top of this area, it contains mucho info.
Yes you can... but do yourself a favor and some do more research.
 
let me tell you that i did read them, but im afraid some of them are still far more advance for me to understand, that is why i even apologyse for making such an ignorant question. i sure was not expecting a sarcastic reply from anyone in this forum.
By the way tu español esta bien jodido comprendes!!!!
 
You can heat treat carbon and low alloy steel such as 1084 and 5160 in a forge.

I'm afraid you will not have luck with air hardening steel and a forge. You might get it to harden but you can also crack eggs by driving over them with a truck, not much point in doing either.
 
great i apreciate the info that is all i needed to know, i just would like to work 1095 steel more than anything else and eventually play with d2 if i had the chance, i just didn't know if i needed to spend $400 on a forge or $1500 on an oven.

thanks for the help!
 
why would you spend that on either? their are many designs online to make your own propane forge and oven.
 
Easy day for heat treating in the forge, I have been doing it for years. If if I may sugest, get some scrap and play around with it. Over heat, under heat and test what ever steel (High carbon, not stainless) you want to fool around with. also get a magnet to test for when the steel looses it's magnetisim. another way is to watch for when the shadows stop running through the steel around 1400 F. another help is do the heat treating at night with very little outside light. I now use salt baths with a digital pyrometer but still do some in the gas forge, Take care and fave fun Amigo, R/jcr
 
tao_m said:
let me tell you that i did read them, but im afraid some of them are still far more advance for me to understand, that is why i even apologyse for making such an ignorant question. i sure was not expecting a sarcastic reply from anyone in this forum.
By the way tu español esta bien jodido comprendes!!!!
Click to expand...

Well the sarcasm comes from answering this question 5 times a week where people aren't willing to read back through a minimum of 2 weeks of threads.

There are several threads every week about forge construction, beginner steel recommendations, beginner tool recommendations, how to heat treat/temper/get a hamon/install scales and about anything else you'd like answered by clicking the "previous page" buttons at the bottom and reading back through several days.

You can make a very nice blown forge for under $200, you can make a nice electric HT oven for under $300. You can also make the best friends in this world on this forum.

I fail to understand the "do you understand Spanish" comment, :confused: I speak enough Spanish to get a beer, find a bar, find a fight and to shop. I speak some Japanese and a more Serbo-Croatian, there are others here that speak several languages, wanna play the Tower of Babble game? :mad:

Now this may seem rather snippy, I've just gotten in from a 13 hour shift and I don't appreciate people being rude to my fellow forumites.
 
With a forge you would have a little more luck with 1080 than 1095 with little difference in blade performance. You WILL NOT get a good HT with D2 in a forge. It is a complex steel that needs to be accurately held at 1850f for 30 minutes to harden correctly and it must be either done in a inert atmosphere or enclosed in a stainless steel foil envelope. I doubt that the ss foil would survive 30 min. in a forge even if you could keep it at a steady 1850. This will be true of all the higher alloy steels. But, there are plenty of HT services available for you if you decide to use these steels and don't have an oven.
 
Robert.B said:
lol nice job on the makeshift anvil...I machined up a piece of railway iron for mine and ground a spike, cut out a hole for bending and dies etc. Still working on the new propane forge though.
Click to expand...

Thanks just bought both of them for AU$50.00 and hope to put them to use soon.
Richard
 
guys i appreciate all the input again i'm sorry if my question was ignorant!
im not here to upsed anyone, i'm just trying to learn .

now my next question is, is there anyone here that could help make a ht electric oven? i would cover the cost!
i read the thread nd i just don't even know where to start.
should i make a new thread regarding this matter?
 
I have a PDF file of an oven build with instructions, I believe it is the build WIP that used to be available on British Blades. If you want it get me your email addy and I'll send it to you.
 
sure if you don't mind sending it to tao_martinez@sbcglobal.net
i'm still not to confident about building one on my own because i'm afraid i dont have a lot of the tools but this plans may just give me a better idea of what i need

thanks man
 
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