How Long Should A forge Be?

Z

ZekeTheGameFreak

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May 10, 2016
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I am planning out a new propane forge, and I am trying to think about how long it should be. I plan on making knives, axes and swords and other longer pieces of work. I was initially thinking about making it 3 ft, but I'm nervous i won't be able to heat the entire forge. Now I'm thinking along the lines of maybe 2 feet. Any suggestions would help. If you have a forge and use it for similar purposes, please post an image so I can get ideas.
Thanks
 
I made mine 20" long, out of 10.75" pipe. After 2" lining of kaowool it's a 16" long chamber with a 6"ish diameter opening. I have two venturi style torches in it.
 
Thanks, I was also thinking should I use refractory cement or kaowool? I've seen both, But only recently has kaowool shown up in my searches.
 
We have forges for different size work. They are so easy to build, no reason not to.
Its stupid to heat a big forge when project of the day are short knives.
 
My current forge is 14x8" round w/2" Kaowool and a single Venturi burner. It give me Appx 12x4" of work space but that gets cut down quite a bit when I use my 2" square steel muffle in it. My Burner is based on a 3/4" reducer and even that small at 3 PSI I can easily hit 2200 F. That space gets consumed pretty quickly when heat treating anything in the bigger range. The back is open but none the less, I would rather have bigger space and not need it than need it and not have it! and My next one will be at least 20" long and 10" Dia tube w/2" Kaowool and will give me Appx 18x6 working space and I will use a dual burner set up and a 3" muffle. Oh, I also use Satanite over my Kaowool. Want to get some ITC coating too! Might as well do it right.
 
A full size forge has a chamber about 16" long and 6" round. That needs a tube around 20X10". Larger than that is rarely needed, and as small as 10X4" chamber works quite well for most all knives.

Remember, you don't need to heat a whole sword to make and HT it in a forge. I use a 16" chamber to do 36" swords.

Use 2" wool. Making a forge with cast refractory is a very much advanced thing.


There are plenty of forge build threads and lots of info in the stickys.

I strongly suggest you consider making it PID controlled.
 
Any metal tube.
Pipe is the most popular, but folks use air tanks, propane cylinders, etc.
 
I have made over a dozen forges to date. Some long(6"dia x 20" long) ... and some short(3"dia x 8" long). To me, either end of the spectrum has its advantages and disadvantages but the middle ground (4"dia x 10"-12" long) seem to work the most efficiently for what I need. When forging, I only work on 4" at a time, anyway. Those are all inside cavity dimensions, BTW
 
The forge shell is essentially giving shape to the insulation. I've seen old mailboxes and even expanded steel used. Of course, something heavier gives a better spot for attaching the burner holder, etc.

Like Rick said, you can only forge so much blade at a time, and heating more than that just means you're burning up fuel and probably bending the blade under its own weight if it's long. My forge shell is 12" x 12" x 12" cube, with 2" wool insulation and a kiln shelving floor and doors. I used a 12" x 12" x 24" two-burner forge for heat treating longer stuff prior to getting my Evenheat, but not to actually forge with, usually.
 
I'm a big fan of verticle forges with a good size opening. As long as you got a welder to attach a handle to whet ever you forging it's hard to beat. I have both a horizontal and verticle and if k had to pick only one it would be a very hard choice.
 
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