Mankel Forges

[Rocking Horse]

Has anyone had experience with the mankel two or three burner forges. They have a blower and two different styles. One style is for knife making. How well do they work, any hot spots, ease of setup, and how do the run, do they get hot enough, do they handle flux very well, how are they on gas, and do they run well on natural gas? I would appreciate any words of wisdom concerning these forges.

 

[deker]

My take on the design is "great for blacksmithing, maybe not so great for bladesmithing". The reason being that the burners in a setup like that will make a pretty bad hot spot. Not too critical with general blacksmithing, but can be a pretty sever detriment in bladesmithing. Especially when it comes time to heat treat.

-d

 

[Ed Fowler]

I have two and we will soon have three Mankel forges on the Willow Bow. You can very easily adjust them to do what ever you want to do. Absolutely the most handy and economic forge available to the blade smith. Ken is one man who knew what he was doing and provided us with the best forges available.

 

[Sam Salvati]

I have seen a Mankel on less than 1 Psi to welding heat handling a class of 8 with 8 billets in and out of it.