New heat treating forge

That's cool, is the pipe to heat the blade uniformly without direct flame?
 
The pipe is a piece of schedule 80 312 stainless. In a forge ,it is called a muffle. The pipe gets heated up and the heat is evenly transferred to the blade. No hot spots of overheated edges. The probe from the pyrometer is put in the pipe with the blade and you are reading the chamber temp ,not the flame temp. I highly recommend anyone doing HT in a forge to use one.
Stacy

Nice job ,Chris.
 
it works really well and gets a nice even heat. i am runniing critical tem at about 8psi i like it alot.
the pipe as been re-welded... more pics later today
thanks!
~Chris
 
bladsmth said:
The pipe is a piece of schedule 80 312 stainless..... I highly recommend anyone doing HT in a forge to use one.
Stacy.......Nice job ,Chris.
Click to expand...


Excellent! You really need the stainless for that job, much less material degradation, both, the blade and the internal heating/oven pipe. Good job :thumbup:
 
just a question , is it bad to use the WOOL without a coating on it ?

I thought I read something about it but cant find where I read it.

Nice looking setup , reminds me I need to weld and get mine fired up.
 
Yes, it is best to coat and rigidize the wool. It lasts longer, retains more heat, and doesn't send out as much fiber to breath.

Here is a tip on finishing the ends cheap and easy. Get a couple of pieces of INSUBOARD from Darren Ellis and cut to fit the ends. On the front of this setup, cut the pipe hole in the center. On the back, cut the pipe hole and cut some vent holes for the gases to exhaust. This way the pipe can be slid out of the forge for general forging ,and slid in for HT and other controlled uses. The board is quite cheap, a good insulator, easy to cut, and can be mortared into place with any refractory cement. A layer of insuwool on the insides with rigidizer and ITC will make it really good. To attach the wool to the board, run some drywall screws through the board and use the projecting points to secure the wool.
Stacy
 
Stacy, that's a good idea. Any reason why you couldn't also use the SS tube for forging? The venting of hot gasses out the back would make it easier on the smith.
Guess you could even forge weld if it got hot enough in the tube.
 
since the tube is keeping all the gasses from the flame which has had all the oxygen burned out of it vented away from the blade, surely forging using the tube which has oxgenated air from the front of the forge would cause more decarbe and oxidisation?
 
Kiwi, Actually, the muffle would be good for forging as far as scale and decarb would go, but would be quite slow on the re-heat time. With the edges and tip not being overheated, the decarb and grain growth would be kept to a minimum. With the forge set to run at ,say, 1000C (1850F) you would not be getting 1200C (2200F) edges that would happen in an open flame chamber. As I said, the problem would be much longer heats.

rhrocker, The greatly reduced IR and UV and hot exhaust from the front is definitely a plus.
Stacy
 
I love the idea. What other options are there for the inside pipe? I just looked up a peice of 12" schedule 80 stainless pipe no thread unposished and it was $97.:eek:
 
I went to the scrap yard today and brought home another 275 pounds of 312 stainless pipe. I already had a couple hundred pounds on hand. I am building a 30" gas oven, a damascus vertical forge, a 40" salt pot and a 16" salt pot. The forge shells are 12" and the salt pot shells are 10". The muffle in the oven is 4" schedule 80. The salt pot tubes are 3.5" schedule 120. Base plates are 1" thick. I am posting a thread on the stainless in a few minutes. I'll add a link. Everything on these will be 312 stainless steel.

jll346 - send me a PM with the size of your forge.Christmas may come early this year.

Here is the link: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4547962#post4547962

Stacy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top