Oil fired forge for knifemaking?

bmcneil

bmcneil

Joined
Apr 5, 2000
Messages
250
Hello all!

Soon, I'd like to start getting into knife making. I plan to dive in headfirst and start forging blades.

I'm already doing backyard foundry work, and use a burner, that I made myself, to burn used motor oil as a fuel. There is plenty of BTU's in used motor oil to melt cast iron efficiently. If you are interested in more info about my burner, I made up a little site about it: http://home.comcast.net/~moya034/burner/ This type of burner can also burn waste vegetable oil too. It will even work with normal heating oil, or diesel.

Am I able to use an oil burner for a knife forge? I'm not sure if the oil flame can affect the metallurgy of the blade or anything like that.

Thanks for any advice!
 
personally I dont know if anyone can tell you for sure, best bet is to try it and tell us
 
Folks have been messing with them for years and i would say yes you can use it for knives as long as you have enough heat.

Bob
 
Well since no one is saying "whoa there fella" I think I'll be OK :D

Enough heat shouldn't be a problem. An oil burner is the best, most efficient way to melt cast iron in a backyard foundry so it should have plenty of heat for forging a blade I would imagine.

I'll let everyone know how it works out down the road.
 
As a mechanic with access to unlimited amounts of waste oil I will be building one of these. Thanks alot for the input and link.
 
sharpeknives said:
As a mechanic with access to unlimited amounts of waste oil I will be building one of these. Thanks alot for the input and link.
Click to expand...

Your welcome, and enjoy. You may also be interested to know you can find plans on the internet to build an actuall WMO (Waste motor oil) furnace to heat your shop with!

Here is some more info:

http://home.comcast.net/~moya034/plugdrill

You can also make one using 3/4" pipe and a 1/4" copper tube oil nozzle. This may be better for your forge. Experimentation is best.

BTW, those are my sites, moya034, is my alter-ego.

34burner.jpg

34nozzle.jpg
 
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Here's some pictures of my cruicbile furnace. The refractory and hotface is still drying on it.
freon03.jpg


Here's a picture of the insulating layer. I'll grab a picture of the hotface layer soon.
freontake206.jpg


BTW, those oil burners work so well they can even melt metal in an inefficient dirt and brick furnace.
1fire.jpg
 
Glad to see you on this site bmcneil, moya34 or which ever persona your using today. I have been following the progress of your oil burner and a few others with great interest. I think you casting fella's are really on to something there. I'll probaly start my own burner here in a few days, I hope. With the cost of crude oil going up at an alarming rate and consequently propane cost, this WVO/ WMO project is worth persueing.
 
I can personally attest to how hot an oil forge will get, DEFINATELY welding temperature, I saw Joe's firsthand and that thing is a BEAST!
 
I'm going to build a vertical forge. The only thing I plan to add is a gate valve to control the airflow. If you can control air and fuel it would give better control of temp.
Excellent job.
 
A gate valve is a good idea. I currently adjust airflow by adjusting the distance of a the vacuum cleaner hose to the burner. The oil flow is adjusted with a ball valve.

Soon, I plan to try casting some custom blowers :D

Edit: What are the advantages of a vertical forge? Never seen or heard of one before.
 
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