One Brick Forge (and variations)

M

Michael_Schaap

Joined
Aug 23, 2000
Messages
107
I was wondering if anyone here has tried the one brick forge? I am about to. Got the JTH7 torch... bricks on the way. Father in law giving me a chunk of rail road track till I can afford the real thing (anvil not rail road track).

Soo, this is basicly a thread to spill your guts out about the one brick forge:)

Michael
 
I tried it, I liked it. Seriously, it worked just fine, even on a roller bearing which was a stubborn metal to move. This was also my first attempt at forging. I may go for a two bricker or better next time. Wayne Goddard says that with the JTH7 one could even do small blade pattern welding in the one brick forge, though the flux will eat the soft bricks rapidly. The RR anvil can make you deaf with the ringing. I think fastening it down and sticking a big magnet on the side of it might help to lessen this.
 
Yeah he was saying that he plans to test out a design of carving a part of the bottom out and putting a firebrick on the bottom to catch the flux... not sure I'm visioning this right. About the RR anvil... I actualy am mostly deaf anyways:) I'll just turn my hearing aids off hahahahahahahahaha:D What would the magnet do? Where in the world do you find a large one for that matter.......

Michael
 
I believe I saw the magnet tip on Don Fogg's site. Why it works I don't know. Old stereo, or car stereo speakers have big magnets in them. I wasn't real clear on the welding brick forge either. I think he said use a hard fire brick on the bottom, and chisel out an indentation to catch the molten borax. Periodically coat the indentation with furnace cement to protect it. The top of the forge would be a soft fire brick with a u-shaped groove crossways (aim your flame into this groove) that goes half way through to meet the lengthwise hole the steel passes through. This would be a two brick forge, of course, and again, I'm guessing at the configuration.
 
Well here is an update:)

I got the bricks today from ClayArt. They are out in WA, so if you are in NY (as I am), expect a good 7ish days for them to get to you (next time I'm just sending it 2nd day).

For those of you who have not seen these bricks, they are kind of like hardened plaster. I kept wondering when the thing would shatter as I was carving out the inside. I carved the inside with woodworking chissels. I thought to drill it as I was waiting for them to come, but when I saw what I was working with.... I did not want to press my luck.

The author of the one brick forge idea suggests using a mortar of some kind. I can clearly understand why now. All you gotta do is rub this stuff the wrong way and it starts comming apart on you. ClayArt sells a 25 pound quantity. I could not see me using that much and inquired over the phone if I could order less. They have a pint quantity, which I got. The stuff is pretty thick out of the jar. I was able to coat things well, though I am wondering if I have enough for another brick... I might.... if you get it make sure you tell them to double bag it as the single bag they gave me leaked a bit.

I got 6 bricks since they are hard to come by, which looks like a good number to make some of the variations. Right now I made the straight, "one brick forge".

Soo.... thats my work for tonight. I got this done even with the better half looking at me wierd as I chisseled away. Oh... very important... do the work outside. This makes quit a bit of dust and the mortar has some nasty warnings to boot.


I'll keep you all informed... hoping to fire it up tomorrow if I dont have a lot of things the wife wants me to do:barf:


Michael
 
Michael, I'm lucky -- my wife sleeps late and I don't, so I can occasionally get 3 or 4 hours in before she starts making her well-rehersed suggestions on how I might better employ myself... :D

I got a few soft bricks from Clay Art too, and have used my one brick forge to heat treat a few small O1 blades. It worked great -- but I learned I don't have the right pair of pliers to reach into the cavity for my blades! You may not see it the first time, but there's a decent bit of flame coming out of there. Yowie! My suggestion is to wear gloves at least. ;)

For what it's worth, I used some woodworking spade bits to make the cavities in the brick -- just drilled at a very slow speed and it really worked nice. I think they were 1" and 3/4". Then I used a narrow saw to open up the big hole.

I haven't tried welding anything in it yet so I'll take the advice here and build the two bricker with runoff. Thanks for the suggestion! This sure is a great place to end the day.

Thanks everyone,
Dave
 
At the local stone mart they have what looks like lave rock. It is very light and looks like foamed greyish glass. I wonder how this might work .It appears to be the same rock that you see some of the decorative water fountains made from. Just a thought.Maybe ask Mr.Mayo to try some experiments with some lava rock.
Mark
 
Soft brick can be had from a good pottery supply house. There are many on the east coast and other parts of the country as well. In NY state try Miller Clay or Amherst Potter's Supply here in Western MA. The Amherst # is 413-586-4507.

If anyone else needs to find a local source or at least someplace nearby, just email me and I'll look up in the Potter's Directory for someplace close to you.

The bricks seem to run about $4 each. Furnace cement will probably work OK but there are products that are way better. ITC100 is a refractory coating that potters use in kilns and it is probably much better. Expensive though....
 
$4 seems a bit on the high side.... I paid $2.50 for mine... though I probably paid a little more for the shipping.


Raining....raining....raining....... :mad:

:mad:

:mad:


Michael
 
This may sound stupid, but has anyone ever tried a charcole grill? Using some kind of fuel that would be appropiate, I have got metal to become red hot in a grill, not to heat treata blade but just for fun. I wonder if it would work okay to make a small knife, I'm sure it would take longer but you do what you got to do. Does anyone know a web site to buy a brick for forging or any tutorials on how to make it once you have the brick? Thanks.
 
Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop talks about brick forges. There has also been numerous articles in his column in Blade magazine, including some with charcoal if I remember correctly. Use the search feature for all kinds of forging posts, as well as your browser for various forge designs. Tai Goo has some pretty basic forge designs, and yes an old charcoal grill would work (with air blast).
 
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