Opinions on a gas forge on ebay...

Straight down from the top burner - No evenness of heat - Hot spot - No swirl.
Square chamber - Uneven heating - No swirl.
Open end on front - no port in rear.
Poor looking construction - no refractory coating on wool ( very bad idea)
Etc.
 
For that money, you can buy a pre-assembled burner/hose/regulator from a guy on ebay, and stick it in a stack of fire bricks that you can buy locally. Makes for a decent forge that it modular. Down the road, when money allows, you can coat the inside of the bricks with ITC100, or the like, to make it more efficient.
 
While it isn't the most ideal piece of equipment for heat treating a knife, it can be done. I've used a paint can forge for nearly a year to HT with. It's was a pain, but it's all I had at the time. It will also help if you'll use a simple to HT steel like 1084.

Like Vaughn said, for that kind of money, you can come up with something better. As Stacy noted, it doesn't look well built and they have not coated the wool. Satanite will cost you about another $15 and you're going to make a mess doing it. ITC-100 will cost you more. I recently completed a forge for heat treating that I made out of a 15 gallon steel drum. Total cost was about $250. The temp is fairly easy to control and it's a huge improvement over my paint can! I use a piece of Schedule 80 pipe as a muffler. I could easily remove the muffler, turn it vertical, lay some firebrick on the bottom and use it as a forge in a pinch if I wanted to.

There are lots of plans out there to make your own burner and the can be made really cheap. Even if you didn't want to build a burner yourself, you can buy a burner kit from High Temp tools for around $40 or so. If I were you, I'd keep doing some research and see what you come up with.
 
I had the two burner model and it was not ideal. it will get steel to forging temps but that is about it. I got the diamondback economy forge as well as a blown forge and they are both head and shoulders above this unit. i would save up for something else or build one, it is really pretty easy to build one, once you have seen and used a forge or two.
 
I have the exact one, it's great as a normal forge and for forging out bigger blades. However, it doesn't do very well for heat treating and all of that stuff that's essential for making a good knife. You CAN heat treat with it, but you're going to be holding the blade right up to the flame with your tongs rather than letting it lay in the forge. If you know how to watch a flame you can manage the temp fairly well though, but the temp right there at the nozzle and the temp at the bottom brick are varying a lot.

All-in-all it's not bad if you have other means of heat treating or you want to learn the ropes. If nothing else it can help you build your own forge just for knife making. It really comes in handy for normal forging. Oh, and I've had very little luck with welding with this particular forge.
 
Well, that does make sense, I should consider such things a bit more... Thanks gentleman, I appreciate the help.

The Diamondback Economy forge looks interesting.

My biggest issue lately is not having time to throw something together. And I honestly don't trust my skills in attempting a forge. I have some firebricks in storage from a friend, I just haven't had the chance to do anything with them.
 
I'll promote my Atlas mini forge as one of the better heat treating forges available. It's got all the points Stacy mentioned, round chamber, angled burner, heavy duty construction, and a port in the back. It's a 1/2" x 2½" port designed specifically for knife stock to fit through. It comes with a torch and hose, but if they aren't enough I think Wayne Suhrbier(?) makes a 1/2" burner that will fit in it. He sent me one and it really heated up nicely.
 
I have a Atlas Forge and I have used it at least every other day for the past year straight. It's a cool little forge. It helped me get in the game. I have no problem at all with 1084 and if you tend to your steel you can work it very even and do a nice blade in it. I would be very interested in getting a larger burner for it. I am starting to really enjoy banging on the anvil and I only wish I could get it a bit hotter at times.
 
That forge would be fine for forging as you can localize heat where you need it. I use a 12"long, 6"dia single burner forge and love it for that reason. That said, it would suck in heat treating for the same qualities that make it useful in forging.
 
Rick Marchand said:
That forge would be fine for forging as you can localize heat where you need it. I use a 12"long, 6"dia single burner forge and love it for that reason. That said, it would suck in heat treating for the same qualities that make it useful in forging.
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Lol yup, same problem I'm having. I've thought about making another one JUST for heat treating, this one works so well for any forging I want to do I hate to just replace it...
 
Jarrett2k said:
Lol yup, same problem I'm having. I've thought about making another one JUST for heat treating, this one works so well for any forging I want to do I hate to just replace it...
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I made a 2 burner BBQ tank forge with a mufflepipe rig for HT'g. It worked well but as others have mentioned, it would be better to have a burner config that circulates heat. I was able to hold temperatures with the muffle pipe but the 2 burners made it difficult to localize heat while forging. After I purchased a kiln(best decision ever) I retired the muffle pipe and brought back the single for forging. I'm happy with this current set up.
 
Rick Marchand said:
I made a 2 burner BBQ tank forge with a mufflepipe rig for HT'g. It worked well but as others have mentioned, it would be better to have a burner config that circulates heat. I was able to hold temperatures with the muffle pipe but the 2 burners made it difficult to localize heat while forging. After I purchased a kiln(best decision ever) I retired the muffle pipe and brought back the single for forging. I'm happy with this current set up.
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would placing a plugged end 2" pipe in the ebay forge help any at all with HT? I've just been using the ol' get it to non-magnetic, quench, and make the wife angry with the stove method.
 
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It would help by eliminating the direct blast from the burner. I wouldn't bother with the plug... just the thick walled pipe. You would still have to "pump" the blade in an attempt to heat the piece evenly but it would be a hell of a lot better than what the plain open forge can offer.
 
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