Small forge rant.

[dozuki]

well i finally put my one brick forge and my harbor freight anvil togeather. I'm trying to make a knife out of lawnmower blade. Is it me or is there not much work time when the metal is red. I only seem to have enough time to have a couple good whacks with the hammer. i was very excited the first time I got the metal hot and changed its shape a little with the hammer. My wife on the other hand didn't seem as excited. By the way the anvil i got from harbor freight rings like a bell when i hit the metal. That just sounds so cool. Sorry if this doesn't seem to really apply to anything I just had to tell someone. I now know why you reinforce the one brick forge. Mine split all along its length. it still works, Now I can take the top off and put the steel just where I want it when I start. and one question. My little forge only seemt to heat the metal right where the flame is. Is there a special angle to use to get the flame to "swirl" in the chanber. Thanks:

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Once again someone has shown why a one brick forge is not really suitable for doing much beyond hardening a small blade.
Do yourself a favor and make a forge out of eight bricks,or better yet - build a proper forge.The plans are readily available form many sites,or on knifehow, www.knifehow.com . Darren Ellis sells the parts,burner kits,complete burners,forge kits,and finished forges. He can be found at http://forgegallery.elliscustomknifeworks.com/
Stacy

 

[Oldtools]

Ok, this keeps coming up, and I think we need to find some perspective about the 1 brick forge. Wayne Goddard never said that everyone needs a 1 brick forge. He said it was possible to make knives with a 1 brick forge. If we can come to an agreement that a 1 brick forge is not the best or the most efficient forge, we can also agree the original idea was to make a forge on the cheap.

I am making my small forge using the same burner, a Bernzomatic JTH 7 but I'm going to use a recovered fire extinguisher that has an 1/8th inch steel wall, and is 5-1/4 inches by 9-1/2 inches long, after cutting off both ends. I plan to add feet a handle and of course I will line the inside with Inswool and ITC 100.

I found the extinguisher at the dump - cost $0.00. Doing the cutting with my own hacksaw - cost $0.00. Other metal also found at the dump cost - $0.00. Bernzomatic JTH 7 - cost $30.00. (Well everything can't be free ) Not sure of other costs yet, but can I just say not much?

I think this will be a better form of the "1 brick forge" and also more useful for taking with me to ask for HELP!!. (Sorry about getting so excited there.)

There are other similar forges out there, and I think we can all agree the price can be kept to a minimum and better performance can be expected from these Tiny Heater Forges.

So, can we agree that a cheap forge can be made and used in the spirit of the $50.00 Knife Shop? The 1 brick forge is not the epitome of the mini forge, and you can still have a small forge at very little expense.

 

[Sunraven]

I have a two brick forge using the bernziomatic torch and that gets steel above red hot fairly easily. OK it cannot take large pieces but then thats not what I need it for. The heat also swirls round the chamber nicely so maybe on the angle you have the flame at in the 1 brick is not optimum. Also the 2 brick has the benefit of better insulation due to thicker walls than the 1 brick design so that will be a factor too.

Do a search for "Son of a two brick forge" or similar on www.britishblades.com which is where I got the design from that I used.

 

[Alan Molstad]

I once read an article in BLADE mag. about the one-brick forge.
The moment I read it I felt that I could try it.
I built the same type of forge as appears in the article, however I found the experience a bit frustrating as the steel would only really get hot where the torch was hitting it directly and the rest of the steel remained too cool to forge.

But I had been bitten by the knife making bug and that propelled me to try to build a charcol forge with a break drum and a section of pipe connected to an old blow dryer.

The One Brick Forge is a good way to get introduced to the basic idea of working with hot steel, but it's not an easy way to forge a knife for a beginner.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

Wow... it's amazing how different experiences are among us!

This is not meant as a ringing endorsement for the one-brick forge being the be-all, end-all... however, mine worked well enough for me to heat a piece of 1/4"x2" (!) 1095 and forge it.
Did it take a while? Of course!
Was it like having a big-ass forced air forge? NO!
It worked, though... and the entire cutout inside the brick glowed bright orange while I was using it. Maybe how the brick was shaped could be affecting the outcome?
I used a 1" auger-style drill bit to cut the chamber out, and did it in 3 overlapping passes (the chamber was then 1" wide and around 2.5" high), and used the same bit to drill the fire inlet hole. I used a second fire brick to block the hole at the back, assuming I didn't need to pass the piece of steel through it. My source of flame was the good ole' JTH7 running off those nifty little green propane cylinders meant for Coleman stoves and lanterns.
I finally made a small forge using some aluminum flashing and Inswool with a few coats of Satanite on it (to use until the big forge gets done), and this certainly works better (MUCH better! and cheap enough to not bother with the one brick to begin with, BUT hindsight is perfect vision.
Still, it worked, and it was a good learning experience.

 

[Terry_Dodson]

You may want to take your torch and heat the flat part of the anvil where you will be working the hot steel, heat it til it sweats, at least that was what Master Mark Williams told me at TrackRock one year. Sure does seem to let the heat stay in the steel longer.