Two Brick Forge

DunkEm

DunkEm

Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
3,159
I read a few of the stickies about the two brick forge and went for it. I didn't get near the glowing red I need.

Here are some pics of what I've got so far and a trial run.

Burner hole is in the first half brick, angling back a bit.








My pass through is visible in the back



My first attempt failed to get good and hot enough, so I went ahead and ordered some refractory cement and the burner that was recommended in the sticky.

I also decided to try a few things to up the internal temp. 1) Put the fire brick on top. Didn't seem to matter. 2) I took one of the cores that I had drilled out and slid it in thinking maybe if I reduced the chamber volume I'd be able to achieve higher temps. It seemed to actually keep it from heating up as much.

You can see the core in the back of this pic.



As I said, I've got a new burner and a refractory cement coming in the mail. But before I use them, do I need to make any changes to improve things? I've got two more bricks sitting around if I need to just scrap it and start over.
 
Thanks. I've got the Magna on order. It's going to take a week or two, but I'm looking forward to it getting here.
 
I have a very similar setup as you and mine gets plenty hot. I usually let the forge heat up until the whole inside gets a nice glow. Usually 5 min or more. I also have a different torch on mine. I'm using the same torch Aaron Gough uses in his tutorial.

Jay
 
I'd love to use this design but the thought of spending money on a new propane torch head when I have a great high output propane weed burner makes me ill.

Any suggestions on how to use my weed burner with a firebrick forge?
 
Rancho5 said:
I'd love to use this design but the thought of spending money on a new propane torch head when I have a great high output propane weed burner makes me ill.

Any suggestions on how to use my weed burner with a firebrick forge?
Click to expand...

Just make a bigger hole. Worst case you are out a couple soft fire bricks. My torch head bit the dust so I made a bigger how and tried a HF weed burner. Holy cow the flames coming out of the front and back!! Nice to just hook up to a 20lb propane tank though.

It worked well on the 1084 I was using with almost or no decarb. Might burn down your shop though!
 
Maelstrom78 said:
Just make a bigger hole. Worst case you are out a couple soft fire bricks. My torch head bit the dust so I made a bigger how and tried a HF weed burner. Holy cow the flames coming out of the front and back!! Nice to just hook up to a 20lb propane tank though.

It worked well on the 1084 I was using with almost or no decarb. Might burn down your shop though!
Click to expand...
Would you mind posting a picture of your setup?
 
A standard weed burner has far too much BTU output, and is too large in diameter for a 2BF. It would work on a basic stove pipe forge or perhaps a six-eight brick forge.

I totally get people wanting to improvise and save a buck when they can....but the forge is the central tool to forging. You could use a piece of I-beam as an anvil and a claw hammer to forge with, but if the forge isn't up to snuff, it is all a waste of energy. A very good forge can be built for $50 with some scrounging skills, an $100 in most all cases. Scrimping on materials and size is counter-productive.
 
Hmm. my previous response disappeared. Basically, Stacy is spot on with the positioning of the torch. It's in too far. Also, the MT245C will output about 3x the BTU as that torch you are using.

Charles
 
Hey man, I'm still fairly new to knife making, but, if you are thinking of getting into the forging side I would recommend building a brake drum forge. You can heat steel, and iron up to the forge welding/melting point in one of those and it's fairly inexpensive. Just google designs. (it can be a whole lot simpler than people make it, I just used a ceramic chimney flue with a pipe attached for my airflow) The whole forge cost me about $21.4 to build (13.95 for the bathroom fan from Home Depot & 7.45 for a 40lb bag of Anthracite coal). I would personally suggest the coal route for starting out only because it's quite a bit cheaper than propane. Yes propane definitely has it's pros, (clean, easy to use, less oxidation of steel sometimes, or so I've read) but it also costs a lot more to get into. I wanted to put twists in RR spike Handles and do some forging, the can forge (basically the same as the 2 brick forge) just didn't cut it. Just my suggestion though from my own experience. Of course if you want to go with propane and you can get it going then go for it!
Here's a picture of my little set up
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Thanks for the replies and wisdom. Still waiting for the mail to deliver the new burner. It won't be long now.
 
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