types fule for forging

J

jpknives919

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Apr 17, 2017
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alright guys ive been studying a little on forging and ive got some questions on what types of fule yall use for forging. ive been using regular wood because thats all i can afford right now ,but ive heard of electric,propane,and charcole forges. BUT electric is really expensive and hard to find,propane can cause oxidation from controlled air, and charcole has some nasty smoke and blacksmith charcole is hard to come by and you can have oxidation problems with that as well. the wood ive been using is just not getting hot enough but it is free so i cant complain too much. i can get the metal just above red hot right next to the air source but it is still hard to forge. so my questions are : what do yall use
what is cheap but works well
is there anything i can do to make my forge get hotter
is it possible to make homemade charcole that will get hot enough




any help is appreciated and feel free to lecture me on my cheap setup :rolleyes:
 
I have a propane blown burner forge, made out of a propane bottle with 2" of insawool and satanite. I can forge and HT 3 to 4 blades on a 20lb tank depending on the size of the blade and stock I'm using.
 
It really hard to beat propane in cost and efficacy. The electric forges your seeing are heat treat ovens. Thy are not designed for forging but for heat treating steel. Wood can work, I know there was a forge being made that claimed to run off wood. I don't know much about it and have never used one so I can't comment on its heat output. I know wood can get quite hot but it's the coals that are getting to the high temps. So your basically making charcoal on the spot and using that for your forge. I would say there is only 2 practical fuels for forges A: charcoal/coal and B: propane/natural gas. You will have to decide what sutes your style of forging best. I would say price wise natural gas has to be the cheapest if your lucky enough to have it where you forge. I started pricing coal a bit ago becaus I wanted to try it out and I came to the conclusion that for me I was money ahead to stick with propane. The great thing about propane is it's on when you want it and off when your don't need it. Easy to start up and easy to control the heat. It's also easy to make propane forges in just about any size you you need so it's versatile.
 
Wood does not make well a forging fire. Either start off with charcoal or you need
To burn the fire to a good bed of coals anyway before beginning to forge.
Adding wood actually cools a fire as it smokes, flames & pyrolized into charcoal.

Sadly, blacksmith coal & coke is not an everyday thing at your hardware store.
My local source is about 80 miles away and it works out over 900$ per ton.
I grew up with coal and enjoy coal best. But when I have to shut up & get work done. The gasser wins.

Another fire option is oilforge.
Basically two types. One is oilburner much like a heating furnace. The other works as an oil venturi driven with compressed air.
First & Last I saw those was heating rivets to restore historical building and repointing welldrilling bits.
Oilforges are best used outdoors. Everything nearby gets coated with oily soot.

Induction forges work well. Clean, fast, etc.
Against intuition, On a per heat basis, not all that expensive to operate either. Just expensive to setup and limited to a specific size workpiece without reconfiguring the machine.
 
ok i guess ill just half to save up and buy a gas forge BUT for now do any of yall have any ideas for cheap propain burners that will get hot enough to forge because ive got stuff and resources to make a small forge but i dont know about burners hot enough
 
Do you have electricity for a blower or are you planning on using a venturi burner ?
 
Look up how to make your own charcoal from wood.
There are a Bunch of videos on YouTube that will show you how to make your own. This will at least allow you to get up to temperature.
 
jpknives919 said:
ok i guess ill just half to save up and buy a gas forge BUT for now do any of yall have any ideas for cheap propain burners that will get hot enough to forge because ive got stuff and resources to make a small forge but i dont know about burners hot enough
Click to expand...
Fwiw, if you just want heat to forge with, A blown gasser is very simple to build. Basically a few scraps of exhaust pipe, gasjet & hairdryer for its motor.
You will have to piss about with its adjustments & it will run a bit lean no matter what. But anybody with skill & ingenuity to build one probably has 1/2 or more of its parts on hand in their junk bin. Cheap, simple & reliable.
 
yes 3fifty7 i have electricity, nj, illl look up how to make charcole because thats going to probably be the esiest for me right now , and lieblad can i get the gasjet at my local hardware store or do i half to order it AND THX GUYS FOR YALLS HELP
 
If you want to build a blown gas burner, it's super easy. I say this because I know little to nothing about burners and forges and after reading a half dozen similar plans I put together a blown propane forge made of an old propane tank, insawool, satanite with some black iron pipe and a squirrel cage blower that gets up to forge welding temp and sips gas.
 
Hi, Purgatory Iron Works has some good videos on how to make your own charcoal from wood. I also have a free source of wood, and just do forging for a hobby, so I make my own charcoal. It works great, burns clean and really hot. I can easily get up to forge welding temp with just a hair dryer for air. Its a good way to go while you figure out a good propane forge. Good luck!!
 
If you end up making your own forge and/or burner, make sure you stay away from using ANY galvanized fittings. When you heat up galvanized steel (steel coated in a layer of zinc to prevent corrosion), the Zinc burns off and the gasses produced are highly toxic. As far as I know, the black oxide fittings you can get at Home Depot are just fine, just avoid anything labeled "galvanized".

-Tanner
 
lol yea i learned about galvanized steel the hard way. i was using a pipe to push my fire around :rolleyes: and that stuff stinks and gives you a head ache. after that i looked it up read a story about a guy that almost died from welding it so i stopped using that poker and am really careful about what i use in the fire.:D
 
xXBackyardCrafterXx said:
If you end up making your own forge and/or burner, make sure you stay away from using ANY galvanized fittings. When you heat up galvanized steel (steel coated in a layer of zinc to prevent corrosion), the Zinc burns off and the gasses produced are highly toxic. As far as I know, the black oxide fittings you can get at Home Depot are just fine, just avoid anything labeled "galvanized".

-Tanner
Click to expand...

This statement comes up regularly. It is always good advice to not use galvanized pipe on high heat items, but the vapors given off are not "highly toxic". The white smoke that comes off is zinc oxide ... which is the main ingredient in sunblock lotion. Zinc poisoning is an issue with birds and some small animals, but very rare in humans. You wouldn't get it from zinc oxide anyway.

There have been many threads about this wife's tale, and people who should know better commonly repeat it.
 
Huh, no kidding. Thanks for the heads up and correction Stacy, I had no idea!

-Tanner
 
Zinc fumes are not harmless either

I've had metal fume fever and I'd rather avoid it.
I felt like hell for half a week.

We have seen several examples specifically in knife-making to show that lung disease comes from incremental exposure.

If you already have some lung condition, it will worsen iti.

Work outside
Setup a fan
wear a respirator
Avoid galvanized material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fume_fever
 
Yes, metal fume fever is a cold/flu like symptoms caused by breathing zinc ( and other) metal fumes. It is not pleasant, but neither toxic nor fatal. As The Count said, use proper ventilation, safety procedures, and wear a proper respirator when burning on or welding these metals.

Using black pipe or stainless is always the best type for building burners.
 
thx guys im not quite as scared now about the stuff but nevertheless id like to do my best to avoid fume fever. ps can you get metal fume fever from just zink containing materials or all metal
 
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