Welding torch alternative?

R

R.C.Reichert

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Jul 26, 2008
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Hello. I purchased a video on Basic Bladesmithing featuring Ed Caffrey in it. He was demonstrating the use of a welding torch to heat up the blade to non-magnetic prior to quenching it. By feathering the flame across the blade it got red hot quite fast. I don't have access to a welders torch, so I was wondering if one of those small MAPP gas torches you can get at the hardware store would get hot enough to do this. Would this work even? On small blades? I don't have an actual forge and a large plumber's torch and firebrick is my next option. So just wondering if that would be a waste of time and money or not.
 
Mapp gas will work IME, but I've not been able to harden anything longer than a 3" blade max, and this took a lot of practice.
 
Yeah and I would say a 6" blade would be max for the blow torch too, just heats to small of an area to hot(acetylene is one of the hottest buring fuels).
 
Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of using the torch to do some small neck knives in the basement (with ventilation of course) rather than digging out the tiger torch and standing in the snow. Maybe I'll try setting up a little one-brick forge or something, or just some fire brick arranged to help retain the heat a bit.:D

Blast this Canadian weather!:grumpy:
 
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A Bernzomatic JTH-7 torch gets pretty darn hot. You could also try a weed burner torch, if you are just going to heat your blade directly.

But the JTH-7 in a coffee can forge will work well when you're just starting out. You will be able to forge blades, and make mokume with it as well. It's a great way to get started without spending a ton of money. Two coffee cans is better than one, a one can forge is quite limiting.
 
neck knives could be done with a propane torch if the steel is 1/8" or so. any thicker and it wont get hot enough. when i heat treat fillet knives made from band saw blades i use a propane turbo torch. use minimal light so you can watch the color of the steel better.
 
propane will get a SMALL section of steel hot enough to glow red, like for burning the tang into a maple handle, but it just won't do the trick for HT.
 
I read about somebody putting their blade on the electric stove burner on high and supplementing with a propane torch to get to non-mag.

I don't know if this is an adviseable practise or not, just passing it on.
 
69_knives said:
I read about somebody putting their blade on the electric stove burner on high and supplementing with a propane torch to get to non-mag.

I don't know if this is an adviseable practise or not, just passing it on.
Click to expand...

:D Well, I know I got that frying pan pretty red hot when I was trying to cook macaroni and had a few too many beers.:eek::barf::barf::D
 
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I've used propane to get a few VERY small, VERY thin blades heated, it sorta works - MAPP should work okay to about 3/32 and 2.5-3 inches, but in my opinion, it's worth buying the two firebricks and making a one brick forge. Before I went to charcoal and the large propane forge, I made a clay forge in cinderblock that would work with a bit of care for heat treating smallish knives.

Seriously, I'd recommend doing the one brick forge if you want something small like that. It's very little effort.
 
do a one-brick or two brick forge, a coffee-can forge, or build yourself a Fogg style or I G style if you know someone who welds. I have done torch Ht, if you can avoid it, do. Torch HT is not even or reliable
-Page
 
69_knives said:
I read about somebody putting their blade on the electric stove burner on high and supplementing with a propane torch to get to non-mag.

I don't know if this is an adviseable practise or not, just passing it on.
Click to expand...


That might have been me. I said something about that in 2006. You'd be shocked at how hot you can get your steel doing it this way; however, I was only able to get it to barely above nonmagnetic using a cheap propane torch while the burner was on high. I probably would avoid using a very hot propane torch like the JTH-7 to heat something on a stove burner. The reason I chose the stove burner was that, given my tools at the time - I didn't have a forge yet, I figured the stove burner would help me maintain a more even temperature. The downside is that you can't quench in oil in the house, unless you don't like your house very much. I used brine instead. But, if a person had a single table top stove burner, they could do it outside, or in the garage.

Just make sure your wife doesn't catch you doing it in the house!!! :D

I didn't really know what I was doing at the time, or I would have held out and built a simple forge.
 
And don't forget to clean off the oil from your freshly quenched blades BEFORE you put them in your wife's oven to temper!
 
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