New Forge

whiteeugene

Well-Known Member
This is the forge I purchased from Three Sisters Forge at the Oregon knife show in April. I lined it with a Cerablanket HP Ceramic blanket and coated it with Plistix 900F. The burner is from Larry Zoeller zoellerforge.com it’s one of his Z Burner’s I connected it to the gas bottle using one of his single burner connection kits it had everything I needed.

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This is my forging cart so that I can move it in and out of the shop I haven’t used it enough to trust running it inside. The cart is stainless steel and has locking wheels it’s easy to move and the open racks help it dissipate heat and the most important thing it was free.
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I had three knives I wanted to heat treat I have all the parts on order for a HT oven but the bricks are on back order so I thought I would give this a try. I have several knives I have been working on here are three of them in 1095 they are all small and should heat up easily.

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For the diffuser I cut a piece of 2 inch black pipe drilled and taped two holes for 3/8 SS all thread to keep the knifes vertical ion the diffuser since the pipe slides up of the back of the forge I didn’t cap it if I get a lot of flow through the pipe I’ll weld a cap on it.

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This is a picture with the door open and a blade in the diffuser.
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Doug nice forge Looks almost like the one I built last year. I'm also running a Z burner I made from larry's plans. If you go to the best forge thread you'll see my version there. I think you'll be very happy with yours. 2thumbs I have not done any stainless just carbon steels.
 
Here's something for you to consider;
I figure if it works for Mr.Goddard...
http://books.google.ca/books?id=lrc...&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Thanks for the link I have most everything for a heat treating furnace with a Digital Pyrometer and K type thermocouple I'm just waiting on the bricks. I've done a little research and this is one of the methods used if you don't have a HT oven. I like to be able to do things on my own and not have to rely on commercial equipment all the time. I was in a survival school in the army many years ago one of the tasks was to fashion a crude blade for survival and defense. The way things are going you never know when you might have to make a knife the old fashioned way just to survive.
I did this as a test just to see how it was done, probably for the same reason I grow my own food and still use glass canning jars to preserve it I hunt for meet not because I have to but because I feel the skill is an important thing to pass on to others and to keep in practice.
 
Cool!
One of things that really draws me to the knife forums and Community
is the Kindred Spirit I've discovered...
When the lights go out,and the computer screens all go dark,
there are gonna be a lot of folks out there in the world who are going to find themselves looking to people like you,and many of the others here,
because they ain't gonna have a clue.
No more Starbuck's,
no more 7-11,
no more Pizza Hut...
The ones who will be standing strong among the milling herds will be those of us
who learned,and never forgot how to use our hands,and minds.
 
Cool!
One of things that really draws me to the knife forums and Community
is the Kindred Spirit I've discovered...
When the lights go out,and the computer screens all go dark,
there are gonna be a lot of folks out there in the world who are going to find themselves looking to people like you,and many of the others here,
because they ain't gonna have a clue.
No more Starbuck's,
no more 7-11,
no more Pizza Hut...
The ones who will be standing strong among the milling herds will be those of us
who learned,and never forgot how to use our hands,and minds.

I have two cabins in remote location with a little land on each both have what I need to survive for a while. When I find some old tools or equipment I take them there and store them. I drilled a well on one and have a hand pump and storage barrels for water on the other I have a electric pump and solar power. I have also dug sellers on both and stocked them with jars I picked up at garage sales.
 
After Tempering

Here are the blades after tempering; I tempered them at 400 for 2 hours twice letting them cool to the touch in-between. I skated a file across them and it didn’t bite just knocked the decarb off. I’ll take them to work with me and let the sand blaster have its way with them.:D

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It doesn’t look like any of them warped but I still need to do a lot of work on them they are a long way from finished. It looks like the camera found some defects :eek:with my grinding.

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Nice Forge! Do you put the Pipe inside for Heat Treating purposes?

It was from a post a few months back it helps http://knifedogs.com/showpost.php?p=78208&postcount=12 to keep an even temperature. Once the diffuser comes up to temp you can turn the heat down and just maintain the heat during the treatment. I think it works like a dutch oven it helps to keep the heat constant. I bring the diffuser up to temp and then turn the gas down, place the blade in and try to keep the color of the diffuser even by raising or lowering the gas pressure. It's not the best way to heat treat but I think it works. I took a test blade brought it up to critical tested it with a magnet put it back in for 3 minutes then quenched. After it was cool and without tempering I set it on a 3/8 bolt agents the back of my vice :eek: no anvil yet and gave it a smack it shattered. This weekend I will preform the same test on a one after tempering at 400 for 2 hours twice letting it cool in between. If the blade shatters or chips then I need to change the temper time if the blade bends or dents then it's the heat treatment I think. Any way I'm just trying to get the feel of working with a forge and steel.
 
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"The Path of the Strong Blade is littered with the bodies of the weak" (Me)
and yes,you may quote me:D
(...unless some other really smart fella thoughta that first);)
 
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