One brick forge

Gliden07

Well-Known Member
I bought a book called the $50 knife shop. Lots of good ideas in it to keep costs down for budding knife makers. He built a 1 brick forge that used a propane torch as the heat source. I have the torch he was talking about so I was thinking about building one as I collect the parts for a larger (refrigerant tank) more traditional forge. Anyone ever try one of these and did it work?
 
I've built/used them in the past, and still have the parts in my shop. I consider it one those "use in a pinch" things.... you'll burn through the torch fuel bottles quickly. With a standard propane torch as the burner, it only works on very small pieces of steel, and then sometimes not very effectively.

Make sure you use SOFT firebrick! I've had a couple of folks contact me in the past, fussing about how much trouble they were having trying to build one....and only after several minutes of conversation, did I discover they were trying to use "standard" (hard) firebrick(s). :)

I tried to use a single brick the first time I did it, and ended up with a pile of crumbled firebrick..... then I put two bricks together, held with iron tie wire, and used a wood boring bit on a drill to bore a 2" chamber..... then a 1/2" wood bit for the burner hole.... worked great.

Because it burns through the torch fuel bottles so quickly, and the fuel pressure in those bottles is so low, I built an actual venturi burner from 1/2 black iron pipe, and hooked it to a 20lb propane cylinder (if you do that, make sure you have an adjustable regulator on the tank)..... that made a huge difference. After doing that, it was basically a true "mini forge".... I could even weld in it.

It's fun for tinkering around, and you can work on very small things, but it's no substitute for a full sized forge.
 
I bought a Berzomatic 8000 Torch for this forge. It will burn propane as well as MAPP gas has a trigger start and a knob to adjust the flame. Looking forward to my first heat treat (if I ever get a little free time). Need a dunk tank for the oil, was thinking of using a new gallon paint can? Then when I'm done I can snap the cover on till I need it again.
 
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