Best forge

K

Kev

Well-Known Member
I’d like to start dipping my toes in the world of forging. I’ve got a decent anvil, but no power tools.
What I’m looking for is a SAFE, decent, production made forge, that I could possibly weld with in the future. If I get serious about welding I’ll upgrade. I’m not particularly interested in building my own forge. I’m sure I could just don’t wanna mess with it.
 
Unfortunately, there are few, if any production forges I would recommend. ALL of them have major issues that are there because "it's cheaper" or "it's easier" to build them that way. I'm certainly not up to the minute on all commercially available forges, but based on past experiences, if I had to, the one that I would say to look at is Chile forges.....their round design has about the least amount of issue for a production forge. That being said, IF you decide to forge weld down the road, you're gona want something better designed for forge welding. If I had to tell you to steer clear of one thing with commercial forges.....it would be the "square" designs, with a burner/burners that enter at 90 degree angles...... those forges are just plain train wrecks.
 
I'm not Ed but here's my take on it. A 5" X 13" chamber is a lot more than you need. My primary forge is 4" x 6" and I can use it to forge and heat treat a blade considerably longer than 6". I don't like that there is no ball or needle valve to it but it shouldn't be hard to install them between the gas line and the connection to the burner tube. The ball valve is needed in case you have to shut down the burner right now and the needle valve will give fine control over the gas flow. They don't show a port for a thermocouple but you could make one with a carbide tip drill.

As jaxxas said, it looks like a great price.

Doug
 
I would say that forge isn't up to par with the Chile forges. Why? It's gona need some type of shelf fabricated on the front, and something on the rear to hold fire bricks to block up the rear. Next. that burner/blower...... The "burn" of that forge is gona be marginal at best....because of where the fuel inlet it (fuel/air mixing issues), and the blower.....that thing is simply not going to last. I didn't see it in the forge's description, but it appears the refractory thickness isn't where it should be. ANY castable refractory used in a forge application needs to be AT LEAST 3" thick.
Nothing against the folks making the forge, but this is another example of prioritizing cheapness of build above all else. My gut tells me that this forge was created for the "forged in fire" crowd who want to start "forging" as cheaply as possible.

MAYBE....if you where to take the shell, throw away the burner/blower, and build a proper burner/blower setup, you might have something...... but considering you'd pay $400 for the forge as it is, throw out the existing burner/blower, then close to another $400 for buying the materials and building a new burner/blower...... why not just build one.....or spend a few more dollars, but if you follow good practices when building, you'll have a forge that you can do anything with/in, and that will far outlast any of these "cheap" ones.

Well, about face! I just took the time to go look at the Chile forges again.... they've changed, and my opinion of them just landed where it is for the majority of commercially available forges...... just don't waste the money. WHY would you build a round forge, then place the burner(s) at 90 degrees? With a simple change in burner location/angle, those forges could actually be so meting..........Geez! o_O

I guess I'm spoiled, and maybe you could even call me a "forge snob" because I've built so many forges over the years, know what does and does not make a "good" forge, and I keep trying to make each one a bit better than the last from a usability standpoint....... that I just get disgusted when someone says they want to buy instead of build one...... and I can't find ANYTHING out there that I even suggest to my worst enemy. :(

After looking around the web for the past 1/2 hour, trying to get myself up to date on what's out there...... all I see are problems..... forges that are built as cheaply as possible, that I can only imagine are at the very best "marginal" for actually using. What I see with forges, is what I see with grinders......the ONLY thing in mind when building/offering them is profit margin, and people spending money time and time again, until the finally reach the "breaking point" and get/build a "good one".
 
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In my opinion alone, I would have to know if you plan on doing any general blacksmithing work or do you just plan to forge knives? If you plan on forging other items (tools, hooks, candlesticks, sconces or decorative iron works) my opinion would differ from the above. I have found that small round forges intended for knife work are quite poor for general forging projects. They do excel at forging knives but not so much for other work. If you plan on doing general forge work let me know and I will give you an opinion on forges which will be better suited. If you plan on only forging knives I would suggest following the advice above. Just my two cents...
 
I think the problem is most forges are designed for blacksmithing, not bladesmithing. For blacksmithing you want the forge to get metal hot as quickly has possible, and no real concern for even heating. The flame hitting the metal to be forged isn't a real issue. While for bladesmithing the need is for the inside of forge to be fairly even heated so the billet/blade is pretty even color from end to end.

Ed, With your guidance I think I built a MUCH better forge than I could have purchased anywhere. Thank you.

Late edit: Chris, I didn't see your post above until now - you just confirmed what I was thinking and trying to write.
 
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The guy that owns Purgatory Iron works has a forge hes selling has some neat features but it's pretty expensive!
 
Jason Knight was talking about the Chile Forge on one of his Youtube streams, He spoke very highly of the ones he had
 
I'm on the "build it yourself" train as well. I'm just a hobbyist bladesmith so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt. Last year, I noticed I had some periods where my motivation to get out in the shop was being impeded by equipment/processes that I was unhappy with. So I took it upon myself to re-evaluate all of my equipment and processes in order to minimize any frustrations that may lower my motivation level.

So one of the first things I evaluated was the process of forging and the tools involved there. In that, obviously, is the forge itself. I had built a horizontal forge (blown burner) with 3" of castable refractory with the intent to do some damascus in addition to some random blade forging. For damascus, it was great. Because of the castable refractory though, it did take a while to heat up. This didn't matter much for forging damascus since I was going to be working on it all day. But, when I wanted to go and quickly forge a blade in 30 minutes... I didn't want to burn propane for 25 minutes before I did 30 minutes of hammering. In addition, the chamber was much larger that what I needed to forge my blades. So, I was wasting propane due to the size of the forge in addition to the warm-up period. Also, due to it being a horizontal forge, it tended to heat up the entire blade at once which is really more than I would work on for 1 heat.

At some point, I bought a small commercial venturi forge for just blades to reduce my propane consumption. After a little while, I started to notice a little more oxidation than I was used to but the burner had no adjustable choke. I could have tried to find something to cover up some of the opening but, there were a few other things I found frustrating about it. The chamber diameter itself was actually quite limiting in the width of the blade I could forge (not exactly future proof) and I was already starting to work on some larger bowie knives. And once again, being a horizontal forge it is heating up the entire 11" Bowie blade when I just need 4-5" of heat at a time.

Another thing with horizontal forges in the evenness of the heat. Most serious bladesmiths who build their own will, at a minimum, attempt to bring the burner in at a tangent to the inner chamber so the flame swirls around. This helps a lot and is how I have my horizontal set up. Others will go so far as building ribbon burners to spread the heat over the length of the chamber. In most cases, there's still going to be a spot/side/area of the forge that is hotter than others. This tends to cause you to move your workpiece around in the forge a bit to have it heat up more evenly.

Like many bladesmiths, I started with blacksmithing on a coal forge before giving a gas forge a try. One thing that's great is that you can control the area of the heat. And, in most cases, you're working with 4-6" of heat in a normal coal fire pot. Typically a single person forging a knife by hand, isn't going to be working on more than 4-5" of a blade at a time. Heating up extra portions of the blade that you're not going to work on over and over again is not great for the steel.

So I decided that I wanted 4-5" of extremely even heat with a blown burner. I've found the best way to accomplish this is with a small vertical forge. Basically a horizontal forge flipped on end with the burner (still at a tangent) moved near the bottom of the forge. In this way, the flame still swirls around the forge and since your opening for your work is at the top, the air/gas has extra time to mix and combust and by the time it gets to the top, it is essentially a perfectly even heat. I only use this small vertical forge for forging blades (95% of what I do) and it has a kaowool lining with satanite coating so it heats up extremely fast (less than 2 minutes).

The only real disadvantage to a small vertical forge like this (for bladesmithing) that I have noticed is that it can be harder to handle the workpiece in the forge as it is being suspended in air. I either use a tong ring and just leave the tongs on a rest or use a long bar of steel.

For general blacksmithing, you'd likely want something larger to accommodate all of the odd shapes/sizes blacksmiths work with. And, in general, a horizontal forge is more versatile. But versatility means you're losing efficiency. In my opinion, it's better to have one forge for forging blades, another for damascus work.

So really, all I want to say is... think about what you'll want to use the forge for and BUILD one that is for that purpose. A versatile forge is fine for a first one just keep in mind that you may want another down the line.

I thoroughly enjoy using the small vertical forge and I've been spending a lot more time out there just forging 1 blade here or there. That's what works for me. Just wanted to give you some food for thought.

Im actually pretty surprised by how few people seem to use vertical forges.

There is not a single commercial forge I would buy right now.

Cheers
 
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I have a Habenero Chile Forge. Had it for a couple of years now. I don't have a lot of frame of reference, but it has worked really well for me. I've forged wielded in it no problem. It has a sacrificial floor that you can replace if you eat it up with flux.
 
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