Forge ???

M

Moe56

Active Member
I’m 66y/o and just starting. I was gifted a Hell’s Forge 2 burner, 2300 degree forge. I haven’t unpacked it yet and hoping to get some advice as to whether to keep it or get something diff. Wanting to do some straight blades with mono steel, and some Damascus, etc. will this forge do what I need or any suggestions.
Thanks, Moe
 
Check out the Build a Gas Forge and the Ribbon Burner attachments on the Forge Supplies page at

www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com.

Let me know if I can help you.

About $100.00 plus the hose, regulator and burner using a 20# Propane tank.

Let me know how I can help you
 
Is it this forge: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TGB8BXX/

Where I getting a new forge, that would NOT be my choice. My first forge was one similar to that with burners coming in from top blowing straight down. Those are designed for blacksmiths where a section of work is desired to be heated as quickly as possible. For knife work the blade/billet will need to be moved in 'n out so help with heating full length of blade.

This one for <half price at least has burners coming in at a bit of an angle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0931992WL

After using my first couple of forges with venturia burners I finally built a blown (forced air) forge and it's so much better control. With the burner coming in from side, slightly angled up, and toward the rear the burner flame forms a swirl action inside the forge giving much more even heat from end to end. I can lay a 12" billet in my forge and it will be fairly even orange glow from end to end with no major hotspots. A round inside helps with this swirling action. This is the last froge I built. The burner tube angled up and rearward shows up in this photo,
Forge-F.jpg


Here's a video showing the swirling action of flame, how the interior is heated pretty evenly. This is a "test bed" forge while learning how to build my last forge. Lots of dragon's breath, but that helps show the swirl.

Take a look at the forge selection from Atlasknife. Charles is a knife maker himself and designed his forges for knifemaking. Notice how the burners come in from side. He has one blown gas forge that I like the looks of. I purchased my first forge (dual ventura burnera), and built my next two.

Forges - Atlas Knife & Tool

www.atlasknife.com www.atlasknife.com

www.atlasknife.com

Graham Forge - Atlas Knife & Tool

"Our biggest, most advanced bladesmith forge yet!" Chamber measures 5" diameter × 13" 4" × 2"' rear opening Max temp of 2300° F 390+ BTU per cubic inch Hot enough to forge weld! Welded leg plates with integrated toolrest holder
www.atlasknife.com www.atlasknife.com
 
Well you can't beat the price point for that one. Not a very good design. It will create hot spots, which will be more of a problem with heat treating than it will for forging. The flame coming right down on the work will result in carbon being burned from the steel, but all in all, not a terrible forge to start with.

Doug
 
One of my all time hottest forges I built, I used an old soccer ball for the chamber form and poured refractory around it. The spherical combustion chamber definitely helps burn more evenly. Ran it wide open once and melted it. The refractory cement was supposed to be good for something like 8000 degrees. It was hot. Having that flame swirl definitely helps.
 
I got the Atlas forge when I moved beyond my firebrick DIY one. It's great for what it is, but I only do stock removal. If you want to do damascus billets, you'd want a bigger one. Also, you'd want one where you can replace the bottom of it because from what I understand, the flux will destroy the insulation in the bottom.
 
There are castable refractories, like Kast-O-Lite or Mizzoue, that are pretty impervious to flux and stand up a lot better to being poked by your work than Satanite.

Doug
 
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