Building a forge

[Anonymous No.288751]

Does any one have a few suggestions on how I should go about building a forge?
I have 20 firebricks, some fire mortar, and a space to build.
I intend to make a bundle of knives, and perhaps a few swords, to give you a size reference on how large it should be.

[Sir Smokesalot No.288758]

This is relevant to my interests.

[Anonymous No.288760]

I've never really researched this, but it is within my interests so bump..

I always thought you buildt a box out of the firebricks, then supply gas+oxygen to make it into a furnace.. .. Either way, i know there is alot of tutorials out there

[Anonymous No.288762]

>>288760
I was thinking something along those lines. Building a box with bricks with two sections. The first section houses the coke coals, then below that, the air flow and ash fall section.

[Anonymous No.288791]

ive been working toward the goal of building one for a while. fire bricks can be used, but in general for most designs, theyre too fragile (and expensive).

the common way of making forges appears to be taking an old air tank, chopping the top off, line that with ceramic wool insulation, and lay down a kiln shelf on the bottom. bricks are used usually to wall up the front, so a smaller window can be used to lose less heat.

the heat for such a forge is generally made with propane and a blower.

for most forges, coal tends to dissolve impurities in hot metal, unless you get really clean coal, or use good quality coke.

open forges can be made out of metal alone, ive seen many made out of brake drums from large trucks. i imagine if you made one out of say.. the bottom quarter of a 55 gallon drum, you might consider lining the bottom of that, as it would get pretty hot, pretty quick, and though you wont melt through it or anything, youll get assloads of scale and weaken the metal, and itll eventually fall apart on you.

[Anonymous No.288815]

I intend to build one myself, you can find a lot of good suggestions around the internet, just fucking Google it. Here is a very simple solution which, apparently, works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqqbvRTvWbk&feature=relmfu

[Tozetre No.288829]

read the sticky. there's links to forge building guides.

[Anonymous No.289043]

>>288815
This works.

/thread

OR!

bump the thread once you make one! (BTW, /diy/ is hungering for process threads, people who post what they've done after we've helped em out)

[Anonymous No.289834]

take a break drum off a big trunk or van then attach blower

[Anonymous No.289837]

If you already have firebricks and mortar just use those, to make knives and swords you only need a a small forge anyway.
___________
|___________| just build something to these sort of dimensions, lay down a base of fire bricks and build the walls at the sides using more bricks and mortar.
_ _
|_|__|_|
|_____| Build the front and back one brick width high, lay a pipe down the centre, maybe breaking the brick at the back and sealing aorund it with morter, drill some evenly spaced holes along it as your air supply. Keep some loose bricks by the forge to seal up the front and back depending on what you are doing, this means long things like swords can poke out the back.

An old hair dryer will make an acceptable blower to begin with, especially if it his multiple speed settings. You can use pretty much anything for fuel if you just want to smash metal about - if you are interested in firewelding you will want to stick to coke or charcoal.

Personally i prefer using charcoal on little forges like this cause you dont have to fuck around with things like clinker breakers, and as long as you shop around a little charcoal will not be much more expensive than coke in the sort of quantities you will be buying.

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.289849]

>doesn't know forge construction principles
>only wants to make advanced tools

Kids these days...

>google brake drum forge
>go to a truck repair shop
>ask for a discarded brake drum
>offer $5 if they say no

I'm not going to say that its impossible to make good blades starting out, but it isn't really a beginner's project.

http://anvilfire.com/21centbs/armor/

[Anonymous No.289861]

>>289849

What is easier to make than a knife? Most knife making is just stock removal anyway...

[Anonymous No.289881]

>>289861

Any basic tool? Learn to make your own tongs and various other equipment first.

And you can make a pretty good knife from simply forging,you just have to be GOOD at it. Starting out your hammer control is gonna be shit.

Knifemaking takes planning,knowing how to use your tools,understanding how metal reacts and what it does at different temperatures,etc. Not to mention heat treating and making the handle and guard.

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.289882]

>>289861
Tools. Thats how I started, and thats where most instructional books start.

Garden tools are usually a good start. Small trowels and soil breaking tools require all the most basic levels of techniques used in proper blade fashioning. Drawing out steel, getting a feel for hammer fall, building muscles to the point you can take full advantage of a charge, learning proper posture, learning what different hammers do, tapering tangs, basic jump welding, proper heating and cooling of steel, low grade tempering, temperature readings, quenching technique and theory, proper application and use of stones, etc.

Beyond that, hand tools, specialty tools, and ornamental work are all good practice.

Cutting a knife out of stock doesn't require a forge. Proper blade smithing is a high grade metalworking technique, that requires many different subsets of knowledge and experience.

[Anonymous No.289890]

>>289881
>>289882

Both have good points,but to really draw on >>289881 's last point,you will need to be able to make a handle unless you just want to make what people will think is a prison shank.

It's another can of worms entirely,I know some people who only make handles,and most make pretty good money.

[Anonymous No.289906]

>>289881
>>289882

I didnt actually expect answers, it was more of a rehtorical question. I am a blacksmith, it is what i do full time.

"Drawing out steel, getting a feel for hammer fall, building muscles to the point you can take full advantage of a charge, learning proper posture, learning what different hammers do, tapering tangs, basic jump welding, proper heating and cooling of steel, low grade tempering, temperature readings, quenching technique and theory, proper application and use of stones, etc."

I have no idea what you mean by half these things, but i dont see why they cant be learned while making knives.

>>289861

This is a knife I made recently, It is pattern welded, the bevel was forged, this photo was taken after maybe 20 minutes of filing, there was no grinding done - this is the shape it came out of the fire. None of the techniques i used except for the pattern welding are things i would consider advanced, and i dont see a better way to learn to forge knives than by forging knives.

[Anonymous No.289921]

>>289906
wait, did you just say "i'm a blacksmith" and then follow it with "i have no idea what you mean by any of these BASIC blacksmithing techniques"?

really?

[Anonymous No.289933]

>>289921

I think perhaps me and truckerfag have taken different approaches to this subject, i suspect mine was somewhat more practical.

It is probably just a matter of semantics, but for example i dont understand what he means by 'taking full advantage of a charge' or 'low grade' tempering or the 'proper' heating and cooling.

[Anonymous No.289934]

>>289921

And I did day half, not any.

[Anonymous No.289938]

>>289921

I chuckled heartily.

[Anonymous No.289968]

I am building a coal fire forge currently. Just thought I'd give a bump too.

[Anonymous No.289976]

Do you want a mobile forge that you could move in and out of something like your garage,or something you would need to build a shelter around?

Things to take into consideration.