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Main Boards => Hunting Knives and Crafters => Topic started by: beaver#1 on September 29, 2008, 10:32:00 PM
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well i finally got a forge built. nothing fancy, made out of a big brake rotor. i am having some pronlems and thought maybe some of you fine fellows might shine some light.
1. fuel, i have used lumps of wood, and chare coal. seems to burn up pretty fast. too cheap to hook up a gas burning system.
2. i cant seem to get my steel hot. if i do get it hot it takes a really long time.
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these are my main problems(right now at least).
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If you don't have something to force air through the coals, you're not going to get the steel up to working temp.
Look up Tim Lively's site & see how he builds a forge. He builds knives from truck springs & uses a charcoal forge.
Larry
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I'll second Larry on the need for a blower of some sort. I started out using a cheap hairdryer from Walmart. A good small squirrel cage fan wired to a reostat with a baffle on the air intake to regulate the flow is about the best thing you can get for a coal forge. I used to use blacksmithing coal, but switched to wood chunks and charcoal because they are cheaper and burn cleaner. Coal does last longer, though.
Nowdays I use a homeade gas forge for most of my work, and it was pretty cheap to make, really. A lot cleaner, too.
Todd
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Funny, my first gas forge cost me less than $15 and is still going strong. Good for knife work anyway.
Larry and Todd are spot on. You need a blower of some sort and a way to regulate it.
Proper fire maintenance is an art all in itself. If you're serious about going that route I recommend picking up a copy of "The Art of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer. You can pick up a new hardcover copy for under $10 on Amazon right now.
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i have an air sorce(cheap hair blower). but after talking to some older men around here, they said that it sounded like i didnt have enough fuel in the pot. im using charcoal right now, but that might change.