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Forging, not forgery by the way!

So here we go, I'll start with my forge(s). I have 2, a MAPP (or propane) powered little furnace and a coal/charcoal powered forge. The small gas powered one is cleaner but coal/charcoal is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying lots of gas! Both get plenty hot enough to do the job.

This is the small gas powered one:



With the crucible loaded:



With the MAPP torch in place and the lid on, ready to go:



It was made by putting a beer can inside of a huge coffee container then making a hole in both of them and putting a 1" pipe through them both. Then a mix of sand/cement/lime was poured into it until nearly full. When dry the beer can and pipe were removed and the inside was lined with fire cement. A lid of fire cement was also fashioned and left with a hole through it or else the furnace chokes from lack of oxygen.

Fun though that was, I needed a more permanent (and cheaper) solution and so I made the forge:



View of the inside with the gauze visible:



A view from the other side with the air supply pipe visible:



Loaded up with fuel and ready to go:



With the fire lit and the air being pumped through it:



Going good and proper:



This was made using a strange mixture of cement/sand/lime/crushed ceramic/bentonite. Once again I used a pipe and a bowl to make the form and poured the crazy refractory cement mixture into it. Once again, commercial fire cement has been used to line the heat exposed surfaces and the steel mesh/gauze was seated into the bottom of the forge. The air is supplied by way of a hair dryer attached to the other end of the pipe. Fully attaching it and sealing with tape is not practical because even on the lowest setting the hair dryer is too powerful and it shoots hot embers everywhere! The air supply required is surprisingly small.

Can someone tell me what a good, hot burning coal is? Obviously, the hotter the coal the less effort needed to get the metal up to heat. It seems that the charcoal I have is not as hot burning as the coal I have.

And here's me having a well deserved sit down:



Note I have adopted the latest security industry standard for the concealment of a face!

Next I'll document how my castings have gone so far and the lessons I have learned about molds.

I spent a fair amount of time forging knife blades in a conventional forge (like a fancy barbecue) and was just beginning to perfect Damascus (pattern welded) blades when I had to quit. Now that would be a pick! Today you can actually buy dozens of patterns from makers who do nothing but forge Damascus steel.

Nice setup

I went to a forging course many years and we just used bbq coal

I've bought some from professioanl blacsmith, but the coal produces too much smoke for the neigbourhood where i live.
I've also tried forging coke, but the fire dies as soon as i stopp stepping om the pedal(I use a field forge)

My forge looks something like this
http://www.yrjarheimbygdslag.no/smie/bi ... esse_2.htm

Btw. I'm no expert. I can count the times i've used my forge on my hands

Does your mom know what you get up to in the house when shes out?........

Wow that's soo cool Hux!
So basically the "furnace" is basicalyl just a big metal pot with concrete lining on the inside?

Yes ARF, that's about the sum of it. With a pipe/hair dryer attached.

Falcon, did the blacksmith's coal burn hotter despite the smoke? I live in a none-smokeless area (meaning I can smoke as much as I please). Also, what was the forging coke like?

I saw a load of folk in Barcelona in the street with those forges, it was national forging week or something. So that was fun. I was particularly interested in the air blowers on those things and where I might get one from. The hair dryer works fine but I suspect it will die at some point soon and I can't keep continually using the guarantee (3 years, lol) and keep taking it back. Well, I could but it'd be a pain.

Btw rai, I got up to much worse stuff in my mom's garden. Give me time though, I haven't been here that long!

Blacksmith's coal "coke" is desirable for forging firstly, because it has a high carbon content and so does not suck the carbon out of the steel. ( The carbon is necessary to allow the steel to be hardened by heat treating.) Second, the process of making coke gets rid of impurities that can affect the steel. It is smoky - I trashed an overhead garage door by moving the forge inside to get away from the rain. No amount of scrubbing would clean it.

Other than good coal, the key to the old style forge is the forced air, in effect making a small blast furnace and achieving temperatures sufficient for not only bending, shaping etc., but welding. Prior to gas and arc welders, blacksmiths would heat the metal white hot and actually fuse it as it reached near melting temperature. Many modern knife makers use gas forges because they are cleaner and easier to control, but the diehards still prefer the old ways.

Hux, the hairdryer will burn out and probably isn't strong enough anyway. I used an old blower type fan picked up in one of those hardware stores that sell Chinese import tools and used parts. I hooked it up to a variable switch so I could control the speed. It was sort of like this, but smaller: (P.S. They are a lot quieter too.)

Hux, did you manage do try the casting method I talked about? Preheated mold and either with some spring based method or manually.
I'm so curious if the work.