Something a bit different......but HOT!!!

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I was fooling around with a larger forge a while back which did work well, but I needed to use a different set up.

I had this one Isolite fire brick here, so I thought I'd make a one brick forge :D

one_brick_forge1.jpg one_brick_forge2.jpg
I wired the brick together, as they usually do crack in use, I also built a frame around it just to make it easier to keep in one piece.

one_brick_forge_start.jpg
Here is it with the torch fired up

one_brick_forge_one_minute.jpg
Here it is after one minute

one_brick_forge_heat_up.jpg
No I insert a piece of steel in there

one_brick_forge_cherry_red.jpg

....and after two minutes or so, I have a nice cherry red piece of steel to work.

I can use this to heat up steel to bend it, or even to shape it with a hammer.

The block cost about $6 here, I had the torch and the wire etc, so the cost is minimal.

Cheers!
 
You'll be forging those neat Japanese chisels in no time! I poke around in the neander forums and love seeing some of the tools they are making and can see where something like that would come in handy for making your own knife blades , plane irons, chisels, etc...

I don't know how you manage to do everything you do and still have, at least a couple minutes, of time to sleep!
 
Thanks Ed

This forge was originally designed by a knife builder.

I'm going to use it to heat up steel so I can shape it, I have no illusions of doing much more than that!

Sleep, I get a few hours here and there, but the main thing I do that that saves me time is the TV, I VERY seldom spend any time in front of it.

Cheers!
 
Good stuff Stu! I used a micro-forge the first time I smashed up a j-hook, at the local BAG-A-THON (Bay Area Galoots).

One comment is that if you turn down the flame so it will circulate, and preferable create a swirling motion inside the chamber, it will get hotter and be easier to heat stock up with.

Seems the torch you're using might be too strong, with it's directional flame.

I've made quite a few mods to my propane forge as of recent, raising the floor up 2" and creating movable walls for front/rear to allow the ability to change the size of the chamber. I can get fairly large stock (2" thick for instance) up to a bright orange quickly.

 
I was hoping you'd chime in Alan! :wave:

that is one good looking forge you got going there, use it much?

I thought you were using the coal fired one?

Cheers!
 
I was hoping you'd chime in Alan! :wave:

that is one good looking forge you got going there, use it much?

I thought you were using the coal fired one?

Cheers!
Stu, I haven't used it too much yet, have been busy getting it tuned up and working properly, and still have one small leak in one of the NPT connections that I need to attend to. It heats fairly big stock up pretty quickly.

I have used coal quite a bit to learn to forge with, and have used some charcoal at home as well, but have just not been able to get a hot enough fire with charcoal at home, and I think it's because my firepot is not very deep.

I hate to admit, but propane is very nice in many ways, and much less in the way of scaling. It's better suited for tools and such, for most people at home.
 
Yeah, I guess propane is way cleaner than coal etc. which would be more "User Friendly" in a home workshop enviroment.

I did reposition the torch, like you said, and it made a big difference.

1_brick_forge_burner_reposition.JPG 1_brick_forge_repo2.JPG 1_brick_forge_repo3.JPG

I also found out that by pointing the torch to the back or the front, I could direct the heat to the part I was heating up.

1_brick_forge_hotter.JPG
You can really see how hot it is getting in there now!

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I heated up this bar, a piece of 8mm high carbon drill rod.....

1_brick_forge_pounded1.JPG
....then pounded it on my anvil, I'm going to try to make a "Hook Tool" for use on the lathe.

1_brick_forge_hook_tool1.JPG 1_brick_forge_hook_tool2.JPG

From here, I'll have to do some grinding and sharpening, and give it a whirl



One last "Dark" shot, just for fun :wave:

1_brick_forge_dark1.JPG

Cheers!
 
Yes, yes, yes!!!! This looks completely different now, and more what you want. Ron Reil likes to have the flame pointing slightly towards the rear, so that the heat will be blowing out the back, instead of blowing in your face at the front of the forge. It might not matter in such a small forge.

Also, remember, the limitation on these little micro-forges is the fact that once you do your bend, it's hard to get the piece back in the forge, as you most likely know very well.

You can elongate the hole so that it is possible to fit a larger piece of stock, which is bent, so that you can get another heat once it's bent.

FWIW, I have some lathe tools on the list of things I'd like to forge, and slowly getting there, but still gathering some tools and/or slack tub to accomplish that. I currently use a small 5 gal metal bucket for my slack tub and need a full size barrel so I can dunk my entire arm and metal into the tub. This makes all the difference in the world when you're working also.
 
Stu,

You could forge this type of tool in that little forge, but once you bent each of the handle posts, that's it on that area!:doh:However, you could forge the blade portion and go out the back of the micro-forge (I can't see if you have done that)

Anyway, I didn't forge this, but a partner in crime did, and my son wants to make the handles for it.

Hard to find small drawknives...(good ones). This is forged from an old farrier's rasp, and you can see the rasp/file/teeth if you click on the pic for visually impaired galoots).

This needs to be lap'd and sharpened and cleaned up, but the steel will get very nice. Do you think people would want to buy such traditional tools? :huh:

(linky click for visually impaired)



PS - My son is vandalizing Tokyo as I type, he had a date with 2 girls to meet at Hachiko down at Shibuya eki. He has some cutie friends in Japan...but he has a girlfriend (his first;-) back in the states. He's just learning how to work wood and metal with me, but he's doing fine with the gals on his own...
 
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Alex, you could set up a nice little forge right there in your driveway, easy as pie :D

Wouldn't your neighbours LOVE the sound of that hammer on the anvil :rolleyes: :wave:

Cheers!
 
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