Beginners Forge? Any Thoughts?

Hi Gang!

Well once again, I’m just wondering about whether or not a tool I’d found would be worthwhile to pick up. I’m not ready yet, but I am trying to figure things out for future reference.

While this is quite small I was wondering if it would work for forging razors.

I’m sure that to the members with much nicer/larger forges it may seem like a toy and perhaps it is. My father used to say ‘Ya never know till ya ask”!

I found it at a recommended site in the Forge Wiki:

*Atlas Mini Forge

I’m hoping that the Big Guns will offer some thoughts! Don’t worry, I have a thick skin and you will not hurt my feelings! :tu

Lots of members make forges and get anvils,build grinders etc,but the proof of the pudding is posting up what they made:)
That forge looks like a neat thing.

I like the looks of the forge, I am partial to small forges for razors. I started off with a bigger forge then I moved to a smaller one. I have not ran my bigger forge in a long while.

Charlie

Agree with Pixel - that looks like a great idea for folks with little space or a tight budget. I've just finished a ten week blacksmithing course and have the forging bug in a bad way, but I also live somewhere where it would be impossible to set up a forge of my own at home. However, *that* would be portable enough to take out to my buddy's land. I'm interested to see if anyone here has had experience with it.

:hmmm:

You don't need a lot of thermal mass to forge razor size blades. The same forge will work, if tune-able, for heat treatment.

what I might recommend is to find a blacksmith or knife smith using a gas forge and stop by for a visit to play and see what the options and variations are. The other thing this will do is firmly set the desire to forge in your mind. This will justify the long life of the tool more than thinking you might like to have one.

They are not difficult to make with a little help. Good luck.

My home built forge is smaller, and way less "fancy" and I can manage to make razors in it, so its a good bet that one will be fine!

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Originally Posted by spazola

I like the looks of the forge, I am partial to small forges for razors. I started off with a bigger forge then I moved to a smaller one. I have not ran my bigger forge in a long while.

Charlie

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike Blue

You don't need a lot of thermal mass to forge razor size blades. The same forge will work, if tune-able, for heat treatment.

what I might recommend is to find a blacksmith or knife smith using a gas forge and stop by for a visit to play and see what the options and variations are. The other thing this will do is firmly set the desire to forge in your mind. This will justify the long life of the tool more than thinking you might like to have one.

They are not difficult to make with a little help. Good luck.

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My thanks to both of you!!! :bow

One thing that I was wondering about is the angle of the flame! They refer to it as 'Turbo' in that the flame 'swirls' instead of just coming straight out!

Is this a helpful/useful thing or advertising 'hype'!! :shrug:

Swirling flame is good. More even heat in the forge.

I picked up a 3 burner from Gas Forge & Blacksmith Forge – Farrier Equipment | Majestic Forge and can tell you that the 3 burner just gets too hot & I had to run just two burners to maintain 1500-1600F. I can send you pics from my phone of what it looks like working if you pm me your phone number. I run mine with a pipe inside so that the flame will not actually touch the blades I am working with. I'll post some pics here on the forum next time I have it up and running. What I can say about majestic forge is that the forge is well made, they answer the phone, and ship quick. Be prepared for around $50 for shipping though...

PM coming!

Looks nice enough and not too expensive. Making your own is cheaper, but you have to wonder just how many hours are worth it to save 150$. I'd just buy it and start hammering instead of building my own.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Looks nice enough and not too expensive. Making your own is cheaper, but you have to wonder just how many hours are worth it to save 150$. I'd just buy it and start hammering instead of building my own.

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Bruno! I was hoping that you'd chime in!! :bow

I've researched about building my own but many of them seem 'hit and miss', I thought that this looks like a good deal!

That looks like a nice little forge. I was thinking of buying one but I am more the DIY kind of guy and have a lot of tools needing to be used. I haven't finished mine up yet but when I do I am going to make pixel a 24/8 near wedge with tangs on both ends. Ivory scales of course. :<0)

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Looks nice enough and not too expensive. Making your own is cheaper, but you have to wonder just how many hours are worth it to save 150$. ...

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This is a valid part of the decision to buy or build a forge. Time is expensive so are the tools to finish a build if you don't have them already.

My only caveat is that if you build it, you know how it was put together and can rebuild it or fix it if it breaks. OTOH forges are not all that complicated...

For what it's worth, having the right size forge is important in my opinion. A razor is a small object, and a small forge heats faster and uses less fuel.
A larger knife will need a large forge.
A sword can be mostly made in a small forge that has an opening at the rear. you only heat the part of the blade you are shaping. Then you need a large enough forge to heat the whole blade at once to go through your thermal treatments. Until that stage, the smaller forge works better to save fuel, heat faster, and avoid burning steel and/or losing too much carbon.
Simply put - the one you are looking at is good for what you want, or build one similar, or even a bit smaller.
Either way it is addictive. have fun.
Adam

I like the smaller forges for razors and knives. I have a 3" ( I don't remember what I made it from),4" made from a 10 lb propane tank and a 8" one made from a 20 lb propane tank. I like the 2 smaller forges the best.

That small forge looks good to me.


Just my 2¢ :)

If you are only ever going to do razors that forge will fit the bill. However if you ever think you want to do larger projects or pattern welding or knives, ect, I would highly recommend building a forge. The purpose is not to save money on that particular forge but you can build other forges for other needs quickly, easily and cheaply once the first one is under your belt.