Thread: Forging Perceived Value

Originally Posted by Utopian

But Mike, you at least said he was right but went on to explain how others also were right.

I said he was wrong.

What the heck should I do?

You're on thin ice Ron ......

Originally Posted by Utopian

... What the heck should I do?

Become an understudy to Jason Bourne? One way mission to Mars?

Oh well. I will still be expecting you in November, Mike
Btw, note that I wrote 'in the time needed to forge a knife' or something to that effect.
A couple of heats to forging temperatures. Would that really make a difference depending on the fire?

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Jimmy's right about the romance. There was an intense argument about forging vs stock removal about 30 plus years ago. The truth of that disagreement is that all things become equal in the heat treatment and there is essentially no difference in the final product if the HT is good. Plus, all steel is forged from the ladle to general barstock sizes.

One smith told me that while ABS journeyman knives are supposed to be forged by hand, there's probably a good number who stock remove. As you say, after HT no one knows.

Keep going I am learning a lot

Given a choice between Coal or Charcoal what would it be ???

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Keep going I am learning a lot

Given a choice between Coal or Charcoal what would it be ???

In your case, Glen, I would lean towards charcoal. Don't you have a bunch of trees that need thinning on your property?

LOL yes there is the cost factor for me

I can have all the Charcoal I want for free

Hmmmmm I wonder what the different types of woods will do when it comes to Temperature

I have worked both with good effect. The coal can make some nasty smoke, but up where you live there are no neighbors to upset and the coal is a more concentrated form of BTU. Once you've "coked" the coal (burnt off the sulfur and other crud) it's very good heat. Charcoal can spit at you (wear safety glasses and get used to hot spots on your skin) but it's a good heat too. You can make your own charcoal quite easily and pine/fir is an excellent base wood for that sort of thing. One researcher proved that it only takes 26 acres to keep a smithy/smelter running year round as a renewable supply of wood/charcoal. See Rehder, The Mastery of Fire and it's uses in Antiquity. You won't denude the planet making fuel to work iron or steel.

With all forms of fire, there is a learning curve to ready the fuel, shape the heat and get useful work done.

When I refer to charcoal, I mean lump coal, not briquettes.

Originally Posted by Bruno

There are specific ways in which you can carbonate steel, but forging isn't one of them. No matter what, carbon content goes down during forging. In the time needed to forge a knife, i doubt you could identify what kind of fire was used.

A benefit of coal or charcoal is that the heat goes up, whereas with propane, there is typically a horizontal cone of heat.
And unlike propane, neither can go boom.
Of the 2, charcoal is the healthier one in terms of byproducts.

I like charcoal. One thing is it burns relatively quickly, so you need to learn to keep a steady fire going by regularly adding the right amount of charcoal.

I was assuming I could sift out quite a bit of Charcoal from the wood stove all winter long...