Thread: Gas forge for heat treating?

I guess this question is mostly directed towards spazola, bluesman, scottgoodman, and Bruno.

While at Charlie’s shop I was able to heat treat in forge built for the task. I’ve been trying to find info on building one and was able to glean some of the broad strokes of building one by looking at Charlie’s, but the more I research the more there appears to be to the how and why of things. Looking at materials I’ve been looking for metal 5 gallon buckets (not sure about the size but it seems like something larger is better for temp stability), figure I would line it with 1” thick ceramic wool and cover that with satanite to help protect the wool and myself.

So with Charlie’s he had the torch coming in at the back bottom of the forge with with some hog wire and a pyrometer at the very top, I assume the location is to get it as far away from the flame as possible resulting in more consistent temperature.

Is there a certain design for the torch that I should try and build? Best way to attach it to the forge? What’s the best way to get a reducing flame to help keep scale to a minimum? Is there a better layout to components, should I be looking at a different shape or orientation for the forge body? Is there a pyrometer that is quality but not ridiculous expensive (is calibrating with boiling water an accepted practice)?

My plan is to be able to heat treat simple carbon steels. Not sure if I left anything important out, please let me know if I have.

I’ve been bitten bad by the bug thanks to the recent razor meet, seeing what’s possible and in some cases better, to build what I need to make razors, knives, and wood working tools.

I hope you get some detailed information here.

Looks like the bug was really out biting last week. Sharpton talking about a 2x72 sander and you needing information on a forge. Guess I need both, plus belts, an anvil, a variety of hammers and tongs and numerous other miscellaneous items. Sure wish I had started this years ago.

Any contributions for these needs would be greatly appreciated!

Not saying that you have to do it my way, but I simply dry stack bricks to make my forge big or small. Big for heat treating and small for forging and forge welding.

I seen Vics stack of bricks. He said " and that is my forge". I thought where? Then he fired it up, and the breath of a dragon appeared. So if it works for Vic...

I keep telling myself im not going to go that far. Im not going to learn to heat iron. Partly because my wife would tbrow a fit if i was playing with fire. Now if i manage to out live her

Victor,does the muffler keep the heat pretty consistent inside of it?

Originally Posted by jfk742

Victor,does the muffler keep the heat pretty consistent inside of it?

Relatively yes. There is still kind of a 4" hot spot, but since it is bigger than the razor it works well for me. It seems pretty even around the 360 degree way.

I did a little bit of trial and error concerning the way I stack the bricks to get it working well. I think that with a longer muffle and a different stack I could get a longer hot spot for knives. Haven't had a need for that yet.

I know what you showed me as far as what to look for in color at critical, and to then confirm what I’m seeing by making sure I’ve gone past magnetic. Truth is I don’t have a Victor on hand to watch over my shoulder. Is there a way to get a pyrometer probe inside the muffler? I guess I could try and weld up something that the probe could be suspended by. Does that seem feasible? I don’t want to burn up probes.

We could defer to Charlie, but he’ll just say the same thing as you, you know what I’m saying?

Originally Posted by jfk742

We could defer to Charlie, but he’ll just say the same thing as you, you know what I’m saying?

I have a 1/8" plate welded on the back end of the muffle to block it off. I can envision a small hole drilled in that plate with a probe sticking through that and terminating above the razor. The back end of the muffle stays relatively cool since it sits in kind of a beam pocket. I think that would work very well.

I was intrigued by Charlie's coffee-can forge. He did not want to run it all day so it was not used. Still, for razors he said it was his favorite.
Seems a heat-treating oven was in use for that purpose.
I figure holding the desired temp steady is key in that operation.

Using a forge for heat-treating would take lots of experience, I would think...

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Using a forge for heat-treating would take lots of experience, I would think...

Pretty easy to learn IMO. The tempering is easily done in a toaster oven. I use my kitchen oven for that part. Tempering is where temperature control is more important. The hardening operation has been done by eye for centuries.