newbladesmith

So i am about to put togeather a new forge box, but i need some help with burner design. Dose anyone have detailed plans for a propane burner that is simple to make but can get a box up to welding temp? Preferably plans with a list that i could take to lows or home depot to get said parts. I don't want a blown air forge i want it to be atmospheric. Thanks if you can help with either plans or a link to plans.

I have a place near by where i can get pieces of railroad track that were discarded years ago. They just piled four to ten foot pieces of it in the woods and let the plants try to take them back. I was thinking about using them as steel for knives, but i know that i don't have the tools to cut them into usable pieces. I was wondering if anyone could suggest something, (hopefully not to costly) that i could use to cut them.

I like that. Of course i like a lot of the Norse philosophy. To the point that my wedding was preformed by an asatru priest. And you are rite. I cant really put it any better than you just did.

well if you are going to make nothing but show pieces that aren't functional then why bother to have a forge at all. why not just cut pieces from crap steel, grind a bevel on them, slap on a handle and sell them. No, i built a forge so that i could make real blades. I take the time to hammer them out, and heat treat them so that i can have something that is beautiful yes, but that i can also proudly say is my work. The collectors who don't care about quality can order from the knife collectors show. The people that want quality can buy my work.

sorry. i just realized that i didn't describe the Oliver-upwind at all. here is the link to the page. http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/oliverburner1.html

well i did some digging and i was thinking about the Oliver-upwind propane blower. It looks like a good design but i was wondering about making a couple of changes. Dose anyone think it would work if i put the propane pipe on the other side of the air holes so that i could side or top mount it? I think that i could do that a little more easily, and also there was one thing in the plans that was unclear to me, weather or not the flare was on the outside or the inside. I think that it is on the outside but I'm not sure. I was also thinking about making it a forced air. Instead of putting the holes along the pipe i was thinking about attaching a small blower to the other end of it. I don't know if that would work or if it would blow out the flame. Any ideas?

I will take into account to make sure that the pipe i use isn't quite as thick as i was making it. I do need it thick enough to hold the pipe that the burner is led through. I don't have an air feed so i guess that you would call it an atmospheric forge. I still want it to be a relatively deep forge because i do work on things that have been up to 20 inches long or so. My current forge doesn't have a door and that could be one of the main problems, so in the new one I'll come up with some kind of door or at least a narrower opening then the open face that it has now. Thanks for all the input and please keep it coming. Oh and i found the specs on my burner. TS8000 Trigger-Start Torch (black) (TS8000BTb) * Ultra swirl hgh intensity flame http://www.bernzomatic.com/PRODUCTS/TORCHES/PROFESSIONALTORCHES/tabid/230/ctl/Detail/mid/1009/xmid/6944/xmfid/3/Default.aspx I don't really have the ability to construct my own burner, so if anyone can suggest something that i could buy that would work better that would be helpful. Thanks again.

Oh i defiantly make some very beautiful "art pieces", but i refuse to make one that isn't functional. I just had a different definition of "wall hanger" then some i guess. To me a wall hanger is something of mild steel, or something that has a welded screw tang. That sort of thing. Even with my plane work knives, i try to make them look as good as possible and have some sense of stile and grace. Just because something is functional doesn't mean that it can't be beautiful, but on the flip side, just because something it beautiful, (and half the time costs an arm and a leg) doesn't mean that it's functional.

well it is a blow torch head that i saw someone using once and went and got it. I am about to pull a complete rebuild on my forge. I made a micro forge from a large can, two inches of kaowool and a good blow torch head held in by a pipe that i brazed onto the side of the can and held on with wing screws. I was never able to get any refractory to line it with before i started using it. It dose the job for just hammering out metal, but i want to start trying to pattern weld so i was going to get a different set up. I was going to get a piece of half inch thick iron piping from a dealer around here, hopefully about two feet long and 12 to 18 inches in diameter. I was going to line it with about three inches of kaowoll and then a layer of refractory. I was also thinking about getting a splitter for my propane line and making it a duel burner system.

Ok, some of the people i know are trying to get me to make blades that would basically be "wall hangers" so that i can make money. I just can't bring myself to do it. I have one simple rule with any blade of any kind that i make. If i wouldn't want to have it with me if i was in a survival situation then i start over. I won't sell anything that i wouldn't use myself. Is this really so wrong? I mean I have standards, and some people can't seem to understand that. What is the general opinion here?

thanks. i don't have an air flow system in my forge. I've wanted to re-insulate my forge for a while now, but I'm not sure with the small home made set up that i have how to get any kind of air flow in. i have a spiral blow torch head attached with a three foot hose to a 5 gallon propane tank. How can i get good air flow in or maby some oxygen?

I am using propane rite now, but i was wondering about using map gas, or acetylene. I think that i would like the effects more but i wanted other peoples opinions. Any input?

I have gotten some flack for the way i price the things i make, but this is how i price both the blades that i make, and the chainmaille that i weave. First i factor in just how much money i will be spending on any one thing. With knife making i factor in how much fuel i will burn, how much the sand paper i use will cost me and all the other little things i need to make a nice knife. Then when i get that number figured out i usually add 20%. Then i figure out how long it'll take me. I personally charge 10$ an hour even though i have been told that that is severely undercharging. It's something that i love doing so i don't feel like charging much more than that. You figure out what you're time is worth. That's how i do it. Like i said, i may undercharge but i would be making them weather i was getting paid or not, so that little sum, plus the pleasure of seeing my work appreciated is all that i could ever want.

I'm relatively new at bladesmithing, but i was wondering what kind of "etching" you did that brought out the patterning so beautifully. I search the forums for things but there are only so many hours in a day and the search function doesn't help all the much. Is there a link somewhere on here of how to do it? This is a stunning blade. I just hope that someday I'll be up to making one half as nice.

Ok, so i want to forge out some arrow heads, but i can't get the socket rite. I know that there are hardy tools that can help but i don't know how to make one. I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have no way to weld, i only have the stuff to do some light brazing. Any advice?