AndrewB

Okay so what if I decide to hammer out a small knife out of re bar and test to see if it works if it does work I guess that means I can post pics of it and boast a bit then huh.

So what is this your saying Steve, I shouldn't bother with re bar at all?

As I said the re bar would just be a practice mode. It wouldn't be functional to much. If it is functional then I guess I got lucky.

I was just digging through one of my old tool boxes out in my shed. Needless to say I found myself some re bar and a piece of 3/8 inch steel. Commonly found in welding shops (3/8 inch steel). Now I know I could make a blade out of the 3/8 inch. But before I waste that, the re bar that I have. It is in small 1 foot sections. I have about 4 or 5 pieces of it. So I figure that would be enough to get me started on certain projects. But I know Id like to start practicing with bladesmithing. How ever I have watched several you tube videos, with individuals making re bar knives. Some of them actually turned out pretty decently. But I've also read that making a re bar knife can be a bit troublesome because of the carbon level or something like that, please correct me if I'm wrong. How ever I figure since I have the material it would be a good place to practice with. Maybe even if a blade possibly turns out from the re bar it could be used as a working blade if I temper it and harden it correctly. Any thoughts or suggestions on this?

I will know if it works when I test it next month... I did it just a bit differently so the drum would fit properly into the shell but at least it will be portable

This will do for now. Once I get my arc welder I will be able to do more. So I will actually be able to weld parts together and all that good stuff. But for now this will have to suffice until I can get properly set up build a proper stand onto the break drum and a proper air intake and ash dump flow. I do plan on cleaning out the pot entirely after each forge for now. Once I get all of my tools to do a proper set up I will be better off. The break drum will be completely removed from the BBq shell and will be on a stand by itself and yes I will as well have proper piping then. But the current way it is set up the airflow into the system is plentiful. This again like I said is just to get me started.

You may critique it how ever you like. But I said I would post a couple of photos of the forge when it was completed. Here they are. I did run some tests with the Hair dryer as the air source into the piping. That well yea just flopped and failed not enough air pressure. The second test was with my shop vac. The shop vac actually was forcing more air through my piping and yea it should work with the shop vac a lot better than the vacuum. How ever as I said the forge isn't perfect it's probably a tad bit on the crude side. But it should work. The stand like I said is basically the bbq shell. The fire pot itself is the break drum. The break drum sits perfectly inside the shell lined with a bit of refracting cement. In one of the pictures you can see the air supply connected to the forge itself. No the coal by the table is not the coal I'm going to be using. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Yes there is a Ferrier supply store near by me which carries coal andesite coal I believe.

Fuel will be coal propane and propane accessories are a bit too dangerous...

Something like that.

The hair dryer is only a temp use until I get an actual blower

Okay so I have an old hair dryer I've seen many people do this on You Tube and what not. The hair dryer I have how ever only blows out hot air. Whether or not it is on high or low setting. Its a smaller hair dryer but it pushes out more air than my shop vac did on the test. So with that being said keeping it short sweet and simple. Will it be a problem using a hair dryer as a air supply source to the forge if it blows only warm and hot air? Thanks.

I made an anvil only a 55 pounder for my welding shop class project. Made it out of a piece of Railroad track. Yes anvils grinding+grinding= more grinding, and more grinding. Of course Im not going to be making another one since I sold it. I'm out right buying my new one.

Thanks...

I am information gathering at this point, I am trying to figure out what kind of metals I could for instance instead of quenching in oil I could quench in water instead. I do plan on making some of my own tools. I also plan on making some knives as well. How ever. I know oil is primarily best for quenching knives from my understanding. Now i know there are many posts on here stating that motor oil and used motor oil is basically a NO NO. How ever. Would Canola Oil work for quenching metal or is that just too different than many oils used in quenching. So with that being said is there any specific type of oil to use that anybody would recommend?

I will figure something out I always do.

I honestly have considered propane. I've even built a propane forge in my welding class a few years ago. But even to this day I wont use it. Highly volatile gas like propane sorry to say scares me. Even with the safety precautions I will not use propane. So I'm opting for coal. I'm building the forge the size of a small campfire bbq and a break drum as stated. So that will probably work for me for a while. So in the end yea I wont use gas. Not saying its a bad choice to use it. But it's my personal choice and my safety choice to not use propane.

You folks may want to know that I do live in a mobile home park with very very strict regulations regarding out door fires. All of my forge work has to be done outside. So I can only have a smaller forge. I can't build anything elaborate like a Big box of dirt or anything large. I have to be able to store the forge inside my shed once it has cooled off. I had to do quite a lot of research on certain fire hazards and work with the fire department and get them to sign off just to get my park managers permission to even start forging iron in this park. So please keep that in mind before you guys tell me I need to do this and that thanks. But everybody's tips and information will all be used. Thanks.

Ok so basically what I'm making my forge out of. Is in the photographs. I'm using the shell of my old BBq as the stand. Yes I lined the inside with refractory cement as a precaution. As well as the break drum that I have. Which was for a Ford pick up truck. I've already done this and the break drum fits perfectly inside the bbq shell with out any of the grill plates inside of the bbq shell. I've drilled a hole through the bbq shell and ran my air flow piping through the shell itself. So yea in the end it will work for now. its on the smaller side but yea it will do I can deal with that.

I'm basically using an old shop vac that was on the cheap side. Pawn shop cheap side. So yea that one I don't really care about...

They are noisy I'm a disabled vet so I can't spend too much I am on some what of a budget on things.

Thanks and yea I actually watched that video the other night. It was quite interesting. Very instructional I thought. I only spent 33 bucks on a decent cast iron break drum so it's not like it broke the bank...

As I said I've already purchased the break drum lol. I got my piping for about 10 bucks and everything I needed for the forge roughly fairly cheap. My stand for now is basically an old camp style bbq shell. The break drum will seat perfectly inside of that shell. My air supply of course will be my shop vack for now until I can inveset in an actual blower. I still have to make several purchases of tools ect to get going before I even start on this.

Hello all pretty much new here. I stumbled onto this forum site seeking answers on what types of metals I could use to start forging knives and tools from. I’m in the process of putting together a poor mans coal fire forge until I can get the equipment to construct a proper one, (breakdrum forge). I am somewhat new to this process I messed around a little with it in college welding so I have a mediocre idea on what I’m doing. I plan on making knives and other useful items including forging tools for myself. I still have several things I need to finish getting set up, before I can technically get started. But I’m more interested in the coal fire forge rather than propane or gas, way too many bad experiences with propane. Any tips and suggestions would be helpful thanks