Hi everyone, I’m brand new here (I spent time on Bladeforums for a while, but only just created an account here). Sorry if this was gone over already, I know that may annoy people if it was.
Ok so I have a single burner, rectangular propane forge (I’ll try to attach a picture). It’s simple and I don’t think the burner is super good tbh. Standard, $200ish forge.
I've been doing stock removal for maybe two years now, although it’s only a hobby so it’s not like I’ve made a ton of blades, but I used the forge for HT. Now I want to forge some blades, the time has come I guess. For some reason I’ve become fixated on reasonably accurate tantos (steel and techniques aside, I just mean the basic structure, fittings and geometry). I’ve made a couple and I had a lot of fun with water quenching, fittings and stuff. So That’s basically the size blade I’m looking to make, around 1’, and maybe one day I’ll mess around with a very small wakizashi with a ridge line.
Anyway, basically my questions are:
-is it possible to achieve forging temps in a single burner, 12” by 4” rectangle forge (that’s the actual size inside the liner) for blades as long as one foot and final max thickness of 3/16”?
(I did a cubic twist on a piece of 1/2” stock and the thing barely got bright orange, wouldn’t get yellow. Maybe I have to let it soak longer, but I’d say it was a solid 10-15 minutes.)
-for anything bigger than 1’ I’m guessing I’ll need a bigger forge? I can weld and make a forge shell easily tbh, I do industrial work and I’m good at fabrication, but I’ll be honest when it comes to something connected to a bomb aka propane tank, I don’t like the idea of making it myself. I love to make my own stuff, but the forge itself I’m a little hesitant about making.
Maybe I should just spend $450 and buy a Majestic with three burners? Do you guys think that would serve me well for my purposes, would it even be enough still?
Thanks