i have a 24in blade that needs heat trating but i dont have long forge to do it so i was wondering if i could push and pull the blades tru the coals and get and even heat to quence the blade

G'day!

Check this page out... I think this might help

Coke forge and sword!

BYS,
Short answer: Yes you can ... but, it is difficult to get a perfectly even temp even if you are doing it in a darkened shop. Long answer : You may find it easier to build a temporary "Sword forge " for heat treating. Something like a oversized Tim Lively style forge, (http://64.176.180.203/washtubforge.htm). I'm thinking Dig a trench in the backyard, lay a perforated steel ( non galvanized ) pipe in the hole, affix shopvac set to blow (or your forge blower ), make fire and comence heat treat. When you are done, remove the pipe and blower, douse the fire, and replace the sod. The SWMBO ( She who must be obeyed ) Will never know

Hope this helps

Jens

G'day!

Check this page out... I think this might help

Coke forge and sword!

OOOOOHHHHH ouch that link hurt.

I know - apologies.

The writer is very much encouraging the "I want to make a sword - tell me how!" types, but the forge was the reason for the link. A picture speaks a thousand words, dontchaknow!

I made a big blade a while back 20 in. long forged from a big truck leaf spring- I use charcoal in my forge , its a Champion Whirlwind pot for coal or coke with a big hand crank Royal blower . On the pipe from the crank blower to the fire pot I have a small elc. blower attached .
Any way back to the big blade ,
I rigged up a air pipe that sat down in the fire pot looked like a (T) with holes along the top the air came in from the bottom in the center.
The way I rigged up my air pipe I had a slightly cool spot in the center I think it would have been better If the air would have entered at the end instead of the center.

I used a heavy 3 in. pipe with a cap welded on one end to place my blade in to help even out the heat and help stop scale.You heat the pipe and the pipe heats the blade , you want the blade sitting on its spine so the heat travels from the spine to the edge.
You want to get 2 or 3 in. of fule under the pipe , fule at bothe sides a good amount on top. You want the charcol to burn and drop away from the bottom of the 3 in. heat treat pipe ( charcoal touching the bottom will make uneven heat ) used something to prop up the pipe so as the charcoal burns down the pipe stays in place.

Using a 3 in heavy pipe to heat treat in will work and gets a good even heat
helps with scaling if you will put small slivers of wood in to burn the air up in the pipe . makes final clean up lots easier .

It takes a bunch of charcoal and lots of air I think I burnt up 20 lbs of charcoal to make 1 fire .
What have you got for a quench ? Is your tank long enough? dont forget to pre heat.
one other thing normalize make sure its not going to warp - I heated mine 3 times before hardening

Like I say it takes lots of charcoal
Ron

I just got through heat treating a long, thin sword blade. I did it with a converted BBQ grille. I just laid a perforated pipe in the bottom and hooked up a vac. I built a coal fire and it afforded an even enough heat that I was able to harden the blade. After than I drew temper in an oven at 550 degrees. What I got was an extremely tough, resillient blade that would be next to impossible to break.

-PS If there is some minor warpage, don't worry too much about just yet. I think some warpage is almost inevitable in a blade of that size and, even though it was extremely springy, a few square whacks with a heavy hammer while the blade was still hot from the tempering process pretty much straightened everything out. Just remember if you're going to try to cold-forge any warpage out, go easy on it and do it after the TEMPERING! If you do it after it comes out of the quench chances are it will shatter.

Ardenwood Forge has a forge that will handle a sword at this link.

Scott Thomas forges some pretty nice swords, I think he uses that forge for most of the tempering.