Cody Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Just curious what your favorite fuel for making patern welding knives. The little I have done has been in a gas forge. I have a coal forge just have to fix it up a bit, and I have a friend that swears by charcoal, at least fot general blacksmithing. I have read that for some of the stainless steels, charcoal is good because of the sulfer issue. In gas it is harder to burn up your billet that you have put hours in, but you do get more oxidization and not quite as hot. I'm sure that it can be done it any of them, just wondering if there was a standard, assuming steel like 15n20 and 1095 or other low alloy carbon steels. Thanks for the replys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I have done quite a lot in both gas and coal forges, my first choice is a gasser. Just a suggestion is for yoiu to weld a few dozen carbon steel billets before you try a stainless. One reason is testing on a lot of the stainless shows micro cracks after forging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Ya, I think I'll stay with carbon steel for a little while atleast. I have always been interested in knife making and made a few KSO when a teenager. I now have a job that slows down in the winter and what better way to spend a cold Minnesota winter day then over a red hot steel!! I made a few knives this winter and plan to try to keep it up through the summer and then hit it pretty have next winter. I have learned so much from this site and other and from some of the books that I have read. I know that I have only seen the tip of the iceberg of what there is to know, and I'm hungry for it. So much to learn, so many tools to buy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyLaidlaw Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 I prefer coal. It's cheaper than gas and as long as you have a clean fire you'll be alright. I have good Pennsylvania coal, but lately I've been using cheap dirty local coal (about $1.40 a bag) and as long as I pull the clinkers out (feels like every 5 minutes, haha) it's fine for welding with. Quite a contrast compared with local wisdom - most blacksmiths won't touch it and moved to gas or buy imported coal at $30-75 a bag. My rule is if I can burn it then I can weld it Most of my billets are roughly 12 inches long by 1.5 inch wide and 1.5 inch thick depending on how many layers I start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Having melted good sized chunks of steel in my gas forge I have never understood the commonly held belief that gas doesn't get quite as hot. I also remember another smith on these boards who melted a billet in his gas forge "accidentally" at a MOB meeting (Hi Patrick!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have never been able to melt steel in my gas forge. I guess that there is lots of different people with lots of different forges and lots of different experiences. When I when to horseshoeing school (ya, I'm one of those!) the teacher said that you could not weld in a gas forge. Well I, and houndreds of thousands of other people, have proved the wrong. So Thomas, what kind of forge do you do most of your damascus in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pike3e Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I prefer a blown vertical propane forge for welding damascus. It gets plenty hot enough, atmosphere can be easily controlled and the flux drips off the billet all the way to the bottom of the forge and out of the way. I prefer a horizontal forge for general forging so that everything does not need a handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyLaidlaw Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Thomas - You're right. I think the misconception comes from the difference in volume needed to get the same heat. And people believe things people who "know more" tell them I suppose. I had a gas forge for 2 years and hated it. Coal has it all, smoke, clinkers, less chance of catching one's hair alight. I feel like a cowboy wrangling the fire where with gas I was just adjusting the regulator and letting it do it's thing. I'm also curious to see what your gas forge looks like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Simple 10" dia tube forge as designed by Hans Peot of SOFA. One blown burner coming in near the top of the middle of the length. It was originally built with a 1" layer of kaowool with a firebrick bottom; but when I relined it I went with 2" and suddenly I had to keep track of the work to avoid a "pooling" effect. Very handy for working large (for me) items but I still have problems with students wanting to work larger HC steel using it and then wandering off and letting it overheat---I generally warn them 3 times and then let them mess up their project as they are not learning from being told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyLaidlaw Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 "I generally warn them 3 times and then let them mess up their project as they are not learning from being told. " Good policy. I have an annoyingly short attention span, so if I can keep from burning it, they can too. Sometimes it's best to learn the hard way though. After a couple hours of careful work, if one of my students burns the project they tend to make sure it doesn't happen again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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