New toy

[canid]

I finally got myself a 20lb propane cylinder and a harbor freight weed-burner type torch. I know these torches aren't terribly well suited for use in forges (though many people have made them work) but I figure:
1.) the burner tip aside, I got a $10 hose and a $10 adjustible valve with a hand-lever that opens it up all the way for $20.
2.) should it be necessary I could either make a proper burner that threads on where the original one is or just modify the original.

I'll probably be getting the cylinder filled tomorrow, so if there's interest I'll try to take some video.

[canid]

Here's a quick clip to show what I've been working with, and what I bought.



Yes; I know. I need to clean my shop again.

[crashdive123]

I used a very similar set up for a while.

[canid]

neat trivia: those firebricks are some of the ones I was digging up out of the vegetable garden. I'm starting to think they used them (and a lot of the 60 or so year old garbage I've also found) as fill when they build this neighborhood.

[rebel]

They're good for starting the camp fire/ BBQ/ too!

[canid]

I made it to the propane vendor this morning so here is what I've got to work with now:

[canid]

One piece of advice for anybody who tries this: sand the passivated plating off of the burner. It will start flaking off with much use anyway, but it may contain hazardous metals.

As always, work in a properly ventilated area.



the lighting seems to make the steel look way too cold, but actually it wasn'ht bad. I should have heated a little further, but I was within working range.

[crashdive123]

Cool stuff. The audio on your video is proof that there are aliens among us.

[canid]

Results:
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[Stiffy]

Please keep the information coming. If I progress to raw steel (right now I'm finishing the handles on a knifekit blade), I will probably go with something like you're making.

[canid]

If you're light on funds, or not sure you want to invest heavily at first, the sledge hammer anvil and weed-burner forge are among the best cheap methods I've come across.

You can build a better burner for about the same cost as the weed burner, but you still need hoses, and a valve, and dependnig on the design of the burner, a regulator. the weed-burner comes with everything you need but the propane cylinder and the bricks.

[crashdive123]

Nicely done.

[canid]

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[canid]

Here is the forge with the stand I rigged up:
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and this is were that smaller wakizashi is at as of today:
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Getting down to a clean, crisp shinogi is such a painstaking process. I do not yet have the hammer control needed to avoid getting any dings in that region of the blade while forging.

[Bush Monkey]

Cool thread. Thank you.

[Stiffy]

I've been looking at new weed burners on Amazon. They start at around 100,000 BTU, but go as high as 500,000. I'm wondering if the 100,000 btu is adequate for a setup like yours.

[canid]

That will depend on what you want to do. It would certainly be plenty for small to medium knives, and would likely be enough for swords, as long as your starting stock is dimensionally close ( e.g. I have been starting with 1/4" x 1" bar instead of something bigger, like 1" x 1" since it's large enough and heats faster).

before getting this, I was doing the same work with 1 and 2 of these: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...1#.UK5b_OSw_Sk

You happen to have a harbor freight near you? This is the one I got:http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Propane-...item5aeb746a76

but Harbor freight has them on sale for 19.99

It is claimed to be 500kBTU, but I am not really convinced that the claims or ratings on cheap chinese imported tools translate to honest measurements of the tool's performance.

[Stiffy]

Thanks. If I make the leap, I'll be working with 1/8 or 5/32 steel, no more than a foot long and no more than 1/1/2 inch wide. Probably 1080 or 1084, to keep it simple.

[RandyRhoads]

What type of steel are you using for the swords, it almost looks like a hollow shower curtain rod. This thing really gets hot enough to fold and do everything you need?

[canid]

I'm not forge welding. I'm using mild steel tube partially flattened at one end as a holder for my stock. It does a good job of damping the shock, and gives me a nice long handle. The stock for the swords and other big blades is cut from 1/4" x 2" 5160. For the swords that allows me to cut a piece into two trapezoids that taper from about 1 1/8" to 7/8" and work from there.

It gets plenty hot for forging. With an improved burner it certainly could be made to forge weld.