The charcoal forge was fun to build and use, but let’s face it, it takes forever to heat-up and it is pretty dirty. If I made another one, it would be more of a closed design to concentrate and conserve heat, and would have a good hand-cranked blower. So, I went on Ebay and shopped around to finally order a two-burner gas forge from CKForge for $199 plus $45 shipping. The design is basically a steel box opened on both ends and lined with insulation, with a firebrick on the bottom. A two-burner assembly is screwed on top. Connect a propane tank (I borrowed my housemate’s grill tank), and you’re ready to go. I wish the holes for the screws had been pre-drilled. Of course it is reasonable for the seller to assume that someone ordering a forge would own some kind of drill! My cheapo Chinese drill press from Harbor Freight did the job nicely. The forge is well built, with decent welds, no trouble at all, and it worked flawlessly right out of the box, but for the drilling.
Starting the forge was a walk in the park compared to my charcoal model. I grabbed the torch I use for Crème brûlée, lighted it, turned on the tank valve, then the regulator, barely, and finally the forge valve while sticking the flame inside the forge; it worked instantly. After what seemed a very short time, I had a red hot railroad spike on my anvil. A couple hours later I was finished shaping the blade! Not bad for a first timer, I thought, and so much faster than my charcoal home-made forge..
Forged Railroad Spike Knife
It looks a bit like a butter knife at this stage, but a little grinding will make the blade look a tad more “aggressive.” I traced a bevel line with a black marker, and a line where I will remove a bit of metal at the tip so that it isn’t so round. You can’t see it on the photo, but the edge is pretty close to it’s final shape, about 1/16th, 1/4” at the spine. The pommel looks a bit weird, but I didn’t know what else to do. A couple holes there for a lanyard will be nice. I flattened the ends so that it could be used like a hammer. At the end of my session, I brought the blade (now I can call it that!) to cherry-red hot and switched the gas off, leaving the knife to anneal (air-cool slowly to release stress) in the forge.
That small table you see under the forge on the video caught on fire after about an hour. So, if you get a similar gas forge, make sure nothing around it can ignite! Fortunately I had the garden hose handy.. And make sure the gas hose doesn’t touch the forge or dangle close to the openings. Now, that would be trouble!
June 24: Since I have to wait to get a decent grinder, I figured, what the hell, I’ll just make another one.. This time I am trying a double-edge knife with a twist in the handle. My friend Erin surprised me by setting up my anvil on a log, putting sheets of refractory material under the forge and installing a light above the whole setup. So, he’s drinking my beers right now and I am pretty happy with the installation. Here is a new video of me starting on the new blade:
And below, number two:
Second knife, double-edge with a twist
Next steps: Grinding, heat treatment, and sharpening. I might wrap the handle with fiberglass tape and epoxy, or opt for something more traditional. I am also thinking about parkerizing the handle and maybe part of the blade, but a nice polish would probably look better..
Related posts
Filed under: HOWTO
Leave a Reply