I blame Forged in Fire...

[Homercidal]

I've been interested in knifemaking since I was a kid. The idea of hammering hot steel into a functional (dangerous) weapon seemed cool and a bit taboo.

Lately I've found a show called Forged in Fire on History Channel. It's a relatively drama-free reality game where 4 contestants compete at the show's forge to make the best knife within an allotted time. The last 2 contestants standing are then sent home to their own forge to create a history weapon from history.

It's rekindled my interest in working with hot steel. And I've found that it's not that expensive or difficult to make the basic tools a person needs to do it.

So, thanks to History Channel for making me start yet another hobby I don't have time for!

 

[pshankstar]

If you do take up this new hobby, learn from this guy's mistake...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/nyregion/fire-upstate-new-york.html

 

[smurfjuice]

May want to take up fly tying instead ...

 

[pshankstar]

May want to take up fly tying instead ...

I would say it's far safer! HAHA

That's one of my hobbies, fly fishing and tying my own flies occasionally. I just wish I had more time to fish which means making more flies.

 

[MaxStout]

We used to make crude knives from pieces of leaf springs when I was in high school. This was in shop class, in the days long before the no-weapons-in-schools policies came about. Never really got the temper on the blades quite right, and they didn't hold an edge for long, but it was fun to make them.

Homercidal, I'm curious to see what you come up with. Wanna see pics...

 

[Homercidal]

Won't be anything for a little while. Need to source some parts and do some mire reading. Hopefully I get a setup before it gets too nice out and I am working on my car.

I did a little fly tying, but after my FIL passed away I just don't fish. We never caught anything anyway, lol! I was more interested in poppers and panfish than stream flies. Still have the equipment. Some of it was my dad's.

 

[Homercidal]

If you do take up this new hobby, learn from this guy's mistake...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/nyregion/fire-upstate-new-york.html

Thankfully I am planning on a Propane Gas Forge, so it should be "pretty safe" in my garage. I will have to do some preparation to make it safe, but it's doable.

Just realized I probably need to buy a smock.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Thankfully I am planning on a Propane Gas Forge, so it should be "pretty safe" in my garage. I will have to do some preparation to make it safe, but it's doable.

Just realized I probably need to buy a smock.

Leather apron and boots with no laces are a good idea.

 

[Xernex]

You too huh? A coworker and I have fallen into the knifemaking rabbit hole recently. He's started building now, I'm still researching. I don't think either of us is going to be forging for a while, more just buying blank bars and the removal method, but the idea of building a forge really stands out.

Check out Walter Sorrells on youtube, he's got some pretty well done videos on just about anything you could ask as a beginner.

 

[Homercidal]

You too huh? A coworker and I have fallen into the knifemaking rabbit hole recently. He's started building now, I'm still researching. I don't think either of us is going to be forging for a while, more just buying blank bars and the removal method, but the idea of building a forge really stands out.

Check out Walter Sorrells on youtube, he's got some pretty well done videos on just about anything you could ask as a beginner.

I am starting to collect stuff. I stopped by the local metal salvage yard yesterday and dropped off a bottle of Coffee Stout I had in my car. One of the dudes there is a homebrewer (Used to be before the separation, he says...)

I found a nice pressure tank for $10 I can use. It's maybe about 16" across, so maybe too big, but we'll see. My daughter helped me haul it into the house last night to allow the water inside to melt. She's going to be my partner in this hobby (We'll see, LOL!)

Tonight, if I get out of work at a reasonable time, I will stop by the local plumbing store and see what I can find for burner parts.

 

[Xernex]

I am starting to collect stuff. I stopped by the local metal salvage yard yesterday and dropped off a bottle of Coffee Stout I had in my car. One of the dudes there is a homebrewer (Used to be before the separation, he says...)

I found a nice pressure tank for $10 I can use. It's maybe about 16" across, so maybe too big, but we'll see. My daughter helped me haul it into the house last night to allow the water inside to melt. She's going to be my partner in this hobby (We'll see, LOL!)

Tonight, if I get out of work at a reasonable time, I will stop by the local plumbing store and see what I can find for burner parts.

Nice - keep us updated I'm interested to see your progress.

 

[shelly_belly]

...Homercidal, I'm curious to see what you come up with. Wanna see pics...

@Homercidal post a pic? Yea, right!

 

[jcav]

Love to see pics of your setup when you get it going. I like that show as well and it has sparked my curiosity too. I also tie my own flies and have done so for years. It is fun to catch fish on a fly that I made. Good luck on the forge!

John

 

[Homercidal]

Store was closed by the time I got out of work yesterday, so I didn't get to building the burner.

I have a question, though. I have seen a "Sideburner" burner using a "T" at the top. The T is positioned so the burner threads into one end, the gas tube comes in from the other end, and the T opening allows air to be drawn in.

My idea is to use a Cross instead of a T, so that I can bring the gas tube in from the top and have TWO side openings to draw in through.

Is this going to be too much air? I plan to incorporate chokes on the air intakes to help with idle burn, but I expected the extra opening to help with any potential lack of air at full burn.

In any case, I hope to build the burner and drain the last of the water out of the tank to night and maybe cut it open. I also plan to keg/bottle a blueberry wheat and then rack a Pale Ale into the secondary the wheat beer was in, so I'm going to be pretty busy.

 

[MHBT]

Dude i totally hear ya, i always wanted to make swords and never followed thru with it, now after seeing that show it sparked the interest back up. But i don't think my neighbors would appreciate the sound of the hammer and anvil lol

 

[Inkleg]

Dude i totally hear ya, i always wanted to make swords and never followed thru with it, now after seeing that show it sparked the interest back up. But i don't think my neighbors would appreciate the sound of the hammer and anvil lol

Maybe.....but you'll have a sword! Who's gonna mess with that weird guy who has a sword!
Disclaimer: I do not know you nor have we ever met (if we do first round is on me) so you may or may not be weird, but making ones own sword definitely puts them teetering the weird/awesome line.

 

[MHBT]

Maybe.....but you'll have a sword! Who's gonna mess with that weird guy who has a sword!
Disclaimer: I do not know you nor have we ever met (if we do first round is on me) so you may or may not be weird, but making ones own sword definitely puts them teetering the weird/awesome line. [/QUOTE

Yeah its not

Maybe.....but you'll have a sword! Who's gonna mess with that weird guy who has a sword!
Disclaimer: I do not know you nor have we ever met (if we do first round is on me) so you may or may not be weird, but making ones own sword definitely puts them teetering the weird/awesome line.

i always thought the old medieval sword smith was awesome and i always wanted to do it, and samurai swords too, maybe its weird to me its awesome

 

[Lefou]

I love "Forged in Fire".
Ben Abbot of Pasadena, CA is on the personal Facebook feed and his stuff is some of the best steel I've ever seen.

FIF is one of the best shows on TV, and beats the rest of what's on History Channel by a mile. Even the repeats are great. I'll sit down, beer in hand, and watch them, especially the episodes where Abbot is working or hosting on the show. The best part of the show is watching the smiths create some nice pattern-welded steel from simple scraps.

 

[Homercidal]

Nothing got done this weekend. Kid was not ready to put the burner together on Friday night, and we spent the weekend in Battle Creek helping my BIL move into their new house. I didn't even get to go to the new brewery just down the road from him!

The Kids drove separately and the drive back was a bit nervous due to the snow, so she was ready to just Chill when we got home. Apparently her definition of chill is different from mine. I'd have considered working on the forge to be chill time, but for her it must be listening to podcasts on her phone.

Anyway, the Superbowl was on so I made dinner and then brushed the dog and watched the game. He's getting his teeth cleaned today and I wanted to get all of his extra hair out before he travels in our cars. Going to try to put the burner together tonight if I can. Unless the kid snowblows for me (HAHAHA!) that's the only thing I know is on the schedule.

 

[Homercidal]

Actually, I forgot tonight is "Mug Club Monday" at the local brewery. I might be working on the burner down there tonight!

 

[Homercidal]

It's cold out. Too cold to drill and tap the burner pipes. I had high hopes for last night but by the time I got done snowblowing the driveway and cooking dinner, I was not about to go back out in near single digits temps to try to do what needs done. That would have left me with errors.

I planned to bring my stuff to work and work on it here (I work at a machine shop), but forgot to grab the box on my way out.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

I fell into the same rabbit hole you did with Forged in Fire. I made a coal burning brake drum forge out of a brake drum I found on the side of the highway and a cheap blower from harbor freight. I got my hands on a couple feet of rail road line for my anvil. I haven’t made anything of interest yet, but I’ve hammered out some rough spikes, nails, etc.

I think I’m more interested in making decorative pieces rather than knives, but it’s a lot of of fun. It helps to burn off a bunch of those homebrew calories as well.

 

[Homercidal]

Update: Finished building the first burner. Assembeled with my daughter in the kitchen, hooked it up to the propane tank in the garage and I'll be darned if the thing didn't take off beautifully! I managed to run at full throttle (20 PSI according to the regulator I bought) and down to a low idle. Even runs with orange flame if I choke the intake.

I'm likely going to look for a smaller diameter forge body since I'll be doing small projects to start with and the cost of insulation, etc would be better.

My kid recorded the test burn and I want to get some pics of the burner assembly for you guys. So hold on.

 

[Homercidal]

Here is the video of the test firing.

 

[Homercidal]

Ordered some Kaowool insulating wool today. Found some 2" that should be plenty to line the inside of the forge.

Also pricing some refractory cement to line it with. Once the wool is in place, I'll paint the cement over it to hold the fibers in place, and to give the IR coating something firm to stick to.

Just got to pick out some firebrick now. I think I really just need some hard firebrick to use as a floor in the forge. The soft stuff seems to degrade with flux. I plan to practice folding different steels, and the flux used is not good for the soft brick (not really good for the hard brick either, but they will last longer..) I hope the kaowool will provide enough insulation, allowing me to use the hardbrick without worry.

I'll also need to attach the burner mount at an angle before lining the forge, so I'll do that while I wait for stuff to arrive.

Pics coming.

 

[JDXX1971]

Nice video.

 

[JDXX1971]

My daughter (8) watches FiF with me and shows interest in getting involved. I hope to get a little something going this summer to keep our interest up. I would like to design and build some garden tools. When setting up my brew stand I used our fireplace to heat up some stainless steel scraps which I proceeded to pound into hooks and hangers for various items, fun, fun!!

 

[Homercidal]

I can't wait. My whole family watches and my oldest is even helping me build this, and she is not generally interested in my hobbies.

Luckily there is a guy at work who has been doing this for a year or so, and got into it pretty heavy. He's a great resource for ideas.

I'd like get a decent grinder for knifemaking, but they are $$ and while I could build one for much much less, I cringe at the time involved, considering my other hobbies. I'm supposed to be working on my old Mustang this summer.

Soon it will be warm enough to actually go out and do stuff. I'm setting my sights low on the mustang and plan to get everything forward of the quarters area replaced/repaired, and all of the floor area. Saving the outside body for if/when I get good enough with the welder.

That's a couple of weekends worth of work if I hit it hard. I think that should leave plenty for brewing and knifemaking.

And knifemaking will be a really nice WINTER hobby, when it's too cold to much of anything else!

 

[JDXX1971]

I know what you mean, lots of hobbies. I am supposed to get my Jeep running this Summer so yeah the forge is more off to next Fall. I am not much of a Ford guy but we did put a SB 350 in a older Cougar once!!

 

[Homercidal]

I know what you mean, lots of hobbies. I am supposed to get my Jeep running this Summer so yeah the forge is more off to next Fall. I am not much of a Ford guy but we did put a SB 350 in a older Cougar once!!

You put a Chevy 350 in a Cougar?

Sacrilege! (Although the Chvey 350 IS a great motor!)

 

[JDXX1971]

We sure did and that car was faster than ever, wasn't mine though, belonged to a friends BIL.

 

[Homercidal]

I've got a 351Windsor for my Mustang. It's just about warm enough to pull the motor out where I can get at it and start the build process. It's still a bit cool for body work. I'm planning for the motor to be pretty much stock for now. Stock manifolds, cam, etc. New carb. Maybe when the car is "finished" I'll work on the HP aspect. For now it will take me years to get to that point.

I miss working on it with my FIL, rest his soul.