Propane forge for Father's Day :)

[lar45]

The wife got me a propane fired forge for Father's Day.
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The only steel I had on hand was some 3/4" round mystery metal. I was anxious to get started on something, so I chopped off a piece and started hammering.
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This is after the blade was roughed out. The blade turned out to be about 7", so I cut an inch off and reshaped it.
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We cut down a Cedar tree last spring and I cut the handles out of one of the branches.
Now I just need to see if I can put an edge on it.
I ordered some 1080, 5160 and 52100, so I'll have something better to try on the next one.

[500Linebaughbuck]

good job!!!!!!

[Handloader109]

Looks good... enjoy

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[CastingFool]

Looks like a very nice job. I would like to try making my own forge, but right now, it's just a pipe dream. Too many other things have to be taken care of first.

[Bzcraig]

Nice..

[dbmjr1]

Being mystery metal, you can get an idea of how hard it is with a file.

If it's seems soft, you might try hardening the edge of the blade by heating it with a torch, then quenching in oil.

[lar45]

After the blade was mostly finished, I heated it up to non-magnetic and quenched in a bucket of tractor Hydraulic oil(I accidentally bought the wrong type, so it was just sitting there and I couldn't use it for anything else). Then put it in the oven at 450 for and hour to temper it.
I browsed some of the knife making forums and it looks like the oil that most of the guys use is Canola oil heated up to 135F. I saw that one of the forums has a section called Knife Making 101, so it looks like I have a bunch of reading to do before I finish the next one.

[webfoot10]

If you have any truck repair shops around check for old leaf and coil springs for your
steel. I go to the spring shops around here and they will give you scrap pieces if you
ask. This is air hardening steel and will make nice knife blades. I try and get the spring
scrap used for small boat trailers as it is a nice size to work with. Old shock absorbers
work well too. As well as the railroad track clips that hold the ribbon track down. Scrap
yards are your friend for good steel cheap.
webfoot10

[RP]

Great job I been playing with smelting alum and casting it into billet to use in my lathe for practice. I started out with a oil fired homemade burner but man it was a job getting it running and then it was so hot I was burning my steel pot to the point of failure. I took some time off work and built me a LP gas jet burner its hot and easy to control just not hot enough so I am going to add one more to the pot. I did melt some old brass scrap I had on hand and cast some nice ingots that I cleaned up and they look like little gold bricks lol. This is my new project and I am loving it I want to build a forge for working steel like you are it is such a great way to make things for yourself. I really want a anvil but the good ones will cost you so for right now I am just working on building up my gear so one day I can make things like a blacksmith.
My problem is to many projects not enough time or money lol