Electric forge, home made

JTknives

JTknives

Blade Heat Treating www.jarodtodd.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,633
I was wondering if it is possible to build a simple electric forge. I was thinking about using the heating element from a hot plate or water heater and put it into a contaner surounded by high temp insulation. do you think this will work.
 
I would doubt a hot plate element would be enough.
Jim Fergusen had used a large ceramics kiln at one time to do pattern welding, so I'm sure it can be done. I'm not sure it's as cost effective to fuel as gas though.
 
i can put my blade on the burner of my stove and i will get red hot, not super red but does have a faint glow. but i think if the heat can be retaned inside of a small container the heat will increase quite a bit. ever notice that if you put a pan on the burner and put it on full blast for 5 min, when you remove the pan the burner is allmost white hot. this is because the hear cant leave and the burner can reach a higher temp. now im not talking about a big forge just somthing to heat treat in. like 3" inside dia by maybe 10-12" long. i did find a heating element stats thay say it heats to 800c which is allmost 1500F
 
Really, just go ahead and buy one, if you are serious about your hobby, or whatever. I put it off for ten years. After I got an oven , I just don't know why I waited. Keep life easy, and don't take it too serious. It doesn't last!
 
I would like to play with an induction furnace to see how that would work for forging. A friend of mine uses one to HT tool bits for Boeing. We joke about sneeking my anvil into the shop and seeing how it does for knife forging. The only downside I see is there would not be enough time for my arm to rest between heats (15-25 seconds).
 
I had an induction furnace for a lot of years. Only problem with mine for heating blades was that it took 126 amps of 480 3 phase. The good side was like the man said it would heat a blade in 10 - 15 seconds. I did forge a number of hawk blades with it and to say the least it was FAST. I always made a practice of forging when no one else was around because if you just turned your head to say some thing you could end up with a puddle of molten steel:D
 
Pete, was the induction furnace and older model? The new solid state ones are advertised to be far more power efficient. I also like the idea of it not heating the entire shop up like a forge would. No propane tank to freeze or refill. No refractory that will need replacing. This list goes on and on.

My friend Tim says that after he finds the right heat time he then sets the timer to avoid over heating. As long as he is HTing the same size/steel tool bit it will never overheat on him. I may get a chance to play with it as soon as his current supervisor takes a new position.
 
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