Propane fire pit as a forge?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Fletch Helical

Fletch Helical

Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
1,614
I'm looking to get into knife making and am just trying to get an idea on what I may need. One thing (of many) I'm unsure of is getting some kind of forge. I have a propane fire pit which has some lava rocks in the pit and the propane flame comes up through there.

Could this ever double as a forge or will it not get hot enough?
 
Fletch Helical said:
I'm looking to get into knife making and am just trying to get an idea on what I may need. One thing (of many) I'm unsure of is getting some kind of forge. I have a propane fire pit which has some lava rocks in the pit and the propane flame comes up through there.

Could this ever double as a forge or will it not get hot enough?
Click to expand...

My natural gas fireplace easily gets hot enough to forge. It's a matter of getting enough fuel and enough oxygen in a mostly confined space to heat the space up.

The issue I could see with the fire pit is that there isn't enough air flow to get a good forging temperature going.

A little creative firebrick placement, enough fuel flow, and air flow and you could forge.
 
No, it will probably not get hot enough. A propane forge requires a lot of gas and your fire pit is probably running off an lp regulator similar to those used with bbqs.

You can make a cheap forge out of two coffee cans, some ceramic wool and a bernzomatic jth-7 torch. That will get you started so you can see if you like forging. You'll want to coat the inside of the forge so the wool doesn't burn up. You can buy satanite, or just thin down some fireplace cement with water and brush it on. I also know a few blacksmiths that never coat their wool, they just replace it once a year, but they are running larger forges that operate a little differently.

Good luck.

Brook
 
just wool can release bad silicates into the air that you shouldn't be breathing.

if you use a refractory cement, and either coat the wool, which is the best approach, or line the cans soley with it about an inch and a half thick you'll be better off.
 
Does anyone know of any links on here or anywhere that has some step by step on making some kind of forge? I'm a total noob on here and to knife making in general and can't seem to locate a search feature.
 
Checkout my website. If you live near me I can help you build one and I am hav'g a Hammer-In this Saturday.:thumbup:
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help I'll see what I can dig up. Indian George I'm not really near by but I appreciate the offer.
 
SPAM. Four year old thread. Post removed.

Thread locked.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top