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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 05-05-2013, 01:18 PM
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Naboyle Naboyle is offline
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Got my gears turning....mega forge?

First of all, NO, I'm not gonna try this. Just something that popped into my head the other day. Bigger is better right?!? I was walking thru work and saw a 48" piece of pipe. Yes a 4' piece of sch 40 pipe that was about 6 feet long. First thing I thought was, this would be a "mega" forge! I know it's way to big and there's no reason to make it. But what if one were to use a pipe this big? What do you think it would take to make something this large "useable"or is it impossible? Verticle or horzontal? Would you use 10-2" burners? Or try a couple super custom 4" burners? Would you need 1" propane feed lines? How many 100lb bottles? Could you even stand near it, I know it's unreasonable to make something like this. Guess this is a "what if you wanted to" question. What does everyone think it would take?
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Old 05-05-2013, 02:00 PM
metal99 metal99 is offline
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That would be insane haha. I wouldn't want to light that thing!!!


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Old 05-05-2013, 02:51 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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I have a 6 foot pipe that's about 24" in diameter with walls about 1/4" thick, maybe 3/8" even. Very, very heavy. Same idea crossed my mind.

Ya, it could be done. Heck, it isn't really any different than a crematorium or maybe something for a small foundry. In the end though, it would be just a really big forge. It might get a little hotter than a smaller forge if you could feed it enough propane fast enough but probably about the same temps. So, no reason to do it unless you need to forge something quite a bit larger than the average knife. If you wanted to get any hotter you'd need a foundry and for that you'd probably want to make it from brick. It would be terribly expensive to use propane as the fuel and get it hot enough to melt steel. So again, the temps you actually get would likely be about like a smaller forge.

Might be cool to make some anvils though....


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Old 05-05-2013, 05:16 PM
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Naboyle Naboyle is offline
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I was thinking you could forge some massive things! I know there's no reason to, but I just wondered what it'd take to make it work? Must be the mechanical part of me kicking in. I always wonder how, why, what if, could you.... How big of a burner or burners do you think it would take? The amount of air you would need would be tremendous! Mega blower anyone?

Last edited by Naboyle; 05-05-2013 at 05:19 PM.
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Old 05-05-2013, 06:08 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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I'd probably stick with 1" burner tubes just to make it easier on the blower. But, if a mega blower was available then I might go to 2" burner tubes. Two 1" burner tubes per foot of forge length (one on each side) or three tubes radially if the diameter was really large on the main forge body. If set up carefully, one 165 cfm professional forge blower like the one I have could run all three of the radial tubes so you would need one of these blowers for each foot of forge length.

Lining the forge with castable refractory cement would be the most durable way to build it but it would take a while to heat up a quarter of a ton of forge. But, that might be OK if you were running an operation where the forge would be kept working for days at a time. Other than that, layers of wool until the interior diameter was as small as reasonable for whatever thing you needed to heat up.

To use a forge like this you would probably be working at least 100 pounds of steel at a time. You would need a way to maneuver that large blob of very hot steel and then you'd need a truly massive air hammer or press to shape it. All things considered, probably not something anyone would do as a hobby ....


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Old 05-05-2013, 06:23 PM
cnich cnich is offline
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I would hate to pay the gas bill
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Old 05-06-2013, 06:35 AM
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Like Ray said...big forgings require bigger tools. Try handling a red hot crank shaft with a pair of tongs, reducing it on a 200# anvil with a 3-4# hammer.......just won't get far very fast. Need lifts, hoists, big power hammer/press and usually a couple of forge monkeys to work the bigger stuff.
Of course you could rig it with a water jacket and run everything off steam and heat your house all at the same time.......
You can work a full size sword in a regular freon tank sized forge with a back door. You can't hit but so much steel at a given time by hand.


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Old 05-06-2013, 09:15 AM
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Never thought of using a water jacket... Steam powered power hammer? Yes! Guess that'd make it possible to run a steam turbine, which could make all the electricity you would need to power your house, shop, hell even half the neighborhood!
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Old 05-07-2013, 05:54 AM
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Takes you back to arond what cnich said about the fuel bill. You can't create energy without expense and waste, so you lose anyway you go. Repurpoing some of the loss energy byproduct is just good economics. Somehow I can see this taking a lot of room that'd be better served with more different knifemaking equipment.


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Old 05-07-2013, 08:11 AM
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I know it's not a good idea. And you could buy different equipment. This was just a "what if you wanted to" idea, that's all. I create electricity everyday for a living. It's very expensive. That's why your electric bill is so high!
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Old 05-08-2013, 04:47 AM
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So......you're the guy!
You could also do double duty as a crematorist (as hinted at above). Wind up having so many side interest/jobs you'd never get any knives made. That be a bummer.


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