Clifford Brewer 372 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 GEzell would you PM me some info on your thermocouple unit.......Thanks........ 1 Link to post Share on other sites
GEzell 136 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 I gave the heat-treating furnace it's maiden voyage last night normalizing and hardening 11 blades. 33 thermal cycles, 11 quenches, and 5 types of steel all counted (w2, W1, 1084, 80crv2, and cruforgev), and no warps or cracks. It was also my first time using duratherm-48 quenchant, which Maxim oil developed as a parks-50 clone, and it did a fine job hardening everything. If I were to have any complaint, it would be the time it takes to bring a blade to austenizing temperature, because the furnace is running at, say, 1500° and not blasting out 2000°, it can take 10 minutes or more for a larger blade to come up to heat. Overall it took 4 hours to give 11 blades 3 thermal cycles and austenizing/quenches, which was longer than expected. I can say with no uncertainty that to be able to know precisely how hot the blade is when it plunges into the oil is absolutely wonderful... Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Adams 13 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Sounds good George, what kind of furnace do you have? Doug Adams Link to post Share on other sites
GEzell 136 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 15 hours ago, Doug Adams said: Sounds good George, what kind of furnace do you have? Doug Adams There's some pics of it a few posts back. It's made from a hot water heater tank, outside dimensions are 14" diameter, 27" long, lined with 1" ceramic fiber blanket. The burner comes in through a hole in the back, the front is a hinged steel plate with an opening for the blade. The thermocouple and probes are Amazon specials... Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Adams 13 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Thanks George, Are you going to Batson's this year? Doug Jn. 3:16 Link to post Share on other sites
Karim 62 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Antique wagon wheel i used for a small billet. Dont know the composition of the steel, but its old. Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 497 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Interesting Karim. What are you planning on making? Link to post Share on other sites
Karim 62 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 2 hours ago, Charles du Preez said: Interesting Karim. What are you planning on making? Charles, I was thinking ab a multibar composition for a blade, this will be the spine or centre. Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 497 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Karim said: Charles, I was thinking ab a multibar composition for a blade, this will be the spine or centre. A San Mai? Have you spark tested it? Edited March 31, 2017 by Charles du Preez Link to post Share on other sites
Karim 62 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 14 hours ago, Charles du Preez said: A San Mai? Have you spark tested it? This steel is not carburized, low carbon. San Mai is other then multibar. I will need one (twisted core ) billet and maybe springsteel for the edge, get the idea ? Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 497 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Ah, yes. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
jheinen 41 Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Recently got a shipment of 1080, so tonight I forged a medium-sized blade. On another note, I made a san-mai billet a while back, and when I did the welding I put some unglazed tile on the bottom of the forge to protect it from the flux. The only problem is that the tile softened and stuck to forge. Ever since, the tile softens up when I use the forge, so tonight I tried scraping it out with a steel bar. Most of it came out, however the bottom of the forge now has a "wet" look when it's hot, and it's somewhat sticky. Is this a problem? Is there any way to clean it out? Will it go away over time? Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,782 Posted April 5, 2017 Author Share Posted April 5, 2017 On 4/1/2017 at 6:53 PM, jheinen said: however the bottom of the forge now has a "wet" look when it's hot The dreaded flux puddle.....your forge has become infected. On 4/1/2017 at 6:53 PM, jheinen said: Is this a problem? That depends on whether you put your work pieces in the puddle and whether you mind having flux get on them. I generally keep my pieces suspended above the welding forge floor. Then again, I also have the luxury of having a dedicated welding forge. On 4/1/2017 at 6:53 PM, jheinen said: Is there any way to clean it out? See comment #2 above. Sooner or later most of it comes out stuck to various pieces that contact it. That is unless you add more flux over time, causing the infection to grow. You could sacrifice a piece of mild steel to the puddle god and remove small amounts over time.........scrape it out while hot. On 4/1/2017 at 6:53 PM, jheinen said: Will it go away over time? See comment # 3 above. Also, it does eventually diminish, unless you add more to it. The typical mistake is using way more flux than is necessary. A light coating, just enough to glaze the surface is plenty. Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,782 Posted April 5, 2017 Author Share Posted April 5, 2017 (edited) So today I decided to forge up some W-pattern. It is on the large size for my typical work, but I decided to give it a try. Layers: (10) 1095, (9) 15N20, (4) PN. Here is the initial billet. (8" by 1.5" by ~2.5") After first forging and drawing out it measured 27" by .375" by 1.75". This was the first time I used no flux other than a soak in diesel fuel before first welding heat. I got 26 usable inches of length. Edited April 5, 2017 by Joshua States Link to post Share on other sites
jheinen 41 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 13 hours ago, Joshua States said: See comment #2 above. Sooner or later most of it comes out stuck to various pieces that contact it. That is unless you add more flux over time, causing the infection to grow. You could sacrifice a piece of mild steel to the puddle god and remove small amounts over time.........scrape it out while hot. Ah ha! I'll make a scraper tool out of some mild steel and try scraping it out. Too bad they don't make heat-resistant paper towels Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
Charles dP 497 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 2 hours ago, jheinen said: Too bad they don't make heat-resistant paper towels Or hands Link to post Share on other sites
Chris C-S 148 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 (edited) On 4/5/2017 at 10:51 AM, Joshua States said: The dreaded flux puddle.....your forge has become infected. Hmmm - As i am a cheapo i decided to make my own Kaowool rigidizer AKA water glass stuff. Sodium Silicate. Of course i home brewed this and essentially made exactly that. Liquid glass. Anyway, i coated my whole forge lining in it and then even mixed some in with the cheapo fire place mortar i got from hardware store and mixed up. Anyway, once my forge gets hot, the whole think starts to look liquid. Any steel that comes into contact gets stuck to it. I am therefore going to need to scrap this forge lining, first try failure, and start again. While i am at it i am going to make a slightly bigger one and do two layers of kaowool. Can someone recommend what to coat this in? The fireplace mortar i have access too is 1000C resistant. Any good? # Should i be asking this elsewhere? Just thought i would jump in here as it is what i am seeing in my forge. Edited April 7, 2017 by Chris C-S Added another question. Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,829 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 There is really no substitute for actual refractory in a gas forge. Sorry mate. The fireplace stuff tends to just fall off, taking bits of wool with it as it goes. Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,782 Posted April 8, 2017 Author Share Posted April 8, 2017 (edited) 19 hours ago, Chris C-S said: Hmmm - As i am a cheapo i decided to make my own Kaowool rigidizer AKA water glass stuff. Sodium Silicate. Of course i home brewed this and essentially made exactly that. Liquid glass. Anyway, i coated my whole forge lining in it and then even mixed some in with the cheapo fire place mortar i got from hardware store and mixed up. Anyway, once my forge gets hot, the whole think starts to look liquid. Any steel that comes into contact gets stuck to it. I am therefore going to need to scrap this forge lining, first try failure, and start again. While i am at it i am going to make a slightly bigger one and do two layers of kaowool. One layer is fine. Two layers isn't necessarily better. Coat it with satanite. Buy it from hightemptools.com Edited April 8, 2017 by Joshua States 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Chris C-S 148 Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 On 4/8/2017 at 8:53 AM, Joshua States said: Coat it with satanite. Buy it from hightemptools.com Thanks for the advice. I found a local bloke who coats industrial furnaces/kilns etc, who said he would sell me some on the side for some cash. rated for 1400c. Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,782 Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Well, not much got done in the shop this weekend as it was time to get this beast filled. Oh yeah baby, it's pretty full. I did have some time to prep the next stack for that W-pattern, and put a few extra bars onto another multi-bar billet though. Next weekend, I hope to get them welded. Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 130 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Christened my new micarta mold by whipping up a 12 x 1.5 x 1/4 inch blank. I am a very happy fella lol. The mold made for very even pressure and dimension. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
JJ Simon 123 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Today in the shop was actually a $hi%% show. But yesterday I finished this. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
jheinen 41 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Brüt de forge bush knife. 5160 steel, brass grommet, 550 cord wrapped handle. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Gabriel James 90 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 (edited) That Micarta Looks nice Brian! What kind of cloth did you use? I got a file guide tapped and rough ground. Gonna take it to the machine shop tomorrow to throw on their pressure plates to see how close i got it ground in my platen. Building a gas kiln, additions to my gasser, organizational doo-hickeys! wahoo..! Edited April 13, 2017 by Gabriel James *guess i was drunk* Link to post Share on other sites
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