Take one old wok...

[juttle]

... cast iron preferably, add a pinch of little used casserole pot that lost its lid eons ago, season with a Bosch hot air gun, ignore the constant, "wot the 'ell are you makin now," and," don't make ANOTHER bloody mess on my clean floors...", and,



Voila, as all the top chefs say, you've got a forge!!!

Add a handfull of BBQ charcoal, torch the lot with a handy MAPP gun and off you go!

I've been looking at all sorts of ways of heat treating my blades and decided to give the cheap, most of its already in the kitchen, option.

The cast iron wok hasn't been used for ages, having been updated by something EID can lift, likewise the stainless steel pot that goes under it. Drill some holes on the bottom of the wok, cut a hole for the heat gun's nozzle and it works a treat!

Temperature wise, it can easily hit non magnetic, which was my main reason for making it, and give it a little longer to reach tin bashing temperatures.

I might even try forging from scratch...

 

[Toddy]

Very good

........but I'm with Eid............don't even *think* of trying that in my kitchen

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Robbi]

what or who is EID ?

oh, great idea by the way

 

[juttle]

EID? 'er in doors...

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Nice off the wall thinking

 

[crosslandkelly]

Nice one. Keep us posted.

 

[Dannytsg]

Thanks for posting this as I am planning on making my very own soon. How does it perform?

 

[juttle]

It performs very well! This afternoon I heat treated 12 new blades with 2 or 3 handfuls of charcoal and a good blast of MAPP gas, just to get it going, in about 20 minutes. Once the blower had got the charcoal up to a working temperature, a blade would take only a couple of minutes to get to non magnetic. I'm currently doing a batch of neck knives, so allow a little longer for 'bushcraft' sizes of blade.

If I had to buy the bits and start off fresh, I'd would be able to get to lot for less than £40, and that includes the charcoal!

All in all, I'm very pleased with the end result. It was just to be an experiment to discover how inefficient something home made was likely to be compared to a 'proper' HT oven or gas knife forge, but the end result is that I'm sticking with this as it will do everything I need it to do for the forseeable future.

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Damn it I threw out a old Wok last week and knew I shouldn't, you *******! Why didn't you post a week before!!!!

But that is something like my dog bowl method, I am using a old steel mixing bowl as a base and a colander with added holes and old hair dryer as my method at the moment works well but the collenders are to week to take the heat for more than a session, I get them free from a cheff friend but I want something that lasts... I wonder if he has some cast iron cook ware...

 

[21st century pict]

My pal and I recently made a barbeque and stand out of 2 old steel car wheel rims, which works great, if you could find a wheel the right size it could make a very stable stand for the forge.

 

[DiamondAl]

I have heard that a lorry brake drum makes a very strong and long lasting forge.

Regards,

Alan

 

[jiffi]

My buddy had one for a fire pit that we use with my murrikka skillet

 

[21st century pict]

If you don’t have an old wok cut the top off an old gas bottle, very solid.

Ps I like the lorry brake drum idea.