Last year I took a knife making class and forged my 1st knife. It was a great experience and hoped to make more but the forge is over an hour away. With work and family obligations its hard to get away for more than a couple hours. I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to keep doing it, I'll need to do it from home. I have a decent size garage I can use.
Has anyone here built a home forge?
Anything I should watch out for or avoid?
What tools/equipment would you consider a must and what should I not waste my time with?

I’ve built the two I use.
I do blacksmithing though not knife smithing so I built what I needed.
Of course with knives you don’t need a lot of interior space to heat blade stock.
There is a forum with a bunch of folks that can help you with all your questions.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/?&_fromLogin=1



My first was a fire brick forge that eventually was Kaowool lined & ceramic diamond washed and insulated doors added that I can now forge weld in.
The Mongo burner was bought online.












My second was one built from a propane tank.
Lined with refractory cement on the bottom & Kaowool lined top.
All Kaowool is set with rigidizer & sealed with refractory cement to prevent lung damage while running the forge.
This forge was also given a ceramic diamond wash with 100HT to increase reflective heat.
I built a side burner for this one.
I built a chest high stand with pull out stock support for longer material.

Perhaps a basic induction forge would be sufficient for the comparatively small stock used in knifemaking?

That seems like it'd be a more compact and simpler setup for a home knifemaker.

Nice work Grumpy. That propane tank forge looks ideal size wise. I'd kinda like to build something rather than buy something off Amazon. What would you guess is cost you in parts?

quote:

Originally posted by amc:
Nice work Grumpy. That propane tank forge looks ideal size wise. I'd kinda like to build something rather than buy something off Amazon. What would you guess is cost you in parts?

Refractory, Kaowool, rigidizer & burner… was $250-ish 4 yrs ago.
I couldn’t find any of the materials locally so shipping was a part of the cost.
You can see from the link the 100HT is pricy but so worth it.
I did not include that in the cost as I added that later.
BTW- you can not use a bbq grill regulator, it doesn’t supply enough pressure.
You require a 0-30psi regulator and get a setup with a gauge, stainless steel braided hose is best & the longer the better. I prefer 12’ so you can move the tank if needed depending on your setup.
Mine wasn’t always mobile as it is now.



https://www.blacksmithsdepot.c...esult/?q=Refractory+

Another good source for supplies
https://www.blacksmithsupply.com/

Thanks. This is going to be a fun project. I'll start looking for parts.

Dang, that is cool! What kind of anvil do you have? My neighbors would have a cow if I made a bunch of noise forging something. Green with envy!

I have a few anvils but my working anvil is a 160lbs Arm & Hammer.

* FYI, you can mount your anvil so that it doesn’t ring & is all but dead sounding.


A) 1919 Arm & Hammer 160lbs
B) 1792 Alsop
C) 1882 Fisher
D) 1885 Mousehole
E) 2002 Grumpy RR Track special

^^^^^^Grumpy_____ Love the "No Trespassing "sign on the wall...""" Dead men tell no lies""". ...... drill sgt.