"Australopithecus scobis" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ed Huntress" wrote:

What kind of furnace are you using?

I'm learning with the wee blades. I do those with a propane torch. I
haven't rigged a forge for bigger stuff. I do wood; I'm picking up
metalwork skills as I need them.

When I do put the forge together, it'll probably be a kneeler: stacked
refractory bricks, charcoal, and a hairdrier. (Lurking here I learned
about two kinds of refractory brick.)

Answering another kind post he No, I didn't know about stainless
foil or anti-scale coatings. Now I do. Thanks.

Back on topic, the gist is that I don't have to get oversized stock.
Thanks.

Yes, that's the bottom line. It's a lot easier to prevent damaging oxidation
than it is to remove it from your finished piece.

BTW, if you stick to very small pieces in the beginning, to get you started,
you can make an ersatz furnace out of 10 or 12 firebricks and a couple of
propane torches aimed to distribute the heat more effectively than you can
with one torch. That's how I heat things like homemade chisels and plane
irons, and I've gotten away with it for over 30 years.

However, make something better as soon as you can, if you plan to do more
than very infrequent heat treating. For small woodworking tools, I'd go with
an electric furnace that I could use safely and easily in my shop. It's slow
to heat, but avoid using firebrick; stick to something with a lot less
thermal mass, and it will go quicker. There are some ceramic-fiber blanket
materials. They're expensive, but, for plane irons and such, your furnace
can be very small and you won't need much of it.

Ed Huntress