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My oven takes about 10 minutes to read 1500F. However, I keep it on for about 45 minutes to get fully heat-soaked prior to putting my blades in many times. It's kinda like a forge with a thermocouple installed. It will read 1800 in just a few minutes, but you and I know both know that the...

Well, it's not actually my first hamon, but it is my first forged blade. I've used 1095 for hamons before, but this is the first I've used W-2. Thanks for the compliments! There's a lot more activity in there that I couldn't get with the lighting I had. It's funny, one side shows more...

A while back, I picked up some W2 rounds from Don Hanson III and had them power forged out into bar stock. Last week, I was able to get my forge up and running, and I hand forged my first-ever forged blade out of his W2 (keep in mind I've been stock-removing for years). Here's the blade after...

Bob, running a blown burner will allow you to run higher temps at lower pressures with complete control of the forge atmosphere (needle valve for the gas and gate valve for the air). --nathan

Josh, that's the exact motor I'm running on my KMG. It's been good so far. You just have to "gear it down" with the driven sheaves to reduce the rpm if desired. I also picked up a 3/4 hp 3 phase ~1750rpm motor from the same page fo my disc grinder. --nathan

I got my plates from ebay as well. I actually bought a 1"x12"x12" plate and cut it down the middle to make 1"x6"x12" plates. Keep an eye on on ebay for a used dewar. They'll come up every now and again, and I picked up a 8 week dewar that will hold a full charge for a couple of months. I...

Wow, Stacy. That's very kind of you! Let me know if you find one, and I'll get you market value plus shipping. I've looked at a number of places here, and there just isn't much out there. If you don't have one, it's no biggie. I'll just order one. Thanks again! --nathan

Good call, Stacy. I'll have to look around. I went to the local welding supply and looked around, but they didn't have anything even in 1 psi incremenets. I'm sure they could order one. I found this one at Texas Tool. That would probably help a good bit when tuning this thing. What's a...

Darren's website is: http://elliscustomknifeworks.hightemptools.com/supplies-mainpage.html If you don't want to buy a forge, he sells just about anything you would need to make your own. --nathan

Thanks, Mike. I can't take credit for it in any fashion as it's been done before, but this design came from the mind of Stacy Apelt. It is nice to set it to a targe temp and then let the forge take care of holding it there without having to constantly make adjustments to hold temp. For...

Hey, no problem. You did all the hard work. --nathan

Thanks everyone! I've come to the conclusion that the extra fan controller is really just that....extra. If I had a DC fan blower that actually changed speeds based on the controllers, it might be different, but in reality, the atmosphere only needs to change a small amount in order to...

Looks good! I had the same problem with elements jumping their grooves after about a year using my first oven. For the second iterration, I made deeper/more angled grooves and pinned the coil really well. Just a note, after repeated firings, the coil tends to stiffen up, and it may be tough...

Looking at that last pic....MAN, I need to clean out that green rocking chair so I can chill between projects! I really need to fashion some sort of hanger for my Breathe Easy instead of dumping it in the chair. I also need a bin for all my misc. towels/rags and gloves :D. While I was in...

Well, I ended up mounting it using some hinges based off of a recommendation, and I am very pleased. I can still drop the pins in to really solidify it in the horizontal position. Mike, the difference in height is indeed within about an inch or two between horizontal or vertical...

Well, I have the forge running, and I even pounded a little steel tonight (all thread...going from round to square and back). A couple of things. First, if you use a ceramic sheath, make sure that it is out of the way. I barely tapped the end of it with the all-thread, and the end of it...

Ok, so I've got a good coat of cured satanite, and today I layed down the mizzou floor as a protection against flux and to build the floor up a bit where my stock will be resting. I mixed the mizzou with water to a troweling consistency (it takes quite a bit less water than the satanite)...

Ok, I've started lining the forge. First, I mixed up some satanite. For the first coat, it took me several batches in this size bowel to get it done. Mix it with water, adding water and mixing gradually until you get a consistency like sour cream. Next you want to dampen the...

I did some reworking of the controller tonight in order to help resolve a interferrence problem from the blower controllers to the gas solenoid. I replaced the controllers with better units and that helped some, and using Stacy's advice, I set the controllers closer to the same setting to avoid...

And here's the 2-stage gas feed installed on the burner and connected to the gas line. There is an extra needle valve at the burner just before the ball valve that was already permanently assembled to the burner. I'll just leave it open and adjust behind it: Once I get the...