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using a small furnace as a forge??

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bertie_bassett:
on my ever growing 'to do' list is the need to melt aluminium along with the wish to try some forge work.

im currently thinking of building a small furnace for melting aluminium, something similar/the same as VT's POP furnace looks about right and manageable for me.  and was wondering if it could also double up as a small forge?

seems that if you leave the lid off  and just fill it up with charcoal it would do the job nicely, but im double checking in case im missing something obvious.

so.. am I asking a dumb question? or have a got a stupid idea?

awemawson:
No reason not to, just not the most efficient method of heating.

I used to use my oil fired  furnace for heat treating parts I'd made  -examples being a set of 3MT to 1" bore adaptors to hold die heads. I dangled them into the furnace until cooked, then quenched in a can of oil. That was 25 years ago, and I'm still using then :)

Will_D:
Not made it yet (but getting closer) here is my bright idea:

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,10544.0.html

bertie_bassett:

--- Quote from: Will_D on April 22, 2015, 03:12:21 PM ---Not made it yet (but getting closer) here is my bright idea:

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,10544.0.html

--- End quote ---

ah, I knew id seen something similar!  looks a good idea

Im not sure ill be using either very much so don't want to go overboard, an if one tool can do 2 jobs its got more chance of being usefull

sparky961:
It's been a while now, but I made a very nice large drawknife from an old file.  I heated the file in my propane-fired furnace, just laying in there kind of sideways like, and beat it into shape.  You might call it blacksmithing, but that would be too generous.  Then I finished the shaping and smoothing with another file (because the old one was now annealed) and an angle grinder.

Once I got it pretty close I heated it back up again and finished by plunging into oil.  I recently learned that using any old oil is not the best practice for a number of reasons, but sometimes we need to make do.  I didn't bother tempering it.

As a final step I used a flap-disc on an angle grinder to sharpen the edge and honed it to a razor sharp edge with a stone.  I welded some handles on, and I'm still using it today.

So, yes... it does work.  I agree that for hobbyists you should try to have multi-purpose tools when the use is seldom and it can still get the job done.

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