cooking with gas

Around fifteen years ago, my dad bought a small gas Forge that we have used as our main forge for general work ever since. It gets hot quickly and heats a long area of matierial but doesnt reach the temperatures needed for "traditional" forge welding- this i have alway done in solid fuel.

Now, a while back i was introduced to "low-temperature" forge welding in a gas forge, this was a bit of a revelation to me as it has a number of advantages over welding in solid fuel.

firstly, because of the lower temperatures, you can not destroy the piece you are working on by overheating - a risk in a traditional forge.

there are other benefits but the point is.....

i have modified our old gas forge to get a bit more heat out of it. by modified, I mean ive put some fire bricks in it and my dad built a cunning door to hold the heat.

I had to test it of course.....

so i forged out some billets of hard steel and wrought iron, 

I made a twist billet, a straight laminate and an edge....

Welded and the end clipped- this helps the blade flow to the tip rather than ending abruptly

forged out to a kind of Kyber form, polished, pre-etch.

Im happy with this blade and i will put the rest of it together soon.