Forging knife blades for hunting knifes on Safari

[Shootist43]

Gert, a friend of my father's made bread once a month in a wood fired oven just like that. It took great pains to remove every bit of the wood and ash before putting the loaves of bread in. The baking was done by the residual heat in the oven floor and walls.

 

[nztimb]

Whe I was a boy in the mid 50's, my father worked for a short time in a country general store doing collections and delivery's and three times a week would go to the bakery for the bread. The bakery had old brick ovens that were wood fired but even to this day I can smell the bread and dads truck always had the smell that had seeped into the wood and was always present. It was what made me have an appreciation (and love of) bread and have made my own for many years. I am reasonably busy now but still make the lunch rolls I have every day. I make a months worth at a time and freeze them and while I know it is not the same as fresh from the oven, at least it is bread I make for myself.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Gert, a friend of my father's made bread once a month in a wood fired oven just like that. It took great pains to remove every bit of the wood and ash before putting the loaves of bread in. The baking was done by the residual heat in the oven floor and walls.

Shootist , yes, you are quite correct, this barrel type wood fire oven is mainly to bake bread in it, as well as roast chicken/leg of lamb....the first food I will be preparing in this oven next week is my own free-roaming chicken spit recipe , using my own free-roaming chicken as well...I now need to forge copies of the original utensils used by the Cape Dutch Settlers from the time Jan Van Riebeeck set foot on Cape soil in 1652 .....

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Whe I was a boy in the mid 50's, my father worked for a short time in a country general store doing collections and delivery's and three times a week would go to the bakery for the bread. The bakery had old brick ovens that were wood fired but even to this day I can smell the bread and dads truck always had the smell that had seeped into the wood and was always present. It was what made me have an appreciation (and love of) bread and have made my own for many years. I am reasonably busy now but still make the lunch rolls I have every day. I make a months worth at a time and freeze them and while I know it is not the same as fresh from the oven, at least it is bread I make for myself.

Von Gruff, great memories are always fun to remember, the smell of fresh baked bread is a smell second to none...I can not wait to bake my first bread in this wood fire oven...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Members, here are evidence of a successful wood fire oven build..my wood fire oven build into my kitchen, it really is working excellently , here is my first bread I baked in this oven, hot fresh from the wood fire oven, fresh made beef soup and vegetables with a thick slice of fresh baked bread and apricot jam, I will now install a copper tube coil into the oven to use as a permanent feature like a hot shower when ever we have load shedding /no electricity here in South Africa, that happens about every day here in Witbank where I live. This is the first step to be absolutely independent from the grid here in SA..My next dish will be a chicken on a roasting spit....

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Here is a chicken I slaughtered , it will be spit roasted in my wood fire oven...

 

[Shootist43]

Gert, your first loaf of bread looks so good I can almost taste it.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Gert, your first loaf of bread looks so good I can almost taste it.

Shootist, I want to complete my build in rotisserie spit this week, I need to fit the rotisserie spit inside the oven to ensure it roast in a hot environment where the heat is all around it. I already got hold of a great 12v motor that is strong and will be able to turn even a large piece of meat to roast...

 

[nztimb]

The first two requirments of life are fore and food and you seem to have those covered very well indeed Gert.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

The first two requirments of life are fore and food and you seem to have those covered very well indeed Gert.

Thank you Von Gruff, yes I believe I did, my next requirement is to design a build in copper coil to enable me to build a shower into my second bathroom, a closed looped siphoning hot water system known here in South Africa as a "Donkie" and I believe it is the same concept in use in Australia as well???

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Good, I managed to find a company who sells refractory cement ,, in ca-stable and plastering applications. I bough two 25kg bags , it will be sufficient to completely plaster the inside of my wood fired oven as well as casting a solid layer of this refractory cement on the floor of the oven that contains only of cement . The advantage of the cast-able cement is I van build a frame of 3mm mild steel and cast the complete furnace ..much,much easier, cost effectiveness as well

 

[nztimb]

Good, I managed to find a company who sells refractory cement ,, in ca-stable and plastering applications. I bough two 25kg bags , it will be sufficient to completely plaster the inside of my wood fired oven as well as casting a solid layer of this refractory cement on the floor of the oven that contains only of cement . The advantage of the cast-able cement is I van build a frame of 3mm mild steel and cast the complete furnace ..much,much easier, cost effectiveness as well

Ha you are just building a larger forge without the extreme heat.

 

[ChrisG]

Melting my own aluminum to cast y own rollers for the belt sanding machine

Two burner forge build :

Building a new single burner forge , this is an extremely efficient forge, I only use this forge now..

Looks like you got the aluminum a little hot there Gert... . The first few times I tried to cast aluminum I ended up with the big blue fireball as well. I found that a bit of borax on top sealed it from the air so it wouldn't burn at pouring temp. I have since moved away from aluminum and on to copper and steel melts for other projects, but Aluminum remains a useful metal for a lot of stuff... Metal working is still one of my favorite things to do and especially casting. Here is a lion head that I was commissioned to cast for a local park spring from Aluminum:

keep up the good work! I love reading your threads!

 

[KP/-31]

This thread is right up my alley! I started forging last year, and have quickly found that quality tools are a must for quality work. I keep getting frustrated with cheaper tools/supplies and replacing them with better ones. Unfortunately that gets expensive pretty quickly. Here's probably my best/most elaborate so far. The second pic is my second dedicated hunting knife.