First gas forge

[bmazingo]

Hello my fellow members. I would like to build a propane fired forge. here are some of my requirements:
1. Must be able to weld I want to make knives,tools and damascus
2. Must be able to handle long stock 24"+ incase my brother deside to make a sword.

Now that the requirements are set the rest will follow.

I have access to all the welding and cutting tools for fabrication and metal etc....
I do not have any kaowool or ceramic fiber, nor can I find any fire brick locally. I am debating calling ADCO boiler repair, to inquire about materials. I figure they would have excess used fire bricks and castable refractory . They also do our boiler maintenance at my job so they may let go of some for cheap.

I would like to try mixing my own refractory and have found several cheap recipes. But from what I am seeing on this and other site the fiber blanket will definately help insulate the forge better than refractory alone.

I was thinking of casting a dense removable refractory brick for the floor of the forge if I cannot get the HD fire bricks. Is there any material that can be used to reinforce refractory. Like fiber reinforced cement you buy for side walks only I was thinking kaowool fibersinbedded in the refractory. Incase of a fracture. Maybe casting the brick ontop of the kaowool blanket.
I believe I will coat every thing with furnace cement or something equivalent.

Size is not too big a deal. I was thinking maybe 4" by 24" or 6"x18" chamber with a flat bottom and arched roof. Possibly even making it modular by varying the floor height with the cast brick. I can just do a pass through style to handle the longer stock.

I have acces to some 10" auger trough, bu If I make my chamber 4" that will only leave 3" on either side for insulation???? I might be able to get some 18" pipe that would allow me to make a bigger chamber and still have more insulation.

I also think I would like to do a force air burner, so I can run lower pressures but if I have to I can run high pressure with my regulator (0-30psi).

Okay people through you knowledge at me, I can take it!!!!

one more question how well would ceramic floor tile work foor the floor of a forge?? Aren't they fire at hight temp? oh yeah my typing sucks!sorry.

[maddog]

It's great that you have access to metal working tools. Makes life a lot easier. Personaly I think a forced air burner is a good choice especialy for a first forge.

Temperatures inside a forge can reach 2600F or even higher. Most other "hot crafts" like aluminum casting or pottery don't work in this regime.

Many home made refractory recipe are designed for a much lower temp range. Ordinairy tiles will turn into soup. So will a lot of fire brick thats not rated for these temps.

If you use firebrick in your forge, you want the soft light crumbly kind. They are not cheap.

Generally you want at least two preferably three inches of refractor and insulation. Hard refractory is not a great insulator but Kaowool is. A common design is an inner core of cast refractory wrapped in one or two inches of wool.

I recommend you buy a bag of Mizzou and some kaowool. You can get them on ebay at reasonable prices. You are new to forges. Why make life more difficult for yourself experimenting with stuff you dont properly understand yet?

The forge shell need not be heavy steel. Old freon tanks are a popular choice.

A common mistake with first forge projects is to build something that is too big, and often too complicated. A big chamber will be harder to get up to forging and welding temps. I've seen some projects fail completely this way. After working with a small forge for a while you will learn how to use it and you will be surprised at how versatile it is. I am not a blade maker but I doubt you need 24" of hot steel all at once. Most hand forging is done a few inches at a time. I recommend a small chamber no larger than 6"x12". This means your shell should be 12" dia. I like 5"x8" for a chamber size and I can forge a gate with that!

If your primary interest is blade making, you should really look at Don Fogg's knife making forge and either copy it or at least use it as a starting point. In general I urge you to stick to a tried and true design for your first forge. Making a forge is not hard but most people don't have experience working with such high temps and there are lot of things you can do wrong. Browse through the "my first forge" threads on this forum and you will see how often this happens. My own first attempt was a failure for the same reasons.

Good luck :)

[pkrankow]

A small forge with a pass-thru opening is better than a large forge for most beginners. A opening on the side that can be plugged is also helpful. A small forge can also make large things by heating sections at a time.

Phil

[bmazingo]

I swore I poasted a reply this morning???? Any way I am still working on the plans, But I may have a blower for the burner. I'll post more later.

[bmazingo]

Okay definately gonna go forced air for the burner.
Still undesided on the external shell, but still have the auger trough to fall back on if I cannot find something else. I would like to have as much insulation as possible so the larger the outside shell the better. I think I will keep the internal chamber 6" or less if I go any bigger I my incorporate a removable plug into the rear of the froge to take up excess space in need be. I think 24" long will be plenty. If I buy a roll of 1"x24"x25' I won't have to cut the width.

I am leaning toward a layered design such as this:
Shell thin layer of kaowool/thick layer of refractory/thick layer kaowool/refractory or hight temp coating. This is up for debate though I would not want the refractory to mash and settle the kaowool on the bottom of the forge. Please comment.

I have some ideas sketched out but nothing firm yet.

I have access to some refractory cement at work but I do not know the age or brand / ratings. I know it is used in our boiler, should be good for 2000* but I do not know if it is for higher than that.

Can anyone tell me if the Rutland 211 refractory mortar is sutable for topcoat in a forge?
Their ChimneySweep Furnace Cement is good for up to 2700 but it hase to be heat cured. I think I can use and electric heating element to heat the inside to 500* I have access to programmable controls and rtds for heating elements at work. This would be more controllable than using the burner at that low of a temperature.

Could it be used for the innermost chamber if cast as recommended, and could it be cast for the outer layer using perlite as a grog/aggregate?

What is the temp rage on perlite?


Well back to reading, thanks again.



P.S. Just got a piece of 24" pipe from my Step dad not sure if I can use it may be too big, But will make a nice bbq grille if nothing else.

Edited December 8, 2010 by bmazingo

[maddog]

It makes no sense to put refractory outside kaowool. It has little insulating value and its main purpose in the forge is to make a durable inner liner.

You will need to close off the ends of the forge or you will have trouble getting it hot.

24"x6" is kind of long and narrow for a single burner port. The heat will be very uneven. If you must go with that length, consider a dual burner setup.

Perlite would work as an outer layer, but if it gets too hot, it will make a sticky mess. It's just glass.

Inner refractory materials should be rated at least 2600F. 3000F is better.

Cement by itself does not make good castings. Some cements can be mixed with refractory material to make a plastic mix. You might be able to apply it onto the kaowool as a thick coating.

Refractory in forges is usually cured buy letting it dry completely in a warm environment. After that, you can bake out most of the water by heating it *slowly* to 500F in an oven or similar. The rest is done by firing the forge multiple times with rest periods in between and getting it a little hotter each time.

[pkrankow]

24 inch long is HUGE! HUGE!! HUGE!! 8-12 inch is a nice manageable size. 6 inch diameter is nice, and consider a slot that can be nicely plugged with a soft firebrick down one side. You can also make it hinged on one side so you can prop the other up slightly when you need the extra width. Obviously all your air/gas plumbing is on the hinged side.

Shells are really easy, go get a piece of black 6 inch stovepipe. It is 24 inches long, can be cut with shears, and self-drilling sheet metal screws are excellent for fastening.

With kaowool, you get to diminishing returns somewhere around 2 inches. 3 inches may be overkill. 4 is without question overkill.

If you want a thicker steel, call up the local HVAC place and ask about getting a few scrap freon cans. They may be required to puncture them before turning them over to you, but that is fine, you are just going to cut it up anyways.

You may want 2 burners with a 12 inch shell.

Portland, the stuff that makes concrete harden, is cured by absorbing water. At a temperature of about 500F that reaction is driven backwards causing the concrete to crumble. There are ridgidizers available (better) or you can use kaolin clay heavily grogged with zircon flour (will crack, but works ok, I am using this.)

Phil

[bmazingo]

Okay 24" is too big, I ahve got to get out of the bigger is better mentality. I have some 16" pipe also. That is only about 3" larger diameter than a 5 gallon bucket, About the size of a 20lb propane tank. I think it will work and it is here already.

So explain too me how morw blanket is less effective? I thought the more heat you kept in the chamber the better? Wouldn't a thicker layer of fiber do a better job? Or, are you talking about it is not worth it base on cost$$$?

If I go 16"x12" for the body, and then another 2" per end cap I would get a 16" long chamber, the diameter is still to be determined.

So air dry castable outside, kawool inside, hightemp coating on the walls of the chamber?

But before I build a forge I have got to build a heater for my shop, it's cold here in the Heart of Dixie!

thanks guys.

[pkrankow]

So explain too me how morw blanket is less effective? I thought the more heat you kept in the chamber the better? Wouldn't a thicker layer of fiber do a better job? Or, are you talking about it is not worth it base on cost$?

Cost based, with 2 inches of wool I can touch my forge shell after an hour at operating temperature.

My shell is a piece of stovepipe. I now place a cinder block cap in front so I can stand some fire brick as doors. There is a slot in the back for long material. The floor is a single stove firebrick (2000F) and is showing signs of erosion. I sized the forge to the firebrick because I could not afford to feed the larger forge I built. The depression is not halfway through the brick yet (under the burner). This cavity is 5x9xabout 6 tall at the top of the arch.

This forge may be too small, and I plan to build a larger one at some point. It needs a slot in the side for wide items. It also can melt steel, but not fire weld, but that may be me.

I am building a solid fuel forge first, I just need a set of bellows, or rather time to build a set of bellows.

Phil

[maddog]

I completely agree with Phil's comments about chamber size. This is the most common beginner mistake and it's a trap. It's a natural thing to think one wants a forge that can do it all. No one forge can do it all. When you come up against that odd job that cant be done in your forge, you make a pile of firebrick and kaowool and stick your burner in it. But the main thing is that you dont yet have experience with how to use a forge in different ways. With a 6"x8" forge you can forge a whole gate with large scrolls none of which can fit inside the chamber. If you heat up 24" of steel to welding heat in order to forge a sword you will find yourself holding onto the end of an extremely hot, limp noodle! It will be uncontrolable. Hand forging is done on sections of 3" - 6" of hot steel at a time.

As for insulation: the refractory doesnt count for much. You need at least 2" of wool. I run my forges very hot most of the time. With just 2" of wool, the shell on my forge gets hot enough to boil water instantly, which is not a big deal but it would be better to trap that heat too. If you go for a 3rd layer of insulation, it doesnt have to be wool since the temp at that point is comparatively low. I use a mix of broken firebrick and scrap pieces of wool. Vermiculite or Perlite mixed with cement would be cheap and work. Except, as I said, if the hot gases escape into that region it makes a mess.

I use thin galvanized 6" stove pipe to make the inner shell for my casting forms. I think Phil is saying the same thing. A 12" shell, frinstance a small freon tank, with a 6" chamber will give you a 3" void to fill with insulation and refractory.

You must have a way to block up the ends or you will spend a fortune in propane trying to keep it hot and it may not weld that way.

[pkrankow]

I use thin galvanized 6" stove pipe to make the inner shell for my casting forms. I think Phil is saying the same thing. A 12" shell, frinstance a small freon tank, with a 6" chamber will give you a 3" void to fill with insulation and refractory.

You must have a way to block up the ends or you will spend a fortune in propane trying to keep it hot and it may not weld that way.

http://www.tractorsu...-24-in--3196062

Not very different, but not galvanized. This is the outside shell on my forge.

Having control over your fuel/air mixture will help with welding, and having the burner enter like mine does not help.

Phil

[maddog]

http://www.tractorsu...-24-in--3196062

Not very different, but not galvanized. This is the outside shell on my forge.

Having control over your fuel/air mixture will help with welding, and having the burner enter like mine does not help.

Phil

Are you saying that your forge is built inside a 6" stove pipe?

[pkrankow]

Are you saying that your forge is built inside a 6" stove pipe?

Yes, but I cut the pipe up and used part of it to make the flat base and legs and the ends. The top is a piece that was left unseamed and screwed to the base making it bigger than 6 inch diameter. Making it bigger could be as easy as seaming two pieces together.

As I stated, this forge may be a little too small, but a slot in the side would probably fix that.

Phil

[Sweany]

Here is a blast from the past.
Randall is talking about a venturi forge but the priciple is the same.
Randalls thoughts have helped me in all my forge building.
####################################################################################
Author: Randal October 16, 2000 at 05:22:20
I've talked about normalizing, annealing, and heat-treating in general out of a gas forge...thought I should clarify some things.
First, my favorite fuel is Charcoal...but to be honest, my belief is that it's romantic, smells nice, and fun, but quite inconvenient at times, so generally I'm using a propane fired gas forge for most forging and heat-treating. I have a larger propane forge for general smithing and welding big billets, or breaking down large steel stock.
This main forge of mine is very small. It's a 7 inch diameter pipe with 1/4 inch wall, and it's 10 inches long. The ends are capped with 1/4 inch plate, and in the ends, centered, are small triangular doors, with rounded bottoms on the openings...this helps to center blades and stuff in the forge while working. So, with the lining (one inch kaowool) , the chamber is 5 inch dia by 8 inches long.
Yes, it's REALLY small.
In forging work, it'll quickly heat up a 5-6 inch section. That's all I need to deal with at one time, especially doing swords. Heating more than that at a time is more trouble than it's worth, and a waste of gas. I can normalize and heat-treat blades up to around 40 inches in this forge with no trouble, using the pass-back-and-forth method. Great exercise for the shoulders.
It's fired by a simple single venturi burner mounted off-angle from the center, so the fire swirls around the lining and promotes even heat. I know a few have said this isn't necessary...but it is, after building literally dozens of forges, I can tell you that it gives you more heat, more efficiency, and cleaner/more even burns.
The forge is mounted horizontally, by the way.
This forge runs about 8-10 hours for me off 20# of gas, it's the best I've had so far in gas consumption, and it is capable of 2800-3000F temps if needed, but it's rare.
I ONLY forge and heat-treat with this unit, I NEVER put flux in it, or use it for any welding or soldering. It's my main forge and I want to keep it in good condition, especially for heat-treating. I have another larger forge for the dirty-stuff, like welding. It costs something like 30 or 40 bucks to build, but it's handy to have both torches and some kind of welding ability. Burner is a pipe-fitting burner, like Ron Reil's.
Now, what I find is that when we want more heat, the "thag muscle", the big one that connects the male's mind directly to his dxxx through the center of the body, influences us to believe that bigger is obviously the answer. It's not necessarily true though, as many things the thag muscle would want us to believe.
My small forge gives me enormous "fire-power" through virtue of its small chamber, which very intensely focuses and captures the fire and its potential for making heat. With a needle valve positioned so adjustments can be made quickly and intuitively, it also allows for a huge amount of immediate control. When I'm heat-treating a sword, I can also watch the blade out the backside of the forge, as well as the front, and have a very good on-the-fly view of exactly where my heat is going and what areas need to be addressed. It doesn't take very long before this whole back-and-forth method gets quite intuitive and natural; it gets easier every time it seems. Still, it requires a fair amount of time and practice to get real good at it. My time is cheap to me, what the hell.
And we have an innate tendency to get into a rush, which is a bad thing with an open atmosphere forge and heat-treating procedures...you WILL overheat something, and/or make a hot/cold spot. Trust me, you will. What I find I need to do is relax and take it slow, and move things up in temp in steps, keeping it all under my control. Don't allow the fire to dictate what's going to happen, keep control. I creep up to critical non-,ag temps slowly and deliberately, and hold the blades there as well for a time, paying attention not to be any hotter than necessary. Cool thing is if you take it easy and come up reasonably slow, the blades will appear to go non-mag at a lower temp...to an extent this is technically true, but as well it's just allowing things to stay caught-up during the process. When you heat fast and hard, surface temps blaze into the upper oranges but the core stays cooler, enough to fool both you and the magnet. so by the time you quench, you're hotter than you need to be by quite a margin, and this all adds up to extra stress and increased chances of failure in the quench... coarse grain, cracking, warping, uneven curvatures, all that crappy stuff we gotta fight with.
Remember not just to consider the outside of the steel, remember the inside as well, it's like cooking kinda. You don't want the inside un-cooked.
This all applies to salt-bath stuff and any heat-treating equipment really, as well. Just relax and take it easy, you can't make steel do anything...you can only ask it. Steel is a "she", no matter what anyone else sez...so treat her as such and be nice. When you get demanding, she gets bitchy.
Now, the basics really are very basic. But keep in mind that within these basics is room for an enormous amount of playing around, and that’s a good thing, that’s where you discover stuff. But first, getting a basic repeatable and reliable routine established is all-important, it becomes a forever base-line for you to stray from, and come back too, as it's needed. My basics are...
1) I can break-down and rough form blanks and big stock at high temps, so heats last longer and I can move maximum amounts of steel in a given time...but I have to realize and understand that this will have to be addressed later during forging and heat-treating, I have to know that I am in fact causing grain growth and a lot of stresses doing it this way.
2) I can start thermal cycling and treating right at the point where I start forging, and I have to get best results. I don't like getting things much over high orange...1600-1700f during heavy shaping, and I don't like letting it get to cold either, dull red means back to the fire.
3) When I get down to shaping fine surfaces and cleaning up lines and bevels, just heating to critical is where I want to go, and I lightly work the steel as it passes down to low reds and almost black...this way this fine-forging process also can add the elements of normalization to the process, and it starts everything off nicely for the dedicated thermal cycling that comes afterwards.
4) After forging a piece to satisfaction, it MUST be completely and thoroughly normalized...I accomplish this by carefully heating the entire blade, regardless of size, evenly to the non-magnetic temp and allowing it to cool in still air, to black...under 900F And I repeat this process for three complete cycles.
5) I have a high opinion of spherodized annealing...although do it in a very low-tech kinda way...it works regardless. I take the blade back up to reds, 1200-1300F, and do not allow any part of the blade to go non-mag or reach critical temps. I hold it here for around 30-40 minutes if it's a sword blade, maybe less if it's knife-sized, and deliberately cool it slowly, eventually allowing it to reach room temp. This will accomplish some very interesting things, most important are the softness of the steel, making it easy to shape and work, and how it will increase the results of the subsequent hardening and drawing cycles.
6) At this point I will do as much of the shaping and forming work as I possibly can, filing, scraping, carving, grinding...now is the time to do all of the heavy removal work, and to make sure all the lines are where they are supposed to be, and straight and crisp. It saves a crapload of work later on. It also ensures best results during hardening. IF no clay or differential hardening is in store for the given blade, iI may finish it to a high level here, perhaps 400-600 grit, to again save labor later when the blade is hard. If I am clay-treating, I drawfile everything smooth, or go no finer than 120 grit, to ensure clay adheres during the process. you CANNOT have a sharp or sharp-cornered edge when you harden, it'll likely crack. I go through great pains to make sure the edge is smooth and round. I also make all scratch-patterns ALONG the blade, instead of across...this will help prevent cracks.
7) I'm ready to harden... I'll sometimes pre-heat the tang/shoulder area on a big blade just a little bit before I start passing the blade through the forge and bringing it all up to temp...this can help this problem area on the really long stuff. I do it by simply running the blade all the way through till my bar and the blades tang are in the fire themselves, with an idle going in the forge...I just let some reds just BARELY start showing on the tang, then I start. I bring it up as even as I can, I'll address cold/hot spots as they occur by stopping in the fire for a second, or moving faster past a hot spot...whatever feels good, untill I get to a nice, even upper red, just below non-mag. At this point I'll add a little more fire untill I start to get that orange glow along the edge, then back off a bit untill It seems this is all the temp I'll get on the edge...usually you can simply keep going and wait for the rest of the blade to catch up, sometimes a little extra tweak of gas will be required... the aim is to get critical temp even throughout the entire blade, and to hold it there for a bit, a couple of minutes is good, without going any hotter than necessary.
8) then I quench. I have a number of methods for the quench, but the two basics are oil and water. In both cases it will help to pre-heat the quench...100-120F in both cases...it'll reduce the shock and increase the success, although room-temp water and oil can be used successfully if you got a particularly well-developed thag muscle. After all the rolling and boiling has stopped in the quench, then IMMEDIATELY go to the draw, or tempering cycle. Waste no time.
9) I draw three times, more if some straightening is required, at temps ranging from 300-600 and for usually half-hour cycles.
10) I have a scotch.
That is just the basics, and it's my own base-line. I do at times vary some of it in order to explore ideas or look for specific results, but it's all based on this set of steps and usually doesn’t stray to far.
It's also where I think we should all start...BEFORE fancy gear or big words, it'll allow you to get to a point where metallurgical explanations and concepts will make sense, because you will already have seen and experienced them. It makes the salt-baths and big words work a whole lot better if you can do it the "hard way" and no what it is you should be looking for during the processes.
One last thing, if you are going to forge and heat-treat yourself, you really may benefit by choosing a very small selection of steels and sticking with them, at least for a few years, before you try and use a whole bunch of different stuff.
I highly recommend 1050 for tools and such. I also recommend it for a starter steel when clay-hardening Japanese-style stuff is concerned.
5160 is a good basic big-knife and sword steel.
1084 and 1095 are great all-around blade steels, and also, my favorite all-around steel these days is Howard Clark's 1086M. If I could only have one, it would be the 1086M.
And L-6 can be a good one to explore, however, it's problematic sometimes, so best start with the simple ones first.
Hope this didn't bore anyone... it helps me to go over the basics sometimes too, why not here I figure

[Sweany]

From the old Keenjunk site:2001 or thereabouts

################################################################################
Here's a recipe from a potter ,Florida Bob. Bob makes his own kilns, burners etc.





Cone ten refractory

Mike Sweany and anyone else interested:

Sure do, and it's Easy to remember: 1:1:2:2:4. Courtesy of Lowell Baker at the Univ. of Alabama.

1 part (all by volume) Portland cement

2 part alumina hydrate

2 parts fireclay, native clay sometimes works -- *Always* have a local potter toss a couple samples in the kiln for testing, make sure they get fired at least as hot as your duty temp.

2 parts grog - this is potterese for ground and sized fired clay, crushed old soft firebrick . find the temp rating on the brick 1/2" screen to size

4 parts sawdust or vermiculite

mix with approx 2 parts water, should be almost loose & ram into form.

May need to gently heat for a good set after a day or so, looks like a soft concrete fresh & cork after firing

Have fun,

Bob

castable questions: Alumina hydrate & correction
Mike, et al:
Yup, pottery suppliers will have it, also try the local chemical supply house, you want 200 mesh, not necessarily reagent grade, but low iron, metal & flux able salt content. Also, Lowell Baker told me that calcium aluminates cements are also used in the cement boatbuilding industry for their high initial setting strength. The whole point of adding alumina is to imitate these cements. Look for cement-boat yards in your area if appropriate. Also Portland is a flux at high temps, so if anyone is going for copper, iron, etc & can find this stuff in your area, might want to use the Ca-Al+? mixes in the articles(there are 9 or 10 of them).
1 part alumina hydrate
4 grog
3 coarse sawdust, as from a sawmill
4 fireclay
2 Portland cement
2 vermiculite
SO, there is some leeway, but always test before you commit to a recipe. Be sure to test under use conditions, too (toss some in your forge, smelter, whatever -- in pottery, things that survive in an oxidation atmosphere sometimes degrade in a reducing atmosphere. (an excess of fuel gas or gasified solid fuel) And you might be working in contact with fuel, metal, fluxes - GOK what effect that'll have on a refractory, especially if you dig the clay. Preferably test to destruction, lets you know the idiot margin. Check at www.potters.org, under kiln construction. um, GOK = God Only Knows :->
Later, Bob.
alumina hydrate
Mike, You can order alumina hydrate and other ceramic/pottery supplies from National Art Craft, 1-8888-937-2723, or 1-888-we-r-craft, they carry a complete line of supplies from submersible pumps to glass oil lamps etc. and all the kiln supplies you might need to incorporate for your forge.
Looks like another overcast day in King George, Va.

[Sweany]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2CjEcrnVGw

[bmazingo]

I want a forge like the one in the video!!! but my shell will be a tad larger. Like I said I have 16" pipe. I will probably go no loger the 16" inches. My chamber will be 5"x 16" with a flat bottom and round roof. It should be about 400in.sq. total volume. Maybe smaller if I just do a round chamber. I think I can fill the shell with castable and the remaining 2-3" will be wool. Weight is not an issue with me. I also think I will cast the end caps but if not I will use the wool in the doors too. I am gonna do the pass through style with a closing flap in the rear. I am also gonna try to make my front door modular where I can adjust the size to fit the piece being worked.

I need to figure out my burner size and how many btu's I'll need to maintain the temp.

Thanks for all the info. The wealth of info on this site is amazing!!! I can spend hours reading the threads. later, thanks

[Jymm Hoffman]

I want a forge like the one in the video!!! but my shell will be a tad larger. Like I said I have 16" pipe. I will probably go no loger the 16" inches. My chamber will be 5"x 16" with a flat bottom and round roof. It should be about 400in.sq. total volume. Maybe smaller if I just do a round chamber. I think I can fill the shell with castable and the remaining 2-3" will be wool. Weight is not an issue with me. I also think I will cast the end caps but if not I will use the wool in the doors too. I am gonna do the pass through style with a closing flap in the rear. I am also gonna try to make my front door modular where I can adjust the size to fit the piece being worked.

I need to figure out my burner size and how many btu's I'll need to maintain the temp.

Thanks for all the info. The wealth of info on this site is amazing!!! I can spend hours reading the threads. later, thanks

Send me a message and I will be glad to forward my updated information in building a blown system. Might take a couple of days since I am really busy right now. In the mean time you can see one of my small forges in use on this You Tube video: YouTube - Jymm Hoffman, American Blacksmith
this one is about 8 inches wide by 12 inches long on the inside and uses about 1/2 gallon of propane per hour. The larger 3 burner uses about 3/4 gallon per hour is 10 to 12 inches wide and about 18 inches long, has a side cut out for odd and larger shapes. I forge weld a lot in all of my propane forges. That is why I built them the way I did.

[bmazingo]

Send me a message and I will be glad to forward my updated information in building a blown system. Might take a couple of days since I am really busy right now. In the mean time you can see one of my small forges in use on this You Tube video: YouTube - Jymm Hoffman, American Blacksmith
this one is about 8 inches wide by 12 inches long on the inside and uses about 1/2 gallon of propane per hour. The larger 3 burner uses about 3/4 gallon per hour is 10 to 12 inches wide and about 18 inches long, has a side cut out for odd and larger shapes. I forge weld a lot in all of my propane forges. That is why I built them the way I did.

Hello Mr. Hoffman, Thanks for you post on my thread. Tried to send you a message but was unable to get it to go through. Watched the video, I liked it.

I am really interested in the forced air burner. I am gathering my material little by little. My biggest problem is finding local merchants with the materials on hand. I really hate paying shipping fees.

Would you please send me any info on your forced air burners and your forges.

[Sweany]

I dunno how far you are from Norcross

http://thermalproductsco.com/products.htm

Look for the wet of moldable fiberfrax, for small forges you can buy a couple pails of the stuff, the wet is not so fryable as the blamket. I relined one of my forges with it and the forge ws hotter on the same settings than before. A friend of mine used some also and confirmed it.
the fiberfrax store here in town does counter sales, call em and ask

[Jymm Hoffman]

Hello Mr. Hoffman, Thanks for you post on my thread. Tried to send you a message but was unable to get it to go through. Watched the video, I liked it.

I am really interested in the forced air burner. I am gathering my material little by little. My biggest problem is finding local merchants with the materials on hand. I really hate paying shipping fees.

Would you please send me any info on your forced air burners and your forges.

Sent you a message with my email address.
Even with shipping fees, my materials costs are less than a local Harbison Walker warehouse 5 minutes down the road.

[bmazingo]

Sent you a message with my email address.
Even with shipping fees, my materials costs are less than a local Harbison Walker warehouse 5 minutes down the road.

Email sent.

I know I will have to order some stuff, I am hopping to find a brick supplier or someone that may have what I need. If not I'll just order every thing. Sometimes it's worth the shipping fees to not have the headache of searching.

I attached a picture of some of the first blades my brother and I completed. Still working on finishing some of the knives. Most are 1065 steel one is rebar and the huge one is a mystery steel from my job. Most are a work in progress.

[Dodge]

Email sent.

I know I will have to order some stuff, I am hopping to find a brick supplier or someone that may have what I need. If not I'll just order every thing. Sometimes it's worth the shipping fees to not have the headache of searching.

I attached a picture of some of the first blades my brother and I completed. Still working on finishing some of the knives. Most are 1065 steel one is rebar and the huge one is a mystery steel from my job. Most are a work in progress.

Second picture from the right: Did you make the "KaBar"??
Scott

[pkrankow]

What was your inspiration for the huge one? It looks like a cartoon/anime knife, but usable in its huge proportions. Looks like you have a good start on this.

Phil

[bmazingo]

Second picture from the right: Did you make the "KaBar"??
Scott

I only wish, it was in the picture for a size comparision, should have mentioned that, sorry!.

It is actually an older camillus that was given to my brother. I did a clean up on it. It was in bad shape when I started cleaning it but by good fortune it was only surface tarnish and grime. The blade is either chrome or nickle plated, you can barely make out the camillus trade mark on the flat of the blade above the cutting edge. Really turned out to be a nice knife for free.