Arbalist Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 I've been looking at some of the small portable (2 burner) gas forges available online and wondered if I could build my own with some materials I have to hand. I have a dozen soft fire bricks 9" X 4.5" and just over 1.25" (33mm) thick. Would these be thick enough in a single layer to form the basic forge? I have some 1 inch thick hard bricks I thought to use for the floor of the forge on top of the soft ones. Vic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Yes No Maybe depending on what *you* want out of your forge. In general the more insulation the more efficient---I would put a layer of soft under the hard for the bottom for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbalist Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Thanks for the reply Thomas. I've been looking at this one and it does say "This forge will reach welding temperatures quickly" http://www.castreekilns.co.uk/forges_88.html I'm not looking to heat up big lumps of stuff but would like to get say 5/8" bar up to welding temperature. The Castree forge, and also the Diamondback forges: http://www.diamondbackironworks.com/gas_forges_1.html both seem to have fairly thin refractory in them. Vic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Forges are a heat balance of Heat In vs Heat Out, you can get even a poorly insulated forge up to welding temp if you dump enough heat in fast enough---but it's expensive in gas! The more insulation the less gas you have to spend. If you want to weld you would probably pay the cost of excellent insulation in extra gas in a very short length of time. Be apprised though that usually the better the insulation the worse it's reaction to borax flux so many welding forges often trade efficiency for longevity of the refractories---or go for a stacked system with the efficient stuff protected by a more rugged but less efficient inner layer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcornell Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 I've been looking at some of the small portable (2 burner) gas forges available online and wondered if I could build my own with some materials I have to hand. I have a dozen soft fire bricks 9" X 4.5" and just over 1.25" (33mm) thick. Would these be thick enough in a single layer to form the basic forge? I have some 1 inch thick hard bricks I thought to use for the floor of the forge on top of the soft ones. Vic. My forge is more or less like this forge: http://zoellerforge.com/firebrickforge.html I have a one z-burner as my heat source and yes, I can get welding temperature. I have half of a hard firebrick sitting on the floor of my forge, taking the punishment from the burner and catching borax. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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