Gas Forges

Here it is finally. Spanky spent a lot of her valuable time reading the galleys and editing for me or this would be a real mess. She won't accept credit on the document as the editor either. Thank you Spanky! T Burner Directions finished.pdf Here's hoping this clears up some of the questions. Frosty The Lucky. T Burner Directions finished.pdf

The beginning of forge design is the study of burners. The proper end point of burner design is the equipment they power. Lumped together, these subjects are too unwieldy; at the same time, they can't stand-alone, since their study is as intertwined as the equipment itself. What kind of forge is best is an arbitrary question, without any adequate answer. But, whatever design you favor, there are common factors which lead to a desired end point--or away from it. Size: Bigger is never better. once a forge is outmatched by the work load it becomes a part time tool. But, an outsize forge quickly becomes an embarrassment collecting dust in a corner. Shape Is m…

I've just missed commenting on a discussion that has been closed a second time, and can't help but agree that it was probably the best course, but it brings up a recurring problem; and that is perhaps a need for the discussion on burner design as a general topic. I haven't seen any other topic that gets heated any where near this fast in the Gas Forges section. I don't no why egos get so quickly bruised on this subject; there are lots of other details that can ruin a forge build; perhaps it's because poor work on the others isn't so spectacularly obvious; be that as it may, burners seem to be the item that folks show the most willful ignorance about in starting out,…

After countless hours combing the gas forge section of the forum I came to realize that much of the information required to build a basic forge was difficult to access. It was spread out across a number of threads and much of it was “old information” as new ideas could be found in other places. For that reason, I decided to document my own journey and share my notes that I took as I found information. This is what I gleaned from much reading. I know that JHCC wanted these notes so I thought I’d share them with my own experiences. Here goes: Materials for Gas Forge Mikey’s summary of the whole thing: https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/47439-forges-1…

It's worse in the winter of course but it's a problem even in the summer. I am totaly fed up with schlepping tubs of water. If I forge all day, I have to refresh the water at least once. If I leave it till I see the pressure fall, I have to melt off the thick jacket of ice that's formed. If I dont remove the tank when I leave and leave it overnight, I have a propane tank in a large block of ice. I dont have room in my shop for multiple tanks. I don't even have the extra room for the water tub. Anyway, I got the guts of one of those hot air hand driers that they use in public restrooms and set it up to blow on the propane tank. No more frost!! The tank is pleasantl…

I have been tinkering with burners for a number of years now, but the hard part was making the burners to test the ideas. In burners 101, John in Oly, WA had posted about some of his experiments in the vortex burner range. His experiments were created in part with a 3D printer. Seeing what he had done, I had a mind blown epiphany about 3D printers and prototyping. I knew almost nothing about them at the time. I learned about 3D printers and purchased one. I then had to learn about their idiosyncrasies, as well as 3D modeling and slicing the CAD models. As my CAD skills improved, my experiments got more complex. I usually print a burner head which fits a mix tube …

I have built a 3/4" t burner. Pictures to come. I was going to make the chamber inside my forge 250 cubic inches. Is this cavity too small.? Tank measures 10" diameter x 12" long.

I am working on making a gas (propane) fire pit. I have read that you gotta buy or make an air mixer valve / venturi. Otherwise the flame will be yellow and very sooty. I assume you guys have make your own venturi things, how hard is it to do? I don't need a hot flame to melt stuff, just don't want the sooty black stuff coming off. Also how long does a 9kg / 20lb gas bottle last in a forge? I'm just trying to work out how long my fire pit will burn for. I might need two bottles for the night. I guess it is all about pressure and how big a hose/ nozzle/jet you are using. I'm after flames about 3-4ft high, like flames in a good sized wood campfire. Looks l…

Hi People, I have just joined this forum, and I am a newbie to blacksmithing having only a years experience. I am not a Newbie to Propane. I have worked with Propane my whole life, I live and breath the stuff. I am amazed by the miss information out there in blacksmith land, concerning this amazingly versatile and relatively safe energy source. A little about me... I do not know everything about Propane, though I would like to . I do have access to one of the best libraries on the subject you will find anywhere in the world. If I don't know I will say so and probably direct you to somebody who will. If I say something you disagree with please say so, I am not perf…

I'm inm the planning stages of first gas forge build after reading most of Forges 101. After doing some mockups of a 20lb propane tank forge, I think that's too large for what I'll need for knives, axe heads, and maybe some smaller tools. So I'm planning on a 10" diameter by 12" length which is still probably overkill for my uses but seems more manageable in my mind. I mocked it up in CAD so I could more easily see the scale & such knowing my manufacturing skills make all the dimensions a rough guess. I'm gonna build up the floor by putting an extra layer of Kaowool on the bottom and make it roughly flat. The size here will give me roughly 250 in^3 of volume so I'm pl…

Hey guys, first time posting here. Although I've forged my own ring, I am an amateur when it comes to forging. My ring was made using my friends forge which runs well. About a month ago, I picked up an entire forging setup that allowed me to get started by myself. It did come with a regulator for the gas bottle, but the burners too have the air intake and regulators. I picked up a tunnel firebrick forge which the previous guy used for blade and sword smithing. Now, me being new, I think I've overlooked some things because it's just not working as I expect. The forge is around 44cm deep and around 12cm tall, 12cm wide. It's a steel frame that is the skeleton for holding…

Our club is offering a workshop this spring for building a gas forge. We only pay for materials and provide the vessel. The instructor is requesting that we email him with our plan so he can order the appropriate amount of materials and also so he can give feedback/revision suggestions if needed. I've already reached out and asked him if I could make something like the NC Whisper Deluxe but with added end doors as well. He said yes. So now I'm looking at possible vessels and deciding if I need single (<=360cuft) or dual burners. I'd love to be able to work on projects similar to the ABANA Curriculum Level II grill project using the gas forge. The problem I…

I live in Southeast Alabama near the Florida Line. I started forging about 5 years ago and need to upgrade my forge. I am hoping to get some sage advice from folks who know much more than I do about this topic. In essence, what I am wondering is should I simply upgrade my venturi burners to forced air and move them to the side of the forge body rather than on the top. If I should go this route I can save a moderate amount of cash, but will I get nearly as much bang for the buck? I will be building a manifold toe distribe the air/gas mix to two burners. The air source will be about 4 feewr away on the floor, blowing directly into 1 1/2 inch pipe. I want to place a 1…

Hi all. In addition to my other post about my new coal forge, I'm using the January slow period to rebuild my gas forge as well. I have a double burner (venturi) built from an old 13kg butane bottle and soft firebrick. The burners are from a cheap Vevor forge I bought a couple of years ago. I made a mistake in building the forge in putting hard brick in as a non-removable floor and it just sucked all the heat out of everything. Took an age to heat up. Since then I'm layering half cut soft bricks on top but they are disintegrating and take up half of my forge volume. The problem I'm having with my burners is that the flame keeps puttering out, which is usually …

Hi all, way back somewhere in the Cretaceous period, I did a little bit of forge work at high school, making, amongst other things, a fire poker that my mother still uses today. I enjoyed that but metal shop stopped shortly after that and I've not touched a forge since. I found this forum a while back and figured it would be fun to have another but life got in the way and a few more years went past until recently I decided to do something about it. I've built a gas burner based on a 1" Amal injector and it works very nicely. Now I've picked up some Vitkas grade 26 soft bricks (I'm in the UK) along with a few hard bricks and I'm shuffling them around like lego to work…

I've heard Majestic Forges are good but have seen they have or are having problems. Anyone purchase from them recently, is quality back and are they filling orders? I'm doing blacksmith work as a hobby and don't need a large forge perhaps a 2 burner. Any help/information (brand doesn't matter) will be appreciated for a forge that could go on a cart as I don't plan to run it in the garage.

Hey guys, I've been reading through posts on here for a while and it's about like drinking from a firehose. Great knowledge base! My 12 year old boy has been interested in smithing (I am too) so for Christmas we got him a Hell's Forge single burner. I plan to build a nicer forge with a ribbon burner if he sticks with it. I have a question in relation to the jet size. The manual mentioned it being .035" I found that the regulator doesn't have to be opened much to heat the forge enough to work steel. (Which is good, because I'm making him buy his own propane.) However, in order to keep the flame from occasionally running back up into the 3/4 burner tube,…

Hello everyone!, I am new to this forum and looking forward to interesting discussions I would like to build my own gas ribbon burner forge. During the planning phase, I am unsure about the correct angle of the burner. Could you help me to align it properly? Technical specifications: Forge size: See side section. Length: 516 mm Burner size: The burner head is made of refractory concrete. The dimensions of the refractory concrete are L = 300 mm, W = 80 mm, H = 25 mm. There are 45 M8 drill holes on this surface. Thank you very much for your help! Kind regards The SpaceForgeProject Drawing Forge/Burner: https://www.directupload.eu/file/d/9188…

I came accross what appears to be a heat gun combined with a propane burner at this web site: http://www.onlygaz.com/pages/gas_torch.html Anyone know anything about these gizmo's? Articles posted on the site appear to be in french and all points of sale appear to be in France. They have an english users manual (pdf) it says that the unit preheats the air to 650 C and also preheats the propane some. The operating gas pressures are down around bbq levels ie very low. RJS

Greetings! I'm planning out a new forge, smaller (and hopefully hotter) than my current 3/4 NARB powered forge. I'd like to be able to forge weld with this one, as my current one just doesn't get hot enough. What I've got planned so far is a 2 1/2 inch radius tunnel forge with a flattened bottom about 9 inches long. Insulation will be 2 layers of 1 inch 8# ceramic wool and 3/8 inch of kastolite 30. For a shell, I'll be using some steel sheet I've got kicking around pop riveted together. Some back of the napkin math tells me the inside will be around 175 cubic inches, so I'm planning on a 1/2 inch Frosty T burner. First question for the people who know, I've…

Hey everyone Im new to the forging scene and need help figuring out where to get a replacement hose with a regular for my vevor 2 burner forge, links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and happy smithing to all

I'm in the "batting ideas around in my head" stage of making my first gas forge, and there's one thing I'd appreciate some advice on. I have an empty disposable helium tank (left over from an office party) that I'm planning to make into a fairly basic D-shaped gasser (similar to Andy's "D" forge). The dimensions are about 12" in diameter by 14" long, so if the lining is about 2.5" thick (2" of rigidized kaowool, 0.5" of castable refractory, and IR coating) and I fill in the bottom up to the center line (maybe leaving space to add a piece of kiln shelf), I should get a semi-cylinder no bigger than 9" wide, 4.5" high, and 9" deep. This would give a working volume of about 2…

I have been struggling with slitting and drifting, and the consensus is that I need to get the steel hotter. So I went back and very carefully tuned my Reil burner, using the recommended Tweco 14T tip. The most I can get out of it is orange color, not even yellow. I went ahead and set up a web page with more information and photos, so take a look. My forge Suggestions would be appreciated. Richard

Hello Hello I am not a smith, I'm new to all this so bear with me, however I’m helping a friend build their first home forge. We want to make something that’ll last at least into his intermediate smithing journey. After digesting some of the info on here I understand a round forge is the way to go, or if not round, a square forge with a ribbon burner. I’ve unfortunately had a tough time finding a used air compressor or steel pipe large (and cheap) enough for a round forge. I will continue searching in the coming weeks and swap to a round forge build if the opportunity presents itself. The current plan is to make a double burner (venturi or T) square forge …

While I have had good luck heating sheet metal (for forging bowls) with a rosebud tip on my oxypropane torch, it is rather a fuel hog, plus I’m paying for the O2. However, my regular gas forge doesn’t accommodate bowls very well until they’re practically finished. This problem didn’t seem to have a great solution, but then I ran across Eric Thing’s article on Anvilfire about his armor forge. (IFI doesn't allow links to AF, but a websearch for "Eric Thing" and "forge" will get you there.) So, here’s my version, with some modifications. First, I replaced the burner with a 1/2” Frosty T- burner powering a 12-hole NARB. Second, instead of Eric’s threaded rod height adj…