Gas Forges

Hey there, First time poster. I bought a forge at an estate sale, been using it for a few years. I think it was mainly used for farrier work. Anyone recognize this unit? Also, I'm starting to do more forging and no matter how hard I try, I cannot forge weld mild steel. I have made a couple pattern welded blades with random high carbon steels, but I can't get mild to weld. Seems like the forge isn't hot enough. Should I bag it and buy a better forge or attempt to improve what I have? Or maybe this is a good forge and I have other problems? Thanks for helping.

Hey all, long time reader first time poster out of Charleston SC. I have owned a forge before but it is falling apart and really was more of a farrier style forge from 10 years ago anyway. I have done some forge welding (not like Damascus. Just putting Mild or junk steel together to make cool decorative trivets etc.) So, I am attempting to build a forge from what I purchased a few years back and while I have tried to read a good bit and catch up, some things appear to have changed or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. The hope is to build something better insulated and a good first forge for small items again like knives small hammers and all of the oth…

Good afternoon everyone, Been getting some of that good ole experience lately, things I should do and not do. But the short of the story is that i've been using a Mr Volcano Hero 2 for a few weeks now and its been good so far, got it too hot to look at without polarized glasses and even then it was borderline. Only complaint is the rubber hose at the joints to the burners melts too easily if you apply any sort of pressure (the hose drooping). The second part is the holder for one burner broke off so i'm running one burner. Fixed the first problem but the second one makes me want to build my own forge and after reading some posts here I think I can. Im aware of t…

Hi everyone, i thought it best i start a thread in regards to getting the best advice and guidance to building my first propane forge. I was thinking of purchasing a propane forge but i realised with a bit of time and effort i could build a much better forge and actually save a few hundred bucks along the way. So the forge i want to build will be primarily used for medieval swords. but also other things like plant hangars, fire pits, steel gate's, etc. I have a terrible sword fetish, most will be simply wall hangars, some for a medieval display and one or two for some backyard cutting. I was going to build a square forge around 21"-25" long, 8"-9" wide…

I've got an old brake drum coal forge a friend made decades ago & was handed down. I've used it a bit, enough to know some of it's many limitations & am looking to finally complete my first propane forge. I've got an old propane tank shell I've started building & a pile of other supplies. Started things a year or 2 ago but other stuff put this project on hold. I've read through the forums a lot over the past few years & have the general process down, but still have a few questions. Probably making a run to the local Ferrier/blacksmith supply tomorrow or in the next week to grab some missing parts. I should probably just toss together a quick & dirty fi…

Well not yet...is this gap around the burner tube on top of the forge ok. Is it gas safe, heat safe, KAOWOOL safe. The t at the top left of the pic mixes air into the propane, I believe.its windy as heck today and I'm having trouble keeping my flame going. Now that it's hot it's better. Is it possible that those two big circles might be breathing the wind that blows me out. I tried to cover the forge openings with bricks but kept getting blown out. Is it the big t in my venturi blowing out my flame and if so how can I best shade the wind. Into the t, 45 degree, 90 degree or coffee cup n tape etc. Many thanks The bottom pic is at 7 psi rolling Tues 12:20pm

I am not sure what this pipe was intended for. Something oil and related. It is 28” long with an internal diameter of about 7,5” and OD of about 8.5”. Is this too thick? It is awfully heavy. Is the internal diameter too small? Once all the insulation and such is added, how wide will it likely be? I want to try an ribbon burner, but not naturally aspirated. I was considering NARB, but as someone in a Beginner Blacksmithing group on FB pointed out to me, I am not Frosty and NARB requires a lot of knowledge about how to tweak the settings. I don’t have that. Any suggestions as to length will be appreciated. I only need it large enough for hammers an…

I just got a propane furnace for the house. The tank is not installed yet, but it will be right by the shack where I have my forge, and they said it's easy to run another line. They say they are required to put a regulator on it, dropping the pressure to 5 or 10 psi, they weren't sure which. That should be enough for my forge, but should i continue to use my normal regulator in tandem? Or should I rig up a needle valve? I'll be in the same quandary with my oxy-propane torch. Thanks

. I was taught to build a forge here. Now I'm stuck with 5" of 1.5" cable and part of a newer burner melted into a hard puddle at the bottom of my forge. Is there anyway to remove the metal. It was literal burn in for new matrikote. If I can just rematrikote over the steel that easy and cool with me. Does burned steel in a forge hurt anything. Does it make toxic air? My last question is about cracks in my mortar layer around the forge opening. I'm worried about the bottom layer of the lining that's kaowool does it escape from cracks. I've got a little one who is great company. Thanks for any info. I hope this is a real place to post. I'm heeding mod42 advisem…

1/4" idea. Jet: mig tip fitted with .015 capillary tube and soldered into 1/4" elbow. Air chamber: coupling with 3 slots cut into every other side. Interior sanded smooth. Barrel: 1/4" pipe beveled on chamber side for fam flow. (the galvy will be soaked) Nozzle: ??? Currently have this stainless fitting I will try to tailer it to. Just a little experiment for a high power hand torch. Per Mikey's challenge, though not quite the same design.

So I needed a gas forge and wanted a ribbon burner. So I followed the model from John at Black Bear Forge's videos and built a ribbon burner with two-piece body. 1/8" steel body, 2 layers of inswool, covered in Kast-o-lite 30, final coating of bubble alumina. 9 inch ribbon burner. Forgive the poor welding - my welding has improved dramatically since then, but it works. "A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't" It is so nice to be able to forge weld a large cross section of steel with consistent heat in a reducing atmosphere. Trying to do a san-mai cleaver was killlng me on my coal forge.

I’ve checked the gas furnace section and my head is still spinning. That being said, looks like I’ll be starting with small items (been dealing with small jewelry items for years so it will be nice to work with larger pieces again). That little j-hook already has a local following and a carpenter friend is sniffing around about metalwork. So after exhaustive reading here (and thanks to those that shared what they knew), I’m looking at the Mr. Volcano Hero 2 for starters. I have enough room to move it and a small propane tank around to where I can use it outside. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Does anyone have an opinion on the majestic forge 2 burner knife maker deluxe propane forge? Does anyone know of any other propane forge that is "Cheap"? Thanks for your help P.S I would make one but I'm not very good at building things yet.

Hi all, I've made a gas forge using two 3/4" frosty Ts into a party balloon helium tank (about the same size as a 9kg/20lb propane tank) with 2" of ceramic wool and a cast floor from a castable refractory called duracast. I've rigidised the ceramic wool, including spritzing the outer layer before installing the inner layer and then started with some shorter burns first and then built up the time. My intention was/is to apply several thin coats of satanite (I can't find Kast-o-lite in Australia) but I have used the forge for two 1 hour actual forging sessions so far and run into a problem. First session was great and it felt really good to use a working gas forge. But…

Hi. I have wanted to try blacksmithing for a while. The only experience I have on the subject is watching YouTube and recently finding this forum. My son has expressed an interest so we are looking for a forge. As I read through the post I get the feeling that the general consensus is a forge is built not bought. As fun as that would be I'm not ready to start a project (that I know nothing about) just so I can start a project I know nothing about. A search on a popular on line store brings up thousands of options all of which are made in a certain country and I don't want something that will blow up. I found one on another website that's even cheaper. Is this a red flag? …

For starters I would like to say this is not a Paris of plaster and sand mix forge. i picked up some fire Bricks from a local tractor supply. And laid them in an ammo can. (Basically using the ammo can as an outer shell) I am using a Bernzomatic TS8000 head connected to a 20 pound BBQ tank. This forge can get metal cherry hot when the flame is directly on the metal. For example I can heat up a 3/8 bolt head in two-three minutes but the thread section does not change head. I layered the bottom of my ammo can in some fine sand and then put my first fire brick on the bottom. I filled any of the gaps between the ammo can and the bricks with sand. Maybe this is where…

Fairly easy to identify. For typical pottery kiln shelves: Silicon Carbide shelves: Black/Grey, heavy weight, medium coarse "end grain" and surface Corderite shelves: light yellow/tan, relatively lighter weight, very smooth "end grain" and surface High Alumina shelves: bright white, medium weight, medium coarse "end grain" and surface Most will be corderite, as that is the budget alternative.

Sorry for the old thread, but do you happen to have some more photos of this? I think I'll be able to build it from just that photo but more angles would probably be helpful. I bought some insulating firebricks last week (2300F rated) and am planning to build something like this. I believe I would have lots of use for a similar forge (right now my coal forge is buried in a meter of snow). Might also be useful for heat treating parts.

I recently received this forge and I am trying to find out some more information about it. the only identifying marks on it are Johnson Gas Forge Lincoln Neb. and Shamps Iron and Mfg. Does anyone know what the knobs on the side of the burners do? Thanks for any help

I don't post as often as I should mainly because I don't have much to post. However I have read and learned a lot from you guys and want to say thanks. Anyway a little more back story about me. I've been here about a year and retired about the same time, since retiring I've taken up knife making using a firebrick forge. I've been collecting parts and learning and finally started to build a larger forge. The body is an old air compressor tank 12" diameter and 21" long, I plan on 3 burners. I've most the parts for the burners and started on the body. I've yet to source interior materials for the forge but plan on doing that soon. It may take me a while to get it don…

Sorry if this topic has been covered or is the wrong place. I've been away from I Forge Iron for a while. The Quantum Nargesa forge is expensive but also said to be safer than most. Does anyone have any experience with these? Comments (other than it is very high priced....that is obvious).

After 3 hours of searching the forums both through google and in IFI itself I still haven't found an answer to my question so I must ask unfortunately so here goes. When installing my burner into the forge how far should it go? Should it stick all the way through the kaowool and if so how far past the kaowool should it stick or sould it be partially through the kaowool like 1.5" of the 2" ? I watched one of those alec steele videos last night where he was building a forge. While building it he only went through the roof material (which was some sort of a brick material) about 3/4's of the way through it. I don't think that would work out to well with the kaowool material …

Where is the ideal point to mount the 2 burners

Hello everyone, I'm new here but I have forged in the past. I had a brake drum coal forge and previously have forged some wrought iron decorations , simple railroad spike and 1095 billet knives and I was learning to drift axe eyes. Long story and not to jerk any heartstrings too much our daughter passed away and it's been 10 years since I've touched a forge. I want to pick it up again but with a gas forge. I'm not sure what route to go with a gas forge though. I see a lot of 1, 2, and 3 burner models within my price range. I primarily want to make knives and tomahawks. I really want to make a Bowie knife. I'm not sure if a single burner is enough for that though. I've bee…

I've been having issues getting my frosty t burners tuned. I have a foot or more dragons breath coming out the front. Nozzles are centered, .035, I have tried long all the way down to super short, I am running stainless 1:12 flares. I slid them up the burner tube and got slightly better results, doesn't matter if I'm running 1 or 2 burners, roughly 6x11 chamber, if I remove all fire bricks I get dragons breath out the front and back, tried 5-15 psi, 2 in kaowool, satanite, plistix 900f.