Gas Forges

this is my little forge for general work I am currently building a big one with a 25 inch long floor and and 13 1/2 wide and 5-7 inches tall the doors make a huge difference I used 1/2 inch angle iron and made two side to the frame and tacked them together I didnt have the right channel for the door guide so i tacked together 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch channel it was really simple to build and didnt cost much

I'm looking for a regulator and a gauge for my first forge. Not 100% sure what to get but found this guy and am thinking of ordering it. My linkhttp://www.toolfetch.com/Category/Welding/Gas_Cutting_Welding/Regulators_Flowmeters/328-EP-70G.htm And if it doesn't come with the gauge, is there such a thing as a gauge that reads from 0-20 or around that. Most of the ones I see are 0-100 psi.

I've been preparing to build my first forge for awhile now. The last of the items needed are supposed to be here on the 9th. The design is the Simple Gas Forge on Larry Zoeller's web page. I'm going to be lining it with Inswool (very similar to Kaowool), coating it with Satanite, then ITC-100. I was wondering if the Inswool needs to be fired/cured or anything of the sort before lining it with Satanite? I'm starting out with a single burner(hobby money is at a minimum), but I'm pretty sure I'd like to be able to forge weld eventually, so would like to add a second burner down the road. If I plan for 2 burners should I put my single burner in the front or back? I'm th…

I 've been looking at propane forges. I'm interested in the Mankel 2 burner forge. With a blower, it should get up to welding heat. One web site said the 3 burner gets up to 2600 degress. I assume it would be necessary to block off the front portion to reach welding heat and use the side openings like other forges. I like the design which allows for odd shape piece to fit into the forge. Other people have said that the mankel forge was designed for horseshoeing, but does that mean it can't be use for general blacksmithing. Has anyone had experience with the Mankel 2 or 3 burner forges? Does it get up to welding heat with a reasonable time, and with the blower, …

Here are a few pics of my completed propane forge build. -LouieIV

I've been using a 1-1/2" Tee -> 1-1/2" connector -> 1/1-2" to 1" reducer -> no flare with a tweco tip on a 1/8" brass tube as the burner in my well insulated tube shaped forge for quite some time. This sucker simply roars with a fierce blue flame, inside or outside the forge. It drinks propane, but I am quite happy with the performance. Many happy hours pounding on hot metal. Now have built a couple of 1'x1'x2' rectangular ovens. They are packed with Kaowool and stabilized with kaolin, and have a volume of about 200 cu/in each. One is going to be a ramp-controlled electric oven for heat treating steel, annealing glass, and firing pottery. The other oven i…

http://www.thermalartist.com/burners/jf anyone used once of these? i was thinking it might be a decent burner but i really dont know if i bought one then i could find out lol

I'm working on building my first forge. It will be essentially the 'simple gas forge' on Larry Zoeller's site. my question is will the inswool HTZ 2700 deg liner provide significantly better efficiency over the standard 2400 deg inswool? In other words is it worth almost double the cost in propane savings down the road. I will be coating it with I will be coating it with satanite and/or bubble alumina and ITC-100. Any input, opinions, or questions are welcome. Thanks, LouieIV

I've finally got around to building myself a proper gas forge and gave it a first run today. I made use of the materials i had to hand, so the inside of it may be a bit larger than most of the forges I've seen (internally it's 10" diameter and 14" long). The burner I've used is a venturie sold for pottery kilns and the like on Ebay Out of curiosity I put a thermocouple in to watch the temperature rising steadily and remain pretty stable whilst I knocked a few bits out. I had it settling around the 1170C mark whilst running the gas at 0.5 bar. This is the first time I have used a gas forge of any sort for more than a few minutes (my previous pile of bricks+duff burn…

well in 2 years i think that i have managed to build 5 gas forges and had at least triple that in burner designs so far not so good my last incarnation with 1 1/2 inch pipe and 2 inch reducers must have ran too lean and burned up the pipes in 8 months before that i had a blown setup with 2 inch to 1 1/2 pipe it was great the fuel really really lasted along time and it ran great on a reg that only went up to 14 psi I attempted to make a 2 burner blown setup with a welded manifold but the pressure was never equal and it had constant problems I looked at jymm hoffmanns setup on here and it looked pretty good but most of my fittings are 2 inch to 1 1/2 not all 1 1/2 l…

I am going to build a kiln on this base, with firebricks. I need a work hardening and heatreating oven. My question is can I retrofit this the way I want? Can I use propane instead of natural gas which it seems to have been plumbed for? Also I'd like to have a thermostat to maintain temp. The Forge says Johnston MFG Minneapolis MN. Thanks for any help you guys can give. Jeff in Van Nuys, CA

Hi all, I bought a used NC (one of the whisper lines, I don't know which) recently. Great forge. It is a 3 burner and goes through the propane fairly quickly. I've turned down the psi as much as I can and still be efficient, but she still sucks the gas. My question is, can I modify the forge to remove one of the burners? It looks fairly simple to do safely but how would performance be affected and would this slow the gas consumption? I can do with loss of some heat as 3 burners gives me more than I need. Has anyone tried something similar or is there a gas guru out there that can shed some light on this subject? Thanks folks, John

I needed a small forge for when I do really tiny work- I do a lot of very, VERY small stuff- And the coal forge that I usually work with is just too much. This is my new Micro Forge- The design is based on the various coffee can, one brick, and similar forges that I've seen on sites all over the place, But is a bit more permanent. The main body is made from a piece of 6" DOM pipe, about 8" long, with a cap welded on the back. Handles and feet are 1/4" stainless steel. It's painted with a high-temp (2000 degree) baked on paint. It is lined with 1" of 8 lb Kaowool Rt. I'll be adding a firebrick floor to it once I get my firebrick- It's still in the mail. There is…

Hello everyone, first time poster here. I'm located in Winnpeg, Manitoba (about 3 hours North from Grand Forks ND, and I'm trying to get materials for this forge: http://home.flash.net/~dwwilson/forge/plan1.pdf Question 1: Did I pick a silly design, considering I want a blower forge? Question 2: Where can I find Kaowool (or equivalent), ITC-100 (or equiv) and firebricks for the bottom and door? I can't seem to find any shops in Winnipeg that sells that stuff. Question 3: I've seen a lot of pictures of people using expired freon containers and the like- would an expired propane container do the trick? Thanks guys!

What if I wanted to build a new forge with a burner on top and a burner on the bottom. They would be directed so they don't directly oppose each other. It seem that it would give an even heat with a rack is in the middle to hold the material. I'm not sure what the rack would be made of, but just thought of a metal rack to support the metal and not block the heat to much. What are some of the issues that I would have to overcome to make it work and would it be any better or worse than existing forges? Food for thought? Be nice.

After a long, long time away, I've decided to get back into working metal. Lots has changed since I last pounded iron! Due to space constraints, I'm starting small with knife-making and would like to build a small propane forge for heat-treating. I was thinking about something with a finished chamber measuring 8" by 14". Big enough for the biggest blade I might attempt, but not too big for the majority of small, utilitarian blades I'll be turning out. Is this a good idea if the majority of my work will be one or two blades at a time, and only 1% of those blades being about 12" AOL? If I make a pass-through on the rear wall, could I use this down the road for forgi…

Hi, I'm a machinist and a damascus knife maker, too. I was using the coke forges at my school to make my forge welds, but have since graduated, so no more access to them. Two years ago, I bought a new two burner forge from ebay, before I got into machining and realized I could have made it better and way cheaper. The guy I bought it from boasted how "easy" it was to forge weld with, however it has NC burners that really don't get it hot enough to do any kind of a decent weld at all, even at 20 psi. Does someone here use T-Rex burners? Can you tell me more about how they work? What pieces are involved, that sort of thing? Like I said before, I'm a machinist and am intere…

Has anyone used one of Angele gas forges that use ceramic chips?,Iam interested to find out how good they are before I build one. Cheers Pete.

i just purchased a two burner blacksmith forge from diamondback ironworks. Dennis answered all my questions and even took a few minutes to shot the breeze. I will give you all an update once I get it all set up.

Hey, I'm back again to get some more of your invaluable input! As you may know I'm working on a freon mini forge and was trying to figure whether or not to get the T-rex burner from hybrid burners. I know the shorty is essentially built for this purpose but my plan is to move up to a larger forge in the near future and am hoping that I wont have to cough up another 150 buckaroos (I'm not made of money, in fact the opposite, I'm made of gaping holes in my wallet). Could I run the T-rex at 3-7psi and be hunky dory or are there flaws in this plan? -Elijah

Well, I saw a demo of a vertical forge being used to weld a billet and decided I needed one! I had an old (my first) forge that really was over-size for what I do, but it looks like it might work really well if I just set it on end. This will be a blown propane forge. My plan is to use a couple of pieces of 3"X3" angle iron welded vertically to trap the cylinder but allow it to be lifted up to service the forge, such as re-lining, cleaning out the bottom, etc. The forge was made from the top and bottom sections of a 100 lb propane tank. The pedestal is a cracked rim from a hay wagon, an old worn out disc blade, a piece of pipe and an old bit of 1/4 inch diamond pla…

Hey, I'm pretty new to this whole thing and have been looking at the freon mini forges people have been putting together. I cut out the front and now am at a stand still. I have seen a lot of cautionary comments on left over freon and the green paint, I'm wondering if its a good idea to burn it out with charcoal (and standing far away) before painting/lining?

I've noticed lately after a few hours of running the dragons breath out of the forge starts burning green. it burns green whether i have steel in it or not, and the flame seems to extend further from the forge than when its warming up. Am I burning out my lining?

My home blacksmithing setup is almost ready to begin forging! I've been meeting with a local group and using coal forges, but my home setup will use a small gas forge. I'd like to hear any suggestions about changing technique when moving to gas. Specifically: If I'm working on something small (say, a hook) and the whole piece is red hot, how will I grip it without damaging it? With the coal forge, I've been using vise grips and they tend to put "bite marks" on the steel, so I usually just avoid heating that area (not possible if the whole piece is in the uniformly-hot chamber of a gas forge) My gas forge is SMALL. Any tips on handling situations where I'll forge,…

Heres my propane forge. I built it on a course with Dave Robertson from The Hammer and Tongs. I've really enjoyed it. Am definately going to add a coal forge aswell, once I get into a more permanent shop.