Ben van Leeuwen

I am going to give the local guy another chance now that I know better what I am asking for. If that doesn't yield me anything I will have to turn to the internet. Just need to find someone online who doesn't charge me more for shipping than what the regulator and hose setup costs. I found a few good set ups in the $50-60 USD range but shipping to my part of Canada adds that much again, plus the exchange rate. Makes me more willing to spend a little more time and less money with the local guy even if he gives me a hard time.

Hi Frosty, thanks for the advice on the regulator. However I mean you no disrespect as I have gleaned a lot of knowledge from your posts on this forum, but no where did I say I wasn't following plans for my forge or burner. They are already built, with the burner being constructed to the letter of Ron's instructions. My problem is only to do with a supplier telling me that they will not sell me a regulator unless I can give them some indication of Btu's. I didn't actually mention that it was for a forge, or anything in particular. But it is kind of hard to tell someone to sell you something when they have told you they won't unless you can provide a little more information. It is helpful to know that I should be looking for a high flow regulator, in the range of 60-80k btu's as VainEnd84 suggested. Perhaps I missed that information in all of my previous reading as most of this terminology is new to me, and I want to make sure that I don't blow myself up.

So I have spent some time searching the archives, but haven't been able to find an answer to my particular question. I recently built an ez-burner similar to one shown on Ron Reil's page to power my relatively small forge (300 cubic inch). It has been a bit of a challenge to track down a regulator from a local supplier, but a rental shop who deals propane seems to have them. I went there this morning looking for a 0-30psi regulator, and was met with questions about the BTU's of the burner and the water column. Now I wasn't really expecting this as I haven't read anything about it previously, as a consideration when buying a regulator. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? And on a side note, do folks here typically buy their regulator and pressure gauge separately? The shop has a red hat regulator that looks like I could pull a plug out and replace with a gauge. Many thanks for your replies. - Ben

Fair enough, but I think you could make your own "panel" and incorporate it into the design without having it look like an 8x8 panel. I use the word panel loosely, because you can make it virtually any shape or size to work with the design of your shop. From what I have read, what I understand you are trying to do is create a super insulated, super tight shop with good air quality that is not effected by external conditions. This is a tall order to say the least. It has been a huge trend lately to build super tight homes, for example the R2000 homes. One of the big problems with these homes. especially at the onset was that the air quality inside was extremely poor (high humidity, contaminants, etc.). This was due largely in part to lack of ventilation. Once people started addressing the ventilation problem, air quality improved dramatically. You asked about Heat Recovery Ventilators. These are great in the winter, as you are exhausting warm air and drawing in cool air. However, they do nothing in the summer. (Heat goes from more to less, you can't transfer the coolness of the exhaust air to the warmth of the fresh air) In a blacksmith shop, I would never want to count on a HRV to exhaust the bad air (CO, fumes, etc.) simply due to the volume of air being exchanged. What I would like to do when I have the opportunity to build a bigger shop is to incorporate a dual ventilation system. Sort of a summer / winter split system. In the winter I would want to pull cold exterior air through a solar air heater to preheat the fresh air. In the summer I would want a different system. What I have seen is people burying a network of 4-6" PVC pipes in the ground before they pour the concrete floor. By drawing warm exterior air through these pipes in the summer, you benefit from the thermal mass of the earth which cools the fresh air. Basically a geothermal thing. Just my dream, doesn't have to be yours. I do think you are in for a challenge coming up with a well conditioned (temperature and air quality) shop space in a super tight building. The balance of having enough fresh air coming in, along with keeping it conditioned for temperature could be tricky. I look forward to following this thread to see what other people have to offer up. There are lots of good ideas out there.

Will your shop have a southern sunny exposure wall? You could maybe consider installing a solar air heater to preheat your incoming fresh air in the winter. There are several methods of doing this, either on a very large scale, or a small scale. Here is an example of a company that does large scale projects. http://solarwall.com...ow-it-works.php Perhaps, if you don't have a large wall exposed to the sun, you could do a roof mounted system. My brother built a super insulated house in Ontario, Canada last year. On his back wall, (could also be installed on a roof) he installed something similar to this. http://yoursolarhome...sheat/2pak.html His panel is 8'x8'. To give you an example of how efficient it is, on one cloudy winter day when I was there, the outside temp. was about 20 F. The fresh air he was drawing in through the panel was coming in at 86 F. The big issue is going to be the amount of air you need to draw in. Obviously, the fresh air intake has to equal the exhaust rate. The key would be to do the math and figure out how many CFM you will be exchanging and see how efficiently a solar air heater is going to work for you. Do a Google search for "Solar Air Heater". There are lots of companies, but even more DIYer's who are making their own panels. Even if you are using an air scrubber, you are going to want some fresh air coming in, and this way, you could at least benefit from the pre-heating. Cheers, Ben

That looks pretty good to me. My only comment (I hate to criticize it, because it is 10 times better than I could do) is that it looks to me like the wheat heads are upside down. Wheat kernels are pointed up from the stem. Other than that, I agree with Beth that someone is sure to love having it on display in their house.

I deal with building inspectors in the Guelph, Kitchener, and Waterloo area almost every day. I can tell you that these cities have no lee-way when it comes to things like railings, stairs, just about anything else of the sort. We have had railings fail for being 3mm lower than the required height. (For our imperial friends, that is about 1/8") I have never dealt with Belleville, but being as it is within striking distance of the GTA, I don't think there will be much difference. In terms of applying for variances, I personally wouldn't bother with the trouble. There is so much up for interpretation in the code. If you local building department doesn't agree with what you want to do, you would have to apply for a variance at the Ontario Building Code Commission. This could take months to get through this process, and with no guarantee that you will win the variance. From my experience, if you want to abide by the building code, the best thing you could do if you have a questionable situation is to provide a mock-up for the inspector to review. If the client wants to do it after the fact, I would have them sign off on it. Problem is, these days, even if people accept responsibility, if someone ever is hurt due to the installation, it can always come back on the installer.

Ahh, but if he hasn't dropped it, it might still be covered. Nice looking forge. You've made a very clean job so far.

I am not going to tell you to remove them or not, but what I can say, is that the posts and wood slats attached to them look to be part of a granary. They would slide boards into the slots to form walls within the granary. For most of the barns I have been in, these posts are not structural and were added after the barn was built. That being said, a couple of yours look like they are strategically positioned under weak points... probably where another member was taken out. If you have any amount of weight on the floor above (ie// full of hay or straw) those beams that are notched would likely crack if you took the posts out. Would it all come crashing down? Probably not, but I don't know if I would risk it. It is amazing though how well those old barns still hold together even if some structure is removed.

That looks like a great set-up. I was looking at the calculations on your website, and it really does seem to be an affordable choice for a forge. What sort of PSI are you running your air at? My main concern for a forge like this (for my shop anyway) is that I wouldn't want an air compressor running all the time. I really like the looks of it though. I will have to look into vegetable oil as an option for my forge design now.

I especially like the shot of your "ACME" anvil. :D

Frosty, I should have mentioned that the burner was 2.5" dia. I have read many of your posts giving the 3/4" burner guideline, and so I was thinking that the Mongo was really big. Not knowing much about burners though, I thought maybe it was just a product of the design, and that it could be comparative to a 3/4". Seems to be that isn't the case. I read a little more on Ron's website and there was mention of someone using this burner to fire a kiln, so I think I oughta follow your advice here and stick with a 3/4". Phil, it is my first forge, and it is just as you say. I don't know what I want it to do, other than heat up some metal so that I can start figuring out how to make it move. I definitely want to keep it small, as there is no point in burning more propane than necessary. Rich, thats just what I was hoping to do with this Mongo burner, although it is evident now that it is larger than what I need. I don't know enough about forges and burners to start trying to change things on it before I even get going. I like to find a plan that has worked for others, and copy it to a 'T'. If the design ain't broke, I ain't gonna try to fix it. I'll have to keep looking around here to find another smaller design that I am comfortable to try out. Thanks for the input! Great as always.

Just curious, has anyone here made one of Ron Reil's Mongo burners? I am thinking of making one myself, but it seems to be pretty large. I believe he says somewhere in his write up that it would be suitable for 2 cu. ft. of forge. That's pretty big. Maybe I should think about the Mini-mongo instead? I haven't picked out what I am going to be using for my forge yet, but I am really doubting that it will be 2 cu. ft. From everything I have read, it seems like 1 large burner in a big forge is less effective/useable than 2 smaller and more controllable burners. Is that anywhere near the truth? Whaddya think? It would be great to hear your thoughts on this particular burner, or any other scratch-builts that you have had success with. I am pretty green at this, so fire away!

You are right on the money. They got back to me last night and the weight is just that. Its funny because I stared at the photos for a long time trying to make out the numbers and couldn't see it until I knew what numbers I was supposed to be looking for. I am going up on Saturday morning to take a closer look, and so long as there are no hidden cracks or the likes, it is coming home with me. I am not gonna lie, I am feeling like a little kid about to get that bike he has been dreaming about for a long time right now!!

Gotta bug you all again about another anvil. I found an ad for a mousehole anvil and am just waiting for a reply from the seller. http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-tools-other-ANTIQUE-ANVIL-W0QQAdIdZ370070447 It looks to be in great shape with the makers stamp easily readable. It definitely says Mouse Hole, and I would guess that it says Armitage before that. What is confusing me is that it doesn't appear to have either a pritchel or a hardie hole. Is this common? All the sources I have read say that if it doesn't have a pritchel but has a step, it was likely made between 1775 and 1795. But nothing I have read says anything about mouseholes without a hardie hole. I asked the seller to see if he could find any more markings on it so I could determine the weight. They estimate 200lbs, but who knows how accurate that is, and I can't really judge the size based on the photos. I will let you know if I hear back from them with any good news. Cheers, Ben

Here are a couple ad's I found on the Vintage Machinery website showing a No.1 forge. The first one is from 1890, and doesn't indicate the diameter of the blower, but clearly labels it as a No.1. The 2nd ad is from 1892 and says that the No.1 forge comes with a 16" diameter blower. http://vintagemachin...il.aspx?id=5034 http://vintagemachin...il.aspx?id=1704 At any rate, the blower my father-in-law has should definitely be worth restoring since it spins freely is still very solid. It is a pity though that it no longer has the lever and pulley system, and I imagine they would be tough to find seeing as that without a blower they aren't very useful.

I was down at my father-in-law's this past weekend and he showed me a blower he picked up. It is a Champion No.1, and is currently set up to be run with an electric motor. The housing is about a 12" diameter. He is looking for a little more information on the blower. I have tried out my "google-fu" to see what I can find, but there doesn't seem to be a wealth of information. Lots of info on the 40's and 400's, but not much on the No.1's. What I did find was an advertisement from 1890 for a complete Champion No.1 forge. That ad said it had a 16" blower though, so I am not sure whether it would have been part of it, or a slightly smaller model. I am thinking though that this blower should be hand powered with pulleys and a treadle setup and not a motor. Is that correct? If any of you have some more info on this blower or could point me towards a good resource it would be appreciated.

If you want it, take it. I don't think I can swing the $500 right now with all the other projects I have on the go. I will just keep on keeping an eye out for another deal to come along. The wife wouldn't be too happy if I bought that before I finished some of the things I have been promising her.

Been a while since I have posted, but I ran across an ad for a William Foster anvil, date stamped 1842. They say the english weight is 208lbs, American weight is 232lbs. They are asking $500 http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-art-collectibles-William-Foster-232-lb-anvil-1842-500-W0QQAdIdZ367684231 Still toying with the idea of buying it myself (first anvil), but if anyone else needs one feel free to beat me to the punch as I am not sure I can swing $500 right now.

With the danger of sounding naive, how do you folks tell that it is a cast iron anvil so quickly? Is it the bit of texture that you can see in the photo, or just the awful shape of it? In person I could tell the difference, but just from a photo, my mind plays tricks on me.

Good to know, Thanks guys. Saves me 2 hours of driving.

Hi All, Anyone know what type of anvil this may be? I found an ad for it, and it is reasonably close to me to pick up. They claim it is about 150#, and are asking $285. To me, the horn looks really square. Would this be a bad thing? Or could it be rounded off a little more with a grinder? Thanks, Ben

Again thanks for all of the advice / encouragement. I spent the last few days paying extra special attention to the noises around our neighbourhood. Between the multiple neighbours yippy little ankle biters and the auto shop a couple lots over that thinks a rev-up tune-up is the best way to fix a car, I think a little metal on metal in my garage would go passively unnoticed. For now, I am going to continue scrounging for scrap odds and ends to build a propane forge, as well as an anvil, or at least something that could serve the same purpose in the mean time. Maybe by winter I will have my shop set up with an forge and exhaust fan and will be able to post the odd photo. Until then, I will continue to learn.

Good advice to talk to the neighbours. I talked to the one closest, and he is on board. Somewhat interested to learn the processes himself. The other closest neighbours are somewhat finicky. Nice folks, but good at gossip and such. I think if I can get going and figure out to make something half decent presentable as a gift, they should be fine. I will definitely keep the fisher and vulcan anvils in mind. It's tough when they are few and far between in this area, but I would rather wait for one and improvise with some rail tie in the mean time, than be stuck with a real noisy anvil and not be able to use it. I am also leaning toward the propane forge. If I had space in the country, I wouldn't hesitate to use coal or charcoal, but I think for where I am at, a propane forge can be made small enough to be tucked away when not in use. I've been keeping my ears open for a place to learn a few tricks without costing a fortune. There is a pioneer village near by, but they are winding down for the season. I guess it couldn't hurt to drop them a line anyway. The more I read on this site, the more I am learning. There are an awful lot of very talented people to learn from here.

Anyone near Leo, Indiana might want to check this one out. Regretably, I am just not willing to drive 6.5 hours to bring an anvil back through customs to Ontario. http://www.ebay.ca/i...=item4aadf344ef