01tundra

I used some texture stock I had laying around that I picked up from King Architectural Metals. I usually use my Kayne vine spring swage to texture stock though. I also didn't use as much base green on the second one, so when the ridges are highlighted with the bronze it doesn't show depth & detail as good.

Nice work Dave!

Running the forge at 7 psig the other day just to see how it would do. I typically run at around 5 psig with the choke slide opened about 1-1/2". If I run it at 3 psig it's plenty hot to forge, but sometimes the burner will start making a crazy chirping noise and the flame will start rolling out for a split second, then it straightens itself back out. It will do that occasionally unless I crank the pressure up to around 5 psig, wears on my nerves every time it decides to hiccup like that. This is while having the back opening partially blocked with a fire brick, not sure why it does it at around 3 psig and hardly ever at 5 psig?????

Thanks. We're not up to the Ocoee skill level yet. We hang more on the French Broad, Tuckasegee, Lower Green, Hiwassee, etc at this point. Nantahala is next on the list.

Yep, I have three 10'x10' garage doors, five 5'x3' operable windows and one 3'-0" walk-in door in my shop. Also have a CO monitor mounted on the wall across from my forge. With the one door partially open in front of where my forge is mounted, the CO monitor stays on 0% after hours of forging. I keep an eye on it and usually open the walk-in door as well, just for good measure. Thanks. I've really enjoyed this little forge so far.

I made my wife a business card holder for Christmas (top picture). I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, so I decided to make myself one last week. The second one didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but it will do.

Thanks. Somebody else mentioned Clay Spencer's class to me, that's definitely one on top of my list to take.

Thanks! First I coated the entire rack and hooks with Watco Dark Walnut Danish Oil, then highlighted the leaves with Verdigris & African Bronze Gilders Paste.

A few of my personal projects I've been messing with. The object to the left of the punch in the top picture is a flint striker.

Just finished up my final class project (fire poker) and figured I'd post up all my school projects and update with my personal projects as i go. It all started out with a simple drive hook a few months ago. I've only been forging for about three months now, so I've got a long way to go, but I feel like I'm making some progress. I'm starting advanced classes after the first of the year and will also be attending John C. Campbell Folk School in the very near future for a joinery class. Can't wait to learn more techniques.

Well.....actually I never even thought about doing something like that. So I suppose all the scrap romex I've got laying around can be of use afterall :)!

Think I'll try out some of the Hobart 3/32" flux coated bronze welding rods and see what kind of mess I can make with those first.

Yeah, a tig welder has been on my wish list for many years. Would I just braze it one from the underside near the thickest part of the body? My brazing experience is purely from years of copper refrigeration line installations, where the method is to heat the pipe and fitting to cherry red and focus the heat on the fitting, such to draw the silphos into the joint. I'm not really sure what the appropriate technique is for brazing mild steel, I need to study up some on that.

I'm starting a project where I need to attach a very small, thin stamped steel dragon fly to a small diameter (approximately 1/8" - 3/16") forged mild steel tree branch. My first thought is to try to attach it by tack welding the underside of the body to the branch with 0.024" wire and my mig welder set on its lowest heat setting, but unless I can precisely edge the puddle up just to barely contact the dragonfly, I'm betting I'll burn through it. My second Idea was to drill a small hole through the top of the body and do one small plug weld and then dress the weld and blend it in, of course it would take a lot of time & effort to clean it up good enough to not easily notice the weld. Or to flip that idea, I could drill through the forged branch and then plug weld the dragonfly to the branch from the underside through the branch, and then dress the branch in an area that won't easily be seen anyways. I also have a small oxyacetylene torch and a acetylene "B" tank torch and some 95/5 Silphos. I thought about trying to braze it on, but I've never brazed anything except copper and brass and not really sure if it's even possibly to do on steel, if it was possible, I imagine it would require something like pure silver solder. I've got some tiny copper rivets (1/16" diameter x 3/32" long), but they are too short, so if I were to drill through the body and use a rivet I would have to create a resistance fit hole to drive it into because the rivet won't be long enough to make it entirely through the branch I'm going to forge. The actual dragonfly is about 2" long and it's stamped out of 0.02" (25 gauge) thick steel - pictured below. Any ideas? Thanks.

Correct, the stand is anchored to my 6" thick concrete floor with three 3/8" drop-in anchors. I've anchored my anvil stand and post vise to the slab as well. David sent my a fire brick to partially block off the back opening when not in use, should be here this week.

Just got my Chile Tabasco forge fired up tonight. It got 3/8" stock to forging temperature quick running at 3 psig. Looking forward to many years of work with little guy :)!

Thought I should update this thread. I've been using my forge at least once a week for 10+ hours at a time, usually more than one day. I've successfully forged welded in it and it's proven to be a solid and effective performer for forge welding, heat treating, and standard forging. I have yet to have any air flow issues, any clinkers that have formed have settled to the bottom around the raised tuyere cover. After forging and welding for 10+ hours, I have very minimal debris in the ash dump as well, maybe a half a cup worth as the most, I could forge many days in a row without needing to dump it if I wanted to. The forge lights quick and performs flawlessly. The original cap with the array of 1/4" holes is still the one in use and there will never be a reason that I can see to change to a different design. The only thing I've missed about not having a clinker breaker is not having to mess with it. :)! So if you want a KISS (keep it stupid simple) build approach, I feel as though this one fits the bill. It's rare that anything I build works as desired on the first attempt....sometimes even after the fifth or so attempt, but so far my forge, anvil stand, and post vice are proving that track record wrong. I'm very pleased (and shocked) at how everything has worked out. Since I'll be venturing into the world of propane forges this week I figured I should update what my experiences have been like in hopes that it may help future people getting into this craft.

This ^ is who we get our business cards through and I can't say enough good things about them. High quality, low cost, fast shipping, & great customer service......can't ask for much more than that.

Well after second-guessing myself for a half hour this morning on what height to build the stand for my forge I remembered a jack I had laying around from one of my old Toyota trucks. I did a little drawing and decided to follow Frosty's advise on keeping things simple :). After 12 hours of non-stop cutting, welding, and occasional cussing........the beast is born. The stand allows me to vary the forge opening height between 40" - 50" high with a simple crank of the handle. It also allows the table to pivot so I can easily change to direction my forge faces. The best part is I was able to build it entirely with metal from my scrap pile. The legs are 1-1/2" x 0.120" wall DOM, the center yoke is 1-3/4" x 0.120" wall DOM, the table top is 16 ga. sheet metal with 1-1/2" x 1/8" angle frame. The jack mounting shelf is 1/4" plate with 3/4" x 1/2" rectangle stock supports underneath. Legs are set at 77 degrees. Mounting feet are 1/4" plate with 3/8" anchor holes. As soon as the forge gets here I'll drill the two mounting holes to bolt the forge to the table top. The stand is really stable, but I went ahead and drilled holes in the feet, just in case I decide to drop some anchor bolts in the concrete slab down the road.

Agree on all accounts. I've decided to run 3/8" Type K copper with brazed joints within the shop. My current challenge is sourcing a female POL x 3/8" NPT adapter fitting. 1/4" copper would more than carry the load, plus three more forges just like it.......but someday I may want an entire fleet of forges.....who knows :)! I've sent Chile an email asking if there's any way they can provide the connection hose with a 3/8" NPT swivel male/female fitting in lieu of the POL tank fitting. That would do away with an unnecessary pipe joint and a hard to find (an fairly expensive) adapter.

Running the pipe from my 250-gallon tank will actually be very inexpensive and the savings on fuel cost would be substantial. I was planning on having an isolation valve outside the shop, then an adjustable (lockable) in-line regulator (3-35 psig) with gylcerin filled pressure guages on both sides, once I penetrate the shop wall, a second isolation valve inside for emergency shut-down. Then run 1/2" Sch. 40 piping overhead to above the forge location. The forge has a regulator and isolation valve on it with a 8' hose that would be connected to my steel delivery piping. The outdoor in-line PRV would be to satisfy the International Fuel Gas Code by limiting the line pressure to 5 psig (in theory) and the PRV furnished with the forge will be used for fine tuning delivery pressure. I get all of my plumbing supplies very near cost, hence the overkill, which would still be way cheaper than one new empty 100 gallon tank. Piping within the shop is a wash either way. I'm almost positive that the two 100 # tanks my father has are way outdate as far as testing is concerned, so I would have to purchase a new bottle. The nice part about my 250-gallon tank is that outdoor temperatures don't really effect it since it's underground.

Just said it varies, depending on various factors, such as type of work I will be performing, ambient temperature, elevation, etc....all of which are true - Heating small stock - 1/2" diameter & smaller, 580' above sea level, 40 F - 100 F ambient temperature operating range. They seemed hesitant to offer me a possible operating pressure range, which is understandable. I explained that I wasn't trying to drill down an exact pressure, just looking for a possible range. The manufacturer's website states "Operating pressure range from 1 - 30 PSI" for the burner. Already spoke with the gas company and they're all for it, for obvious reasons that you stated above. So far, from searching this site, I've seen 3 psig to 15 psig range for normal forging operations (non-welding). This range was from one person that appeared to be more of a hobbiest like myself, versus a full-time professional blacksmith that was operating at a high production rate and wanted to heat the metal as fast as possible. Based on that information, I would say that I'll be OK with 3-10 psig. I'm leaning toward installing a tee prior to the sencondary regulator, dedicated gas cock outside, then in to the forge. Since the tank has a regulator on it, as does the forge, another secondary regulator at the new runout would only cause additional unnecessary pressure drop and reduced gas flow rate.

I decided to add a propane forge to my arsenal yesterday and am now in the process trying to figure out what to do fuel wise in preparation for its arrival. The forge is a Chile Tabasco single burner. I will only be heating mild carbon steel in this forge, 1/2" diameter max and will reserve any heavier work or forge welding for my coal forge. The sole purpose of the new forge is for doing ornamental projects with 1/4" - 3/8" diameter range stock and some 1/8" - 1/4" x 2" wide (max) flat stock. It will be located in one spot and will not be portable, per se. I currently own a 250-gallon below-grade propane tank that serves my house. The tank is only plumbed to our gas grill on the deck and to the fireplace, that I've since converted back to a wood-burner. So basically I have a 250-gallon propane tank serving a 2-burner gas grill. In the 4 years since I completed construction on my house, I've only used 40% (250 gal x 0.80 = 200 x 0.40 = 80 gallons used), which include 4 winters burning a 38,000 btuh gas log set and doing 85% of our cooking on the gas grill. So to say the least......I have spare capacity. The tank has a regulator on it the knocks the service line pressure down to 10 psig, then a second regulator takes the pressure down to 7-11 in. wc. prior to stubbing into the crawl space under the house. Where the second regulator sits under the deck, happens to be adjacent to my garage/shop and is run with the yellow polypropylene piping. My original direction was to use a 100# cylinder for the forge due to safety concerns of running 10 psig gas into my garage, but the more I think about that.....it's a stupid thought process that got me there and I know better. I would rather have 25 ft of gas piping route into my garage with a shut-off valve outside the garage prior to entering the house versus 100 lbs of propane sitting in a tank in my work space around my welder, plasma cutter, etc. I would adopt a shop procedure that requires the outdoor isolation valve to remain normally closed, the only exception being when the forge is in operation. As I'm currently ignorant on the operation of gas forges, I'm not sure what the optimum operating range will be for this particular forge, coupled with the material I'll be heating, if under something like 8 psig maximum is required to make steel yellow, then I'm golden. If more pressure will be required, an alternate solution may be to increase the leaving pressure at the tank within the limitations of the current tank regulator and within the range of the secondary house (gas grill) regulator to be able to adjust it back down to a 11 in.wc. delivery pressure. If need be, I could set another secondary regulator downstream of the new isolation valve (still located outdoors), in the event that I can lower the delivery pressure even more after up and operating. The piping system would start at a tee on the existing polypropylene exterior piping above grade under the deck, then convert to 1/2" Sch. 40 A36 thread & coupled steel piping (or 3/4" if necessary to minimize system pressure losses). Then would pipe to a brass ball valve and possible a secondary regulator, prior to stubbing into the garage/shop. Once inside, the steel pipe would be routed up the interior wall and across the ceiling, spanning one bay of the shop prior to turning a 90 degree elbow down for connection to the forge gas hose (about a 12' rise & 12' span). The forge will have a second isolation valve on it from the factory. Am I wrong to want to attempt to use a huge tank that I already own and that's hardly being used currently? I feel like I may be missing a larger point, but it's not coming to me offhand. Other considerations, I can have my big tank refilled at bulk rates, which around here are currently $2.29/gallon versus retail rates on the 100 # tanks that are currently in the $3.70/gal range. Plus, they drive to me, instead of my dragging two 100# tanks around town. Side notes - I do understand the effects & hazards on products of combustion and safety requirements necessary. I have three 10'x10' garage doors and a 3'x7' walk-in door in my garage and a decent amount volume as well (45'x25'x12'). My plan is to crack a garage door (or however many necessary) and open the walk-in door while forge is in operation, such to create a cross-draft of fresh air for combustion & breathing purposes. It will be a little bit of trial & error figuring out the balance between keeping the garage above freezing temperatures (water heater located in garage) and still maintaining a safe & healthy work space. I will also have a CO monitor locate in the shop area. I understand that some people feel uneasy making recommendations when life safety issues are present, so I'm not asking anyone here any opinions on what I should do or what they recommend that I do, I will be the only person that makes the decisions and will be the only person responsible for any outcome. But what I would like to know is if you were in a similar situation at your house (or have been), how would (did) you set your system up? And if anyone would care to take a "guess" at whether 8-9 psig gas pressure "may" suffice for the particular forge and type of work I'm planning on doing, that would be very, very much appreciated as well, I understand if it doesn't work, it was my choice and my problem to make right. I'd just hate to be working around 100# tanks if I can avoid it. Thank you for your time and I apologize for the rather long read, but I'd rather have too much information than be vague :)!

Well it looks like it's my turn to come up with some sort of mounting solution since I just placed an order for a Chile Tabsco forge today. I already have two 100 lb. propane tanks, plan on only using one at a time though and have the other as a full spare. I have a 250-gallon below grade propane tank serving my house, it's only hooked to our gas grill on the deck currently, but I'm not too keen on plumbing 10(ish) psig gas through the garage/shop, so figured I'd just use my spare 100 # tanks. I think I would like to be able to move it around like I can with my coal forge. I'm not sure how realistic and/or safe it would be, but I was kind of leaning toward making a low base plate mounted on four locking caster, setting the tank on one end with bottle support chains (plus whatever else is need to make the bottle really secure) and the putting a plate steel shelf at whatever height I decide on for the forge to sit on. Anyone know of a reason that it may not be advisable to mount a 100 lb. tank and forge on the same cart? It would only be moved within my shop on the concrete floor, not out to the driveway like my coal burner. I don't really forsee needing to move it much (if any), so I could put it in it's planned spot on a stationary stand with the bottle next to it, but thought it may be nice to be able to move it around. I do have a spare hand truck that I could strap the bottle to as well. Just trying to weigh out the pros/cons of making this one portable. I've got about three weeks to think and build, but figured I better get busy now since most of my project turn out bigger and more complex than I originally plan........... I found a guys that's selling a bunch of carts that were used at a Sam's store, he says they are heavy duty (weigh about 100 lbs) and he's asking $100 each for them. This may be a good base to build off.