hill.josh

Your bar that snapped is probably not cast.. thats just the way a piece of steel looks when it breaks.. and for a test cast iron will break before it bends much even when heated, unless its malleable cast iron (which ive never seen before.. only heard of it so i have no idea about that)

yea that guy has just about all the info you need.. and to answer your last question safety glasses and a cutoff valve not including the regulator (it will still let out about 1 psi when closed) which could be just a standard ball valve from ace or homedepot, ace tends to carry it alot more often though. The reason for the second valve is so you can turn off the flow immediatly if gets out of hand instead of turning it off at the tank. Plus some gloves until you know everything is safe.

Your definatly gonna want an opening on both ends.. when you need to heat a longer piece of stock to cut it in the middle or make a twist in the middle, or need to fuller a part or are just working a long piece.. that sort of stuff. I think all of the above shapes would work, mine is square but when its rebuilt I'm probably going to make an arch on both ends with 2 doors.

Check out centaurforge.com they have a 5 or 6 forges in that range.. and they are a reputable dealer. Out of those I'd recommend the NC whisper baby forge especially just for hardening.
only an opinion though.
NC Whisper Baby Atmospheric Forge-Centaur Forge
NC Whisper Deluxe Atmospheric Forge with a Back Door-Centaur Forge

Thats a very pretty forge man. The scale means you don't have either a deep enough fire or too much air.. not that the forge is a bad setup. congratulations on the forge

I am pretty much new to brazing. does anyone have any tips on doing it? checked out all the blueprints but wanted to get a few pointers.

Unless your using an acetylene/oxy burner on steroids.. no it won't melt, especially if its insulated, now if your forge is glowing orange then eventually over a really long period of time it would but its not very likely to do that being insulated. If you build something that strong tell me.

This is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks for putting it up man.

I use a ten dollar hair dryer with a valve made of pvc "T" and steel sheet, the sheet fits into the opening thats 90 degrees from the two others but cardboard would be better because it could be cut easier and get a better fit because of that.. also the one that the carboard fits into needs to be parallel to the ground so it won't fall out and should be left open to allow the air to escape when the valve is closed completley

ok well when it says 100'000psi is that meaning that the piece tested is 1x1x1/4 or or 1x1x1 or something in between? I think that would affect the strength greatly.. wouldn't that latter be four times as strong?
and Thomas i don't have a machine to test with I'm just taking this off the internet to get basic ideas of steel strength because what's being built has to be strong but also as lightweight as possible

Ok I can't find this anywhere.. probably cause its common knowledge, but how thick is a piece of metal is being used when testing for yield strengths? all i can figure out is its in PSI but can't figure out how thick something is or if different thicknesses are used. Any help would be appreciated.

hey can you post some pictures of the oil burner? thats a pretty awesome idea.

its probably the rebar that your using.. have alot trouble with that as well

All you need to get started is something to hold the fire with (that won't burn) and something to blow air in with (and a valve if using an electric blower) the link is where I got the idea for one of my forges, changed it around a little by using a refractory that was 3 parts sand to one part portland cement plus enough water to make it mix well and made a bowl out of that instead of firebrick, as well i use an air opening that has 3 long slits in it instead of little holes. might wanna make the air opening separate than the bottom piece of sheet steel cause I burn through them pretty fast but its worked out pretty well.
The Celtic Knot - Building A Bellows Fed Portable Forge. I use charcoal but it works on the same principle.
I'll get pictures of an air valve thats really easy to make up today or tomorrow

Josh,
When you say Portland Cement, I assume you are talking about type I Quikrete like Ace sells? and just plain ol' sandbox sand mixed together? That's simple enough.
Thanks,
Ken

Ken, its type I/II quickrete so I think its the same. Just as long as its portland cement and plain sandbox sand is what I use..
good luck forging man

my firepot is actually made completly of portland cement/sand so I don't know what would happen to an iron firepot if it would crack or not.. i haven't heard of that i just know that iron will burn up.

the clay is like an insulator and it protects the iron from burning up and then needing to replace it, ive used clay from a river, mud from my back yard, and then a mixture of portland cement and sand where it was 3 parts sand to one part portland cement and some water(enough to make it feel like fairly wet mud). the last of the 3 is defiantly the strongest against knocks. the mud eventually falls apart but is easily replaced and is free. ive heard that portland cement will spall but its never happened to me and is what i use right now.. not saying it won't spall but just that it hasn't happened to me. don't go on what i say though just cause i said it.. do what you think is safest.

what type of forge are you trying to build, a solid fuel or gas? and what do you plan to forge?

draw out the bar into a triangle (i would make a square point then flatten it, but there are alot of ways to make the triangle) then cut out the barbs with either a hot or cold chisel. you can tweak the posistion a little after the cut to get it just right and if you want more mass than that gives you, faggot weld it first or take a larger stock and draw out the shaft.

I have never done this but you could take 2in flat bar bend it in to your circle and bend a second ring that was 1in flat bar, make it 35 3/4in. (if you are using 1/8in flat bar) reinforce it with an "X" of 3/8 bar on the inside, then take the 2 in. 36in circle put it around the smaller ring, and hammer down the inch outside the "reinforced" inch. I think you will want to cut it into 4 sections (the inch that isn't reinforced) hammer down then weld back then grind flat.. it would work without the weld since its holding just a bird holder though. its kinda complicated but i think it would work.

i'm not sure if i posted this already. I don't think it did.. anyways wanted to know if anyone could recommend a handbook that contained common steel types and their carbon content, breaking strengths etc. if it also contained information on structural aluminum's strength and stress buildup that would be great.

can anyone recommend a handbook that has common steel types and their breaking strengths etc?

welcome to Iforgeiron!

I'd jus do like what you were saying except use 1/8x1in. flat bar and bolt it with that. I'm guessing that its steel? not cast iron

Why work in a closed area, generating pollutants when you can just take it outside? Just plug in a BIG FAN to move the nasty stuff into the neighbors yard. (grin)

haha yea they'd have an issue with the BIG FAN though since it isn't up to neighborhood standards.. give me some fine.
I was saying if i need to weld inside a big tank or somethin like that, not a garage that was easy to ventilate