Square Nail

Yes these were Service companies and the local wood stove outfit didn't have any 8 LB. The one company that had about a half of a roll they would part with wanted over $300 for the piece, I said thanks but no thanks. I will probablyvjust put everything on hold until I head to Portland in about three weeks and pick some up then.

Contacted 3 different local HVAC companies and none of them had any pieces they would give away or even sell. Did find one that would order a role for $635.However I did find a supplier called High Temp in Portland that carries everything. Will call them Tuesday .

Thank you Sir!

Thanks for calling them off, I was starting to look over my shoulder!

Sorry Thomas, My profile showed my location but it didn't show on my profile name, it has been amended. I won't be using fire brick in my forge, but thank you for the idea/tip!

Thank you Irondragon for the idea. Maybe I could use the tab as an anchor point to hold the door open! Gives me "stuff" to think about!

Hopefully I will be aware enough to have it opened and fixed in place before starting it up. The hinges are made with nut and bolt to tighten them into place, that holds it well now, but time will tell if it will hold up in use. I will eventually make a hook and eye arrangement that would hold it in place, but haven't got that far yet. You do bring up something I hadn't thought of though. A quick easy way to grab the front and lift it while hot! Maybe a handle or knob, something that can be grabbed easy with tongs, this could be used also on the back. Thanks John. Thanks Thomas, I live in Oregon, That was county not country. I looked up Mr. Coe's site last night. He will be my go to if the tip Frosty gave me doesn't pan out.

Always be nice to secretaries! they just about run the planet!

I will have to give that a try! There is a HVAC Service company just an hour away! Thanks for the tip!

I must have missed your hot trick! I finally found a company six hours away from me that will sell me a sheet of Kaowool but won't ship. I live in a very rural area ( There is not one single stop light in the whole county!) Which has been an issue on everything I do. I am also a woodworker and experience the same issues with trying to find exotic wood species. I'm sure I can order Kast O Lite and rigidizer with out a problem but the duraboard or blanket is proving tough to get. Probably have to take a couple day buying trip!

This is the completed forge box with hinged front and adjustable rear. Just need some cleanup and paint, and some insulation (which is proving to be very difficult to get) and it is ready for final assembly and testing. These are the hinges I fabricated for the front This is the adjustable back, This view is from the back showing the front open and the rear in the closed position

I believe so

Sorry Frosty, I had the idea that with 1 layer of the Duraboard under the fire brick that it would would be OK. So thanks for setting me straight. Two layers all the way around with the coating for me!

As it stands now, I intend to use two layers of 1" Duraboard with a refractory coating of an undecided nature yet. Probably will use some type of fire brick for the floor. 1" Duraboard on both the door and back end also. With the forge being 10X16 this should leave me with about 480 Cubic inches of forge area, which 2 - 3/4" T burners good for around 700 inches should be plenty! May end up dropping to 1/2" burners later! Thanks for the tip on turning the burners! I had thought about that but wasn't sure!

After getting the forge body back, the next step for me was to mock up the whole affair and see how my ideas would play out. Still trying to decide if I want to hinge the front, but plan on putting some tabs on the back for some adjustment. The burners are 4" apart. The next pictures are of the plumbing from a main shut-off through a gauge (I haven't found a good gauge yet) then to the manifold with a shut-off for one burner so you don't need to run both if you don't need to. The pipe is 1/8" black pipe to 1/4" flared copper. The regulator is just off the tank and not shown here.

After perusing this site night after night for weeks and trying to understand the basics of forge design, I am still as lost as I was when I started! So with this in mind I decided to build a forge and post the results, good and bad as the build progresses. I have decided to use Frosty's T burners and a modified Zoeller square tube forge. Not being a very good welder, I have had a local shop weld the basics of the box together leaving some of the less important aspects of the forge to my own devices! Please feel free to comment on things you like or don't like or suggestions of different ideas. I intend to document this build and post on here with enough pics to explain what I am talking about, showing my successes and failures. The first thing built were Frosty's T Burners. Using his instruction guide the process was fairly simple and straight forward. To elaborate a bit on some of his notes, the ridge on the center line of the T's can and will deflect a drill bit if you don't take extreme care to make sure the bit is centered. I found by filing a small flat spot before center punching for the hole makes it a little easier to stay accurate. As you can see by this picture that all though the fitting is straight up and down it is still offset to the left. Had to redo During this process and not wanting to spend a million dollars on a learning curve by buying all black pipe, I tried soaking galvanized fittings in vinegar to see if they were a viable option. The galvanized were $6.00 while the Black are $17.00. As you can see the T on the left is a Galvanized fitting soaked for 36 hours in vinegar with the black one on the right. Was finally successful in getting a couple of decent 3/4" T burners. Still not sure whether I will use the Schedule 80 3" nipple with the Tweco .035 tip or the Brass fitting. The last picture shows how I adapted Frosty's idea of the floor flange and bolting it to the table on my drill press. So far it seems to work pretty good.

Thank you sir! I'll post results when I finish the build!

Frosty, a question that has been kind of touched on in this post but I'm still not clear on. In your instructions (which by the way are excellent and easy to use!) the flare is listed as "if needed/optional". So what conditions would make it necessary to use the flare or is it just a overall efficiency boost for your regular T Burner? I have 2 of your burners complete with the exception of the flares and not sure if I need them or not!

When neutralizing with soda, do you make a slurry and "paint" the parts with it or just dump some in the pot you are soaking in?

Thanks, will do!

Not sure if this is the right spot or not, but I have started my forge build and would like to document it on here as I go along. With Mikey's and Frosty's how to info, it should be a fairly simple and straightforward process. Is this the best place to post pics as I go through the process?

Our local hardware store carries them. Try Ace or True Value.

The only Fastenal local that would help me had a box of 25 for $105.00. McMasters-Carr sold me 2 for $2.68 ea.

Thanks Mikey! They will ship in the morning!

Mikey, I have spoken to suppliers in three states within 150 miles of me and no one carries schedule 80 pipe. Do you know of a supplier that will sell just a couple nipples on line without having to buy case lots?