Hi,
I'm attempting to make (my first) forge, and I'm hoping to get some help and advice.
I have an old..metal box. I'd call it a tool box, but it doesn't have a top handle so I'm not sure what it was used for. It's 20" x 10" x 10".
This is probably not going to make any sense, but I'm thinking of making basically a 10" long tunnel forge right in the middle of the box (2" of kaowool) and I'll make a front&back (inside the metal box as well) out of either soft-firebrick or more kaowool. That'll leave a gap of about 3" between the forge and the sides of the metal box. I plan to cut holes in the metal box essentially to act as tool-rests.
I intend to mount the burner so it enters from the side, near the middle.
My plan is that while operating the forge, I'll have the metal-box's lid open so that the dragon's breath can escape without melting the box. I'm *hoping* that the sides of the box near the entrance/exit don't get too hot - but if they do I can cut them away a bit as well. When I'm done with the forge, I want to be able to remove the burner, close the lid and store the box out of the way (with other stuff stacked on top of it as well.
I intend to coat the top 1/2 of the forge with satanite, and the bottom 1/2 with bubble alumina (from www.hightemptools.com). That should give me a roughly 10" long by 5.25" diameter tunnel.
My goal is principally knife making, including heat treatment. I'm really not going to use the forge a lot - just not a lot of spare time at the moment.
My questions are:
Is this crazy?
Do I need to worry about the paint that is already on the box? Do I need to strip/grind it all off, or burn it off, or just ignore it? At some point I would like to repaint the forge with high-temp paint to try and make it look a little nicer, but I figure high-temp paint over "regular" paint won't work since the "regular" paint will just bubble if it gets hot.
I intend to mount the burner horizontally, in the middle, entering near the top of the forge (e.g., forcing it to swirl, not blowing directly onto the work piece). Am I on the right track?
I am considering mounting the burner so it slightly points rearward. In my head this makes sense, but I can't help but notice nobody does this - any thoughts?
I plan to build either 3/4" T-Burner, or a Z-Burner. In my mind the T-Burner seems superior (more induced air) but for some reason I'm freaked out by not being able to adjust the mig-nozzle, and I'm also worried about being able to cut it cleanly). For all intents and purposes, difficulty of construction aside, is the performance of these two burners basically the same?
Does anyone have a better idea of how to turn this box into a propane forge? Should I abandon the box?
I also have some questions about propane regulators, but I'll post that in a second thread - hopefully that's not contrary to accepted etiquette.
Any and all advice and guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.