WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith

I did some more reading this week and found that indeed there are non blown ribbon burners but think that the indication is that it takes a LOT of gas. You might check out Pine Ridge Burners for some info. Also Joppa Glassworks. There are links to both of these further up on this thread. Jymm Hoffman had a (I think he called it) Slot Burner and I think that there was s tutorial in the Hammer's Blow. I think that basically I think that he bent the end of the burner pipe to form a narrow long slot. http://www.hoffmansforge.com/?s=forge I just read that page and it appears that he is using a blower but gave no information about the burner. You might check with Jymm and see about his burner and if it requires a blower.

Ribbon burners require a blower but well worth it. I am running less than 2 pounds pressure and the heat comes up really fast. Takes less time and uses less gas. Sounds like a win win to me except you will then work harder, be more tired at the end of the day so drink more beer. Well, there goes all the money you saved on gas. The way we are building the Ribbon Burners is casting them. I would guess that you could drill holes in a hard fire brick but wouldn't casting using crayons and then drilling them out be easier than drilling about 30 holes in a fire brick?

Fred, I will be adding a tutorial for building the Ribbon Burner to my web site and will be adding the special castable soon. I suggest that you make the burner from 3" square and about 6 inches long with 3 lines of holes. Make the holes by using crayons for the holes. You then drill out the crayons after the casting has cured.. You could just burn them out but that is a big stinky mess. If you make one from 1.5" square tubing with only two lines of holes let me know how it works.

Fred, I would have cut it lower (I'm sorry that there are no pictures on the tutorial) You can see pictures at http://hybridburners.com/forge-comments.html then scroll down to Dragon Forge in Tennessee. I just yesterday finished my Ribbon Burner Forge made from a 30# bottle. Wow! On the first heat I heated a piece of 5/8" round to forging temp at 2# propane pressure and timed it at 2 minutes. I believe that is going to save some gas! You do have to use a blower and have no hot spots, or maybe I should say that the whole interior is a hot spot. I did mount it from the top blowing strait down. I was surprised to see that the flame came down to the floor then divided and had tow swirling vortexes (or is that vortesxi?) I am very pleased and I thank John Emmerling for his information and BTW he made my burner for me. What a friend.

Keep a container of flour in the shop. If you get burned stick the burned area down in the flour. This was suggested in the ALA.org newsletter a while back. I keep mine in the refrigerator in my shop. I grabbed the wrong end a few days ago and immediately went for the flour. It was cooling and felt good. When I went into the house for lunch I couldn't even tell that I had gotten burned or where. It is ok if it is self rising flour.

I teach to ware a glove on your non hammer hand. First if you are holding metal that has been in the forge and gets to hot to hold bare handed but cool enough to hold with a Kevlar glove. It is better to work with stock long enough to hold without tongs. Second (and Spanky will like this) you have more of a tendency to wipe the scale off the anvil. I find that most new smiths don't want to get their hand dirty. Third, as said before when punching, slitting or slotting.

Making a gas forge. Check out a tutorial I wrote on the subject.

I used one at the last NCACB meeting at the Oak Hill shop (3rd weekend in March, come next year) and was very happy with it. I really like the narrow face, double horned, and the horn is better than any other European anvil I have seen or worked on. I would highly recommend them for the style and the price.

JimsShip, Phillip was 97 years old when he died. Born: June 9, 1912, Daniel Island, SC Died: June 22, 2009, Charleston, SC

A lot of us get there Wednesday and find that others got there before that.

Dan, there is primitive camping where you just throw your tent out and then there is camper camping with electricity. Yes there are showers. Come by and visit. You will see my banner on the main drag. Jim Coke will be around close as well as others.

Your closest blacksmithing group is probably the Phonix City forge of the www.alaforge.org. The first weekend after Labor Day is the Alabama Forge Council's fall conference at Tannehill State Park. Go to their web-site for more information. Going to group meetings and conferences is a great way to learn blacksmithing. The demonstrators this year are Lyle Wynn from Mississippi and Jack Wheeler from Chattanooga, Tn. Both are excellent demonstrators for beginning blacksmiths as well as more advanced smiths.

Just keep in mind, "A power hammer just lets you make bigger mistakes quicker." Of course, I have a power hammer and wouldn't be without it.

You are calling it a Sofa Table but it is 36" tall so I assume that it goes behind and next to the sofa as opposed to a "Coffee Table" which would be free standing and low in front of the table. Considering your original design, and if it goes behind the sofa, could it be attached to the sofa, therefore eliminating the stability problem?

With the 1" T-Rex you should have no problem getting up to welding temp. I have welded in mine using only the one burner.

I used a 30# propane bottle but would suggest a 20# bottle or a Freon bottle and a 3/4" burner. The larger bottle will require more burners to heat up the entire area and you will only be able to forge about 6" at a time unless you are heat treating swords or twisting pickets. I believe that one of the biggest mistakes made when building forges is to build to large. They just burn more fuel and don't get up to welding temps. Of course, altitude also has an effect on the heat output of a forge. Higher altitude = less heat.

You can see the pictures by going to http://hybridburners.com/forge-comments.html then scroll down till you see Dragon Forge from Tennessee. That is the forge that I have in my shop. It was made from a 30# propane bottle. I suggest using either a 20# propane bottle or a Freon bottle.

Check out my tutorial at my Forge Supplies page on my web-site. You probably don't want to order your supplies from me because of the shipping cost but you can get some information about how I like to build a forge.

I suggest that you study the tutorial. You could just cast it, however, it would take a lot more Kast-0-Lite, be a lot heavier, take a lot longer to heat up and not be as efficient. You could just use the Inswool but you would then have free floating fibers which are carcinogenetic and you do not want to breathing that. You could use the Inswool and then paint over it with either Plistix or Metrikote, which would contain the fibers and reflect the infrared rays back into the forge and make the forge more efficient but there is no strength to either of them or ITC-100 and you would poke a hole through it almost every time you put a piece of metal into the forge or take it out.

Dodge The DVD is not there for you to view, although I do think I give enough information to know what you are paying for. Now that I read my post again I see where you might have thought that I was saying that you could watch the DVD on line. If you have the DVD you can watch me assemble one of my "Moe's Grinders". You could go to http://waynecoeartistblacksmith.com/Grinders.html and watch a couple of videos I have there. One of the people who purchased a motor, VFD and wiring kit did watch the video and then built his grinder from what he saw there.

Check out my tutorial on my web-site. It will give you some idea for how much you will need if you are building a forge out of a 20# Propane bottle or a Freon bottle. You are going to use Inswool (ceramic insulating blanket) in addition to the casting, aren't you?

Look at my web-site on the Grinders and Kits page. I have a DVD that you can watch the assembly of one and print out pictures of all of the parts with all dimensions and a complete cut list. You can get all of the parts locally, except for maybe the VFD. Let me know if I can help you.

I have Inswool at $8.00 per foot, 2 foot wide as well as other forge building supplies. Let me know if I can help you.

I silicone based adhesive calk. It not only quietens the ringing, it makes the anvil and stand one piece, effectively increasing the weight of the anvil. I like 3 legged metal stands because you can get up close to the anvil (feet under the anvil) so that you can stand up straight and avoid back pain and improve hammer control. I like the face of the anvil at wrist height. I believe that the face at knuckle height was for the striker, not the blacksmith.

I have been selling motors and VFDs for about 5 years. I have a 1.5 hp motor on mine and can not bog it down even at 25%. I suggest an 1800 rpm motor. 1800 rpm motors have more torque than 3600 rpm motors and are better motors than 3600 rpm motors and they cool better. I sell a cast aluminum motor that cools better than the rolled steel motors. I believe that your fears are unfounded. I am still using my original motor and VFD. E-mail me or call if you have questions or if I can help you.