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I Forge Iron

Jacob Palmer

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Posts posted by Jacob Palmer

  1. I'm working on a short-ish blade right now, and I'm trying to make my chances of a successful heat treat as high as possible. I know all most of the basics and some of the chemistry, but I still have one question: What is the best method of thermal cycling/normalizing? I know that you should get it to crit temp then let it cool to black, or room temp, but how many times should I do this? What I've been doing is heating it up to crit, letting it cool to black (I do that three times in a row) then I heat it a little bit above crit and let it cool to room temp, then I heat treat. It's worked so far, but y'all probably have more experience than me. 

     

    Thanks,

                  Jacob

  2. 1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

    Yes, you do need a regulator for the most efficient use of the forge. A 0-30 psi regulator is best and the regulators used for BBQ's are not adequate. The weed burners at Harbor Freight have a regulator that works just be sure it's for propane.

    I actually used the body of a Harbor Freight weed burner for my torch. It only has a little valve near the burner bit. Is that a regulator? (I used the usd 19.99 one.)

  3. I have recently built a Frosty Tee Burner for a gas forge of mine. Is it absolutely imperative to have a regulator attaching to the propane tank? There is already a valve on the burner. If I do absolutely need one, can someone point me to where I could get a cheap and good one?

    Thanks,

                  Jacob

  4. There are two types of firebricks: hard and soft. From what I've heard hard firebricks take longer to get hot but are cheaper than soft firebricks. And soft firebricks the opposite. Is it imperative to use soft firebricks? I mean I'm making my first gas forge and I have a budget limit. Getting the amount of soft firebricks I need could cost upwards of 70$ usd. But hard firebrick from like homedepot could cost only 30$ usd. Which do I choose?

  5. 2 hours ago, Baxter said:

     

    I just recently built a Frosty T burner. I bought 0.035 and 0.025 mig tips. The 0.025 worked best for me though I used a strange setup. Experiment with grinding the tip down a little. You could also try regulating the amount of oxygen that gets to the gas.

  6. 43 minutes ago, Jacob Palmer said:

    Nice! How many bricks did you use? 

    Also, where the heck would I find those bricks? I see some people selling them on Ebay, but it looks kinda shady... And homedepot/lowes only sells hard firebrick.

    Where'd you get the coating?

  7. 7 hours ago, Frozenforge said:

    Soft bricks. All thread to clamp it together, Infared reflective coating. Was palnning on a 1/2 “ burner but I’m using a turbo torch setup I picked up very cheap at a garage sale.

    This setup will go from cold forge and a piece of 5/8 solid square to forging temp (orange) in about 3 minutes.

    87A3CC86-3D83-4AFE-AEB3-F32B952EA124.jpeg

    Nice! How many bricks did you use? 

    Also, where the heck would I find those bricks? I see some people selling them on Ebay, but it looks kinda shady... And homedepot/lowes only sells hard firebrick.

  8. So I assume this has been covered 100 times before, but hear me out:

     

    I recently built a Frosty T burner. (And it works pretty well) I had planned to make a gas forge with kaowool and a propane tank, but I learned the extent of the dangers of kaowool. (I already knew it was bad but not this bad) I know there are refractory sealants to protect me from the fumes but I don't want to take that risk.

    So I want to build a gas forge with firebricks. The issue is: how do I build a stable firebrick forge without welding (and with a low budget) I still don't have access to a welder. I've looked around a lot for info on this and I've found nothing. (Loads more time than an hour this time BTW...) If I made a forge would the brick would I need refractory cement to seal it? Do I even need to support the bricks to make a stable forge? And what type of bricks do I use: soft or hard? 

  9. 5 hours ago, sfeile said:

    Didn't mean to sound like such an xxx, and I apologize. I could have worded that better.

    There is a lot of info here, I've been tapping into it for quite some time even before I signed up. I don't know anything about building a foundry. The only foundry work I have ever done was back in Jr. high and that was more than a couple weeks ago for sure.

    I do know I built my first burner and it was one that was supposed to be pretty good, but cheaper than some of the more "tried and true" versions. It ended up costing me more in the long run because it lacked in efficiency and I ended up replacing it with a better model.

    So despite my initial crassness, my intent was honest. Go with a good design to begin with. They may cost a little more initially, but they are proven and will serve you much better.

    Thanks, do you think that the frosty t design would work? It doesn't seem too complex, but is it one of those tried and true methods? The one I ended up building for the foundry was Grant Thompson's Gas Blaster. It worked well, but it was a very complex build. It could be adjusted better, but in the end, was just needlessly complex.

    4 hours ago, MotoMike said:

    My next burner will surely be a frosty t.   my first and current burner is a Reil design with Bourdeax modification. budgetary concerns at the forefront,  I can't imagine a cheaper proven burner to build than a Ron Reil.

    That Ron Reil also looks pretty good.

  10. 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

    If you use a tap; you might as well build the "T" burner anyway and use it's alignment ideas...

    Yeah, that's what I was plannin'.

    52 minutes ago, sfeile said:

    I'm pretty new too and don't have a big budget. Considering this is something that is going to mix fire and an extremely volatile gas, it was something that I didn't feel I wanted to skimp on.   My recommendation is to go with something tested and proven.

    This is a pretty labor intensive craft to be complaining about a whole hours worth of research.

    Sfeile, I wasn't complaining, I was merely expressing my misfortune with finding information. I have used very similar propane burners before. I was looking for a simpler design than the ones I have made. When I worked on my aluminum foundry I spent months of work on researching. I expected my knowledge to carry over even a little...

    1 hour ago, Mikey98118 said:

     

     

    An entire stinkin' hour?! Really tough going there, lad.

    Read note to Sfeile, the same applies to you. 

  11. 6 hours ago, Binesman said:

    If youre starting out use a known design and follow it.  

    If youre looking for something less complex to make go with a frosty t burner.  There a clear and easy to follow instructions pinned on this site for them.

    Though I have already checked many forums for burner blueprints. (Like for a stinkin hour) I had not found any that were simple or cheap enough for me. The "Frosty T" looks great and is what I'll probably end up using. Thanks for the suggestion!

    1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

    I wondered about getting a perfect alignment by hammering the parts in and how would you correct if it they were off?

    If I went with this model I would use a tap.

  12. I found this youtube video on making a simple burner for a gas forge. I have made a burner to melt aluminum in a foundry before. With most burners (and the one I made) I find that they cost a lot to make or require a lot of up-keep. This one seems almost too simple. What do y'all think? I'm not looking for it to last my whole life but to just get started in gas forges.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=67rxU02fv6o

    image.png

    (P.S. I would make quite a few modifications like an air flow regulator and such.)

    Your boi,

                   Jacob

  13. 43 minutes ago, Mikey98118 said:

    Reading the Forges 101 thread will clue you in on the whys and hows of forge design so that you have a clue what you are looking at; including whether its price tag represents real value or you are being suckered BIG TIME. And if you don't think most commercial forges are sucker deals...well, that just proves you haven't read the thread, doesn't it?

    Ya got me, I can't read or write. Silly me! 

  14. I am looking to upgrade from my coke forge to a gas forge, and I don't quite know what to do. I can buy one of those fancy centaur forge ones for half a grand, buy one of those ebay ones for 150$, or make my own. It would be hard to get enough money to afford the 500$ ones, and I don't have access to a welding machine currently. What do I do?  

     

    Thanks,

                  Jacob

  15. I walked around a railroad track recently and found two tie plates. Stacked, they weigh 54lbs. I'm wondering if they could be used as a starter anvil. They make an amazing ring and have good rebound, but they can dent somewhat easily. I have access to railroads, and should I go with this or try to find a piece of track just laying around another railroad? 

     

    Thanks,

                 Jacob

    I'm also wondering if there is a rust protection galvanization on it. That could be a reason for the denting. I haven't cleaned off all the rust yet.

  16. So my friend and I want to start blacksmithing. We have already quite a bit of experience with heated metals and we already have a forge. The question remains: what anvil do we choose? We have a budget of around 50$. We found a piece of railroad track for 30$ which is around 30-75 lbs. The only issue with this one is it doesn't have a horn or hardy hole. We also found a 20lb anvil on Ebay for 50$ it has a hardy hole and a horn. The only problem with this one is it weighs 20lbs! We don't know what to do! Does anyone have any suggestions? Our goal is to make a forged rebar bracelet and or a few knives. We also found a few Harbor Freight ones, but they are of awful quality. (A.S.Os Ya know?) 

    Thanks!

                 Jacob

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