Hans Richter

Hi Mikey, the crawled fibre matt is only placed to avoid further crawling of the roofing above, actually the exhaust heat is to hot and affect the bitumen/transparent PU-wave roof plates . The mat spread the heat and prevent further deformation or burn on the roof above. Don’t want to decrease the exhaust opening more because of putting in work pieces and have an eye on the burners. Consider to place the forge outside the shop like I see quit often, or make an extra shield between the forge and the roof. Any suggestions? Bye Hans

Hi Mickey & Thomas, Please find the final setup and configurations on the new pictures. Also thanks about the feedback around the flame pattern this was very useful. As you see on the first pictures the forge wasn’t assembled and welded off and the chokes not mounted. Thanks for the hint about CO too, till now the shop is fortunately good ventilated! In the meantime I forged several pieces, and running out of gas, no wonder with an average of 2.2 lbs of gas for each burner on a 26 lbs propane cylinder L Thank you in advance and keep your comments coming. Hans

Hi Gents, Also try to made some rail road anvils just for fun and a good friend of my. After all, quit satisfied with the result. Not really suited for de heavy work but still useful for noble blacksmith work like trinket, arrow points, pendants and maybe knives. Some words about the suitability of rail road tracks for small anvils. The manganese steel of the rail profile top get chock quenched and the rest of the heat annealed the body of the rail. This made the running surface of the rail hard and durable to prevent to worn out, and the body of the profile ductile to absorb the beats of the train (hammer?). However the same as your professional anvil have to do (please, is there someone to explain me the rebound question ) Your feedback is very welcome. Cheers, Hans

Hi Frosty, Thanks for the warm welcome and advice. The stones ‘swallow’ a lot of energy and I have to rethink the inner shell of the forge chamber. However the space is big enough with 12 x 12 inch. Start with covering the rest of the chamber with ceramic beads blankets. If this is not enough, I want to use fiber material as backing. Regarding the fibers, I will add a topic in the Safety forum regarding Kowool which is forbidden in the EU now because of health hazard. According to recent European research some mineral fibres , wants get’n hotter than 1600°F, are even dangerous as asbestos. Until now I only read about reflection and radiation. About the pictures – I got enough to share, attached a couple of ChroMo springer fullers I made because of missing a third arm + hand :-)

Gents, I actually use torches like above and his nozzle #73 + part of the original burner head for my venturi twin. Preferred that above a self-made burner from galvanized plumbing stuff. Combined the assembly with a flashback valve, 50 psi pressure reducer, hose breaking valve and a 26 lbs propane cylinder. Only build the burner body from SS 316 Ti and later the choke sliders. Here some specifications, venturi inlet Ø 2 in, 4 in long, burner lance Ø 1,5 in, 12 in long. Since I use the choke there is a significant reduction of gas consumption but still 2,2 lbs propane gas an hour. Reach temperatures till 1750°F on the work piece and have to figure out if this is enough for welding. During running the forge the burners are cool and steady, but after forging I always disconnect the torches because of the heat of the forge crawls up true burners after shut down. Don’t talk about freezing gas bottles or else already spoken on other threats. If there are any ideas to improve my burners please let me know.

Hi Thomas, Thanks for your reaction. The forge is made from used high density refractory bricks. Indeed they absorb a lot of heat in the beginning. Cover the bottom with ceramic blanket and intend to do this with the camber walls and ceiling to. Do you have any suggestions. Have a nice day, cheers Hans

Hello from Belgium, Glad to be part of the IFI community now. Found a very interesting forums and lots of knowledge around technic, skills and practices. Here a short introduction of myself. After professional education (maintenance mechanic) and after several years work/training in a lock/black-smith shop, finally running my own BS-shop for 9 years on a historical Dutch shipyard. Because of health reasons and funding a family I rest de shop and went back to school for studying quality- and work safety management. Since about 17 years I’m busy on payroll now to make a living in SHEQ-business within the metal industry . Next to that I work freelance as an IWC-S consultant to give welding advice to small metalworking companies. Al this time I keep my basic blacksmith equipment (tongs, hammers, fullers, swags and coal forge) without using it. About 1 ½ years ago I reactivate the equipment in a small barn in my backyard and now I’m forging again. In the last couple of months however the activities and goals are rising up and I build my own 55lbs power hammer and also a gas forge with a twin set of Venturi jet burners with many thanks to the oversea blacksmith community at forums and on Youtube. Still try to become familiar with the non-metric measurements. Like to forge many items like chandeliers, fire pokes but also knives, axes and more. At the moment I struggle with the fine tuning of power hammer (insufficient air release at foot switch) and forge (becoming higher temperature >1750°F ), and also hoop to find many useful information about Damascus steel. Cheers, Hans