DavidF

Lol! I will post new pics tomorrow or during the weekend. It is staring to look like it should.

Thanks Jasent, MotoMike, and Wayne! I spoke with Wayne this afternoon and I am picking up the blanket, refractory, and IR from him. I went with Jasent’s and Wayne’s input for the length of fiber blanket (4’). I also ordered the fumed silica to make the rigidizer (again thanks to Jasent, I hadn’t looked at making my own until I got that excellent feedback). I just took four new pics of progress on the build and I will post those to my progress page if anyone wants to see. I will post a link to that thread after I post the pics. What a great community. I can’t thank you guys enough for the feedback. It has definitely improved my design beyond what I had prior to getting input from all of the seasoned pros! So excited to fire this forge up! Another week or so and I will be trying it out!

Thanks Wayne. Yes, I have read through your instructions. It didn’t have the amount of fiber blanket. But now I have that info. I will call you today to place an order. One last question, what about rigidizer for the blanket? Do you use it or just the refractory cement?

Hey guys, i am am going to call Wayne tomorrow, but I wanted to reach out to the experts and ask the following: i used a 20# propane tank as my forge body. I will be using 1” fiber blanket and I wanted to see from experience, how may feet in length I should plan on purchasing? I will buy 24” width, but I am sure more than one person has does the same/similar build. I am guessing I need about ten feet for a double layer. Any input from your experience is very appreciated. I have a feeling Wayne will also know when I speak to him, but wanted see what others have ended up needing for a similar construction. thanks

Lol! I will post new pics tomorrow or during the weekend. It is staring to look like it should.

I completed building the burners, stock shelf on the front, and tubes in the top for the burners.i did end up moving my burners to the top of the forge instead of 2 o’clock position. Have some cleanup and moving on to insulation and refractory

For each hour of welding, I am grinding about 6 hours. Lol!

Thanks Frosty! Great information that I will use as I progress. I finished some more work today. I will post some pics to share the progress. I built a latching system today to close the door. I am pretty excited. It has been a fun project. I really, REALLY need to spend time practicing welding. This is the first welding I have performed and thank the Lord it is not structural work! This image shows the latch system I have put on the forge. I used 1/2” tubing and a large bolt I used 1/2” tubing to create a base for the forge. I also used smaller pieces of the tube for the door to sit on. Please don’t look at the horrible welding, it was literally the first time I have ever welded. I am committed to becoming a better welder. I need to figure out the speed, depth, and most importantly learn to watch the flow as I draw cursive Es. This is a hinge for the door. I used the same 1/2” tubing, with a brake pin for the hinge.

Hi guys, I am new to the forum and also new to building a forge. I have done some research and tried to incorporate best practices, etc. I am sure I have even used ideas/designs/concepts from some of you. So thanks for all of your knowledge sharing. Nothing I am doing is original, nor do I want it to be. My goal is to build a good first forge for myself and I intend to do that through known and best practice. However, I wanted to share what I am doing and see if I can gain some feedback. I have used a 20# propane tank for my shell. I did not want to be concerned about gas in the cylinder, so I purchased a new tank (inside the Home Depot vs outside). I have removed the top and bottom brackets/guards, cut out front and back pass through, made a hinged door for front access, and placed a base on the bottom. This is where the projects stands today. It has been a lot of planning, grinding, welding, etc. I will be adding a latch to the door, a handle on top, and a pipe through the top for the burner to conduct heat. After this, I will spray it with a paint just to make it look a little better. Then I am finished with the metal work and will move on to lining. For the lining, I plan to use 2” of insulated wool, 1” of refractory. The refractory will be close to 1” of cement and then as small of an amount of a coating as possible (since this is very expensive and from my reading, only a small layer is needed to radiate the heat back). On the lining, I have seen others use glass cement as an adhesive. Is that the best route? Or is an adhesive needed for the wool to the door? Couldn’t a small layer of refractory cement be used between the door and wool? Would rigidizer provide any adhesive and bonding between the door and wool? I have struggled with finding the right burner design. I had settled on the burner design attached, until I saw a burner design by Mike on this forum. I will reduce the nipple toward the burner end to ~6-8”. I welcome any feedback on simplifying the plan for the burner design. I have listed a small incomplete calculation that shows the volume of the cylinder less the volume of a firebrick (there is some additional space that will be filled in), but based on just those areas, I know I am below 700 cubic inches. Based on what I have heard and read, a 3/4” burner will heat up to 350 cubic inches of a forge to welding temperatures or above. I knew I would be north of 350 so I had to go to 2 burners and I wanted to ensure I was south of 700. Based on my burner image, I may be overkill on my design. I planned this prior to today when I found this forum and I will definitely incorporate some of the things I have seen here for the burner. But I will take any input on the burner as well. Thanks a ton for your time and invaluable feedback. I hope to pay this back down the road as I gain experience and newer users need similar help as I do today.