Gustav

Well, turns out we have 2 welders!

What kind of clay would that be?

If I find some 10 mm sheet metal, what kind of welder is required? I have a "Micro-Mig" atm (with specs I don't have in my head). Will that do?

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll try to find some thicker plate. I suppose it doesn't matter what type of steel it is? As long as it's not galvanized or something like that. Mod note: don’t use the quote feature if you’re replying to the immediately preceding comment. It’s a waste of space and bandwidth.

Hey guys! It's time to upgrade my forge. The first picture is what it looks like ATM and the secound is what I want it to (sort of) look like: The plan is to weld sheet metal to make this a "table" and then cut out a round opening to make room for the rim forge. That way the forge I have now acts as a firepot. It will probably look like something like this: The things I am uncertain about are: 1. How large should the "table" be? 2. Should I weld some plates (like these: ) inside the rim to make it look more like the firepot from the picture I pasted? 3. How thick does the sheet metal have to be? Both for the table and the eventual plates for the firepot in question number 2 above. 4. Should I ditch the rim and make an entirely new firepot? This could be difficult since I'll have a hard time finding extremely thick sheetmetal. Just realized that this got picture heavy. Very thankful for all answers. // Eophex

Thanks everyone for helping me with this hobby. Unfortunately there will not be a propane forge built nor bought. This is mainly because I already have a solid fuel forge (which might not be so good) and because I already have a virtually unlimited amount of coke. Investing in a propane forge, tank and propane would be too expensive compared to just continuing with the forge I already have. At the moment, I will propably just modify it with some sheet metal (another thread is possibly going to take care of that). However, I'm certain that I will build a propane forge in the future, when I move. When that time comes, I will have most of the knowledge of how to build one, thanks to you guys!

Just found this on a swedish craigslist-type site: The guy wants $224 for it (2000 SEK). The interior is about 80x300 mm and I've asked for more pictures and wether anything else comes with the price (making sure I only have to buy a propane tank after this is a huge plus).

Just want to let you guys know that I am actively looking for supplies to build any type of forge, even if it's tempting to buy one. I just don't know where to look. I mean, where can I find/buy an empty helium tank? I know it's difficult to be specific since I live in Sweden, but where are these things located generally?

Oh, sorry. Forgot that. I'll PM the link to anyone that wants it. It's a single burner Devil Forge DFSW for $180 + free shipping. It comes with everything needed except for a propane tank.

This guy?

Hey I've been using coke as fuel for quite some time now. The problem is that the sizes range from 40 to 80 mm, which obviously is too large. I might be able to forge, but reducing the size would dramatically help. I've tried knocking them one by one on the anvil with my hammer but that's just inefficient, tedious and dirty. Sorting out the extremely big ones isn't either very effective. Is there an effective way of splitting large amounts coke into smaller pieces? I have a large amount of this coke which I would like to make use of instead of buying new sacks.

Is this catastrophic? I'm more worried about inhaling ceramic wool and CO. One of the buyers had coated the inside of the forge to prevent this. This makes me unsure wether the forge gets shipped without getting coated.

"The floor is made of ceramic brick, providing superior strength and durability." (I assume you're talking about the one I linked and not the forge type I sketched)

Just made this one today. It's not beautiful by any means but the anvil isn't going anywhere!

I honestly don't know if I'll be able to build a forge myself. I have welded a bit but finding everything needed to build both the burner and the forge seems to be very difficult, and even if I have all I need I'm not sure if I'd be able to assemble the whole thing. One thing that really sounds inviting is to build one that consists of both soft and hard firebricks inside a steel shell like the one I sketched below, but avoiding wool and casting refractory seems not to be recommended. Me making one is probably the worst for both quality and my health. XXXXXXXXXXXXX links removed It's pretty cheap (and still ships with everything needed except for a gas tank) and big enough for my needs. I'll still have to modifiy it a little bit (doors) but it's a finished forge.

I do know what a ball valve is, there is just alot of them with different specifications. The question I asked was what type of ball valve I needed, since I found some that were "in-in" "out-in" etc. Stupid me didn't realize that it probably was wether the threading was inside or outside... However it's still true that I need to read more posts.

Couple of questions: 1. What's the ball valve supposed to be? I'm finding in-in, in-out, out-out. 2. How do you actually mount the burner to the forge? Do you weld an adapter to the hole and then screw the burner in place?

I just found a good website to order pipe parts from, but I'm confused with the dimensions. Take this T-coupler for an example. In the picture below from the same website, it shows that the 20x20x20 R (3/4") version has an internal dimension of 24 mm, yet 3/4" is 19 mm. I suppose this is the one to go with, but can someone explain why it's called 3/4" when it's not 27 nor 24 mm. "Tidigare benämnt" was what the product was called, "Utvändigt mått ca" is the outer diameter and "Invändigt mått ca" is the inner diameter.

Any finished burners you recommend? I think it's crucial that I buy one that's finished. I live in Sweden so if I'll build a burner from scratch I need to know the measurements in millimeters. Do I just calculate what it is in mm and buy whatever measurements that's the closest or are there any good blueprints/tutorials using the metric system?

Hello! I'm a new blacksmith and I want to start mass producing small products like bottleopeners, hooks and what not, to sell. The problem I'm having is the amound of time and hassle it takes to keep a solid fuel forge (which I have at the moment) going. I'm also tired of how filthy it is with having a forge like that. All I want is a small, simple, clean forge that can heat up multiple small objects without me having to worry about overheating and destroying them. That's what attracted me to gas forges. The way I see it, is that you only have to fill up the propane tanks once in a while and replace any firebricks from time to time. Then it's just a matter of throwing in a bit of lit paper and opening the burners to start the forge. Am I wrong here? Is it more complicated than that? On the other hand, I'm a bit worried about needing to have a well ventilated space. I have my forge placed underneath a chimeny in an old foundry and at the moment, I'm using very large pieces of coke (which we have basically an unlimited amount of) that my father uses when he's melting brass in the foundry itself. This fuelsource is very difficult and annoying to get going which just makes me want a gas forge even more. I've tried breaking it into smaller pieces but it just turns into dust and extremely small shards which both can't be used in the forge and is dirty and unhealthy. Do you think I should buy/build a gas forge? I'm thinking about 1 burner, but what dimensions am I limited to then? What are some examples of products I can't heat up in a gas forge with 1 or even 2 burners? So: how big does it need to be and how many burners do I need? Again, this is mainly for heating up smaller objects that will only be hand forged by me. I do not have a striker / power hammer so I won't be forging hammers or axes any time soon. And if I wanted to forge something bigger that either won't fit in the propane forge or is too thick then I could just use the old solid fuel forge. I hope I'm posting a reasonable topic. All help is very much appreciated! Kind regards, Eophex

Yeah that's true. It's the same technique when forging stuff like that. Never thought about that! That's amazing work! Might be too advanced for someone like me, but I might try making a more basic version.

Hey I want to begin hand forging candlesticks/candleholders but I don't know if that's possible with 14 mm square bar. Do I need to order other dimensions or is it possible as it is? Maybe upsetting the bar will help? The real difficulty here is to be able to forge out the cone, the rest is all set. I've seen some people use pipes, but I'd really like not to do that. //Eophex

I just weighed my hammer and it turns out it weighs 1650 grams (3.6 pounds). That's why it's been so difficult at times!!!

Hey guys, beginner blacksmith here. I want to purchase a Brian Brazeal style rounding hammer, like the one Alec Steele uses but I don't know how heavy it should be. I plan on forging candleholders, leaves, bottlecap openers and other smaller projects. If things go well I might eventually try to forge knives. How heavy do you recommend that the hammer should be? 1 kg? 1,5 kg? If you know any good ones, please link me to them (if they ship to Europe, I live in Sweden). Grateful for all the help I can get. Sincerely, Eophex