Chris C

Thanks for the advice. Can't really "listen to the fire" because I'm practically deaf from flightline work in the military and industrial work at my family's plastic manufacturing plant. For some reason (and I know I'm going to get pounded for this) coal/charcoal just turns me off. I know it's traditional, but it's just not something I'm at all interested in. The only "fancy" thing I'm working towards is a good propane forge because I can hook it up to a PID for consistent temperatures. Everything else is just garage sale finds and Harbor Freight Engineer's Hammer kind of stuff.

Well hi there, Mr. Frosty. We've missed you this past week. Ran off to have a face lift??? The tornado that went through Norman, OK headed right at our house at 4am.................lifted off the ground 1/4 mile from our house (because we were praying) and landed 1/4 mile beyond our house. We were in the storm shelter in our garage floor. The only damage at our place was a few limb tips laying on the ground the next morning. Oklahoma has been suffering extensive flooding and water rescues are up drastically. At our house, all is well. I just keep my head down and keep working on knife making projects. But thanks for asking. Also, thanks for the comments on uncoiling garage door springs. Looks like one or two would make for a good source for blacksmithing projects for me to practice on.

Thanks, guys. This newbie is all ears. (eyes) Learning lots.

20 feet? Wow. Never thought about how long one might be. Good idea on the "thank you" gift. I was thinkin' steak flippers made from rebar.

Good suggestion Thomas. Thanks, John. Just got off the phone with a garage door repair shop. They said they just toss the old springs into a recycling bin. The person who answered the phone said she'd e-mail the party responsible for that and have him get in touch with me. I don't know how long a typical unwound garage door spring is, but I imagine it would be useful for a lot of projects, saving me the cost of practice materials.

John, I really think you have something there! I took your advice to make a dedicated C-clip...........but I just did a quickie out of oxy/acetylene weldiing wire. Not pretty, but it works. Has proven itself to be a solution for my "problem" hand. As soon as my skills improve to that point, I want to make a copy of one of yours. Looks to be a treat! I need to locate some garage door springs to start with.

Me thinks thine be too modest! I can't believe a total slouch of a blacksmith would have a shop like that!

58er, This is the first time I've read this thread. Your shop would be the envy of any blacksmith..............beginner, hobbyist or full-time bread-winner. I can't even imagine what a pleasure it would be to work in a shop with that many pieces of equipment to solve any problem that might present itself to you. Great shop. I'm "just" starting and this new interest will never amount to anything more than yet another hobby in my life, but I'm envious as all get-out of your shop and tools. Wish I lived close enough to come and just spend a day watching you work. "Toy Store" shop, to say the least.

While I've enjoyed seeing all the various smithing shops from all the folks here on the forum, Glen, I have to admit I really enjoyed the shop tour of Scott's. He's one of my more favorite Youtube smiths, so really getting a chance to see his shop was cool. Thanks for posting that.

I've read everything I can find, and have done tons of searches and not found my answers or I wouldn't be asking these questions. I'm a total newbie. Trying to design my first forge. From all I've read, I've decided a FARB is the direction I want to go, for my purposes. I'm trying to get all this "forced air" stuff to make sense in my feeble brain. It would seem to me that the total area of the holes in the burner should equal the area of the incoming pipe through which the forced air and gas travel. My forge will end up with a 6"x6"x12" interior. I've not welded it up yet, but my burner tube is 2.75"x3"x10.5". Incoming pipe is 2". The area of a 2" (mine is actually 2.080") is 3.397946614". I think I prefer smaller than crayon diameter holes so I'm planning on using plastic straws. The ones I presently have on hand to measure (maybe not what I'll end up using) measure 9/64th". Their area is .06212622191". So if my calculations are correct, that would mean I need 54 straws. That's going to be difficult to cast around. So, a couple of questions: First, is it important, with forced air, to match the area of the exit holes to the incoming pipe as I've shown? Second, with the proposed 432 cubic inch interior of my forge, is the 10.5" burner too large? Oh, and another thing..................since the forge cavity is square would introducing the burner from the side.........toward the top of the cavity, be more conducive to even heat than coming directly down from the top of the forge, or does it make any difference?

We fared well at our place last night. I think all we got was rain. I slept through it, so at least I know there were no tornado sirens. Thanks, folks, "anvil rings" helped.

Personally, I'll say "Thank You", from Oklahoma. The tornado that came through the East side of Norman this week came right at my house and 1/4 of a mile away it lifted. Went right over my house and then dropped back to the ground 1/4 of a mile away. Thank God it was only an F1 level and not F3 or above. As it was, we only lost some tips of the trees in our wooded property. Prayers work.................we were praying from our storm shelter. Thanks for your prayers.......................because we are under another tornado warning tonight.

Great suggestion. Thanks.

Hmmmmm. One wall at a time? Does the KOL not have any "flow" to it? If it does, I'd be surprised if I could do it without an actual box fabricated to hold back the KOL while it set up.

"Pay it forward".....................always works for me. Good for you!

You must be making a pretty large forge, materman. You gonna be forging punch press flywheels?????

Wayne got back with me this evening and said he recommended at least 1/2". I'm like you guys, though, in that it won't hurt to have the extra bag as a "just in case". Since I'm going to have a square hole through the middle of my forge, would it behoove me to make a Plexiglas box as a form and just pack the KOL in-between the mold and the bricks so I get a uniform wall thickness..............or would that be a waste of time? Also...................should I attach some kind of chicken wire or something to the soft brick to hold the KOL...................like plastering a wall?

My eyes crossed and smoke was coming out of my ears just reading that ! Is 1/2" thickness sufficient on top of 2 1/2" soft bricks? I'm going to coat the KOL with Metrikote, by the way.

You must have been misinformed, jwmelvin.................I don't have enough toes and fingers to do that kind of math, but thanks anyway. To the other questions: I'm building a forge that will end up with a 7"x7"x12" interior. (after I apply the 2 1/2" soft firebrick to all the walls.) Wayne says I need 2 "bags" (no comment on weight) at $15 each to coat a Freon tank forge.................but I've explained to him several times that's not what I'm building. I'm just trying to figure out how "far" the two bags he's offering will go in coating the inside of my forge. I'm trying to find the coverage in how many square inches at what thickness.

Can anyone tell me the coverage, square inches at what thickness, for a bag of Kast-O-Lite ?

Sorry for not responding sooner. I 've been off-line since last Thursday with computer problems. Thanks for the comments in this thread. They've been very helpful.

I've been in manufacturing and fabrication most of my adult life. I can usually sort out the chaff. When I'm not quite sure, I do a lot of searches, reading and asking questions..............lots of them. I research most everything I get into until I'm almost sick of it because I just plain can't afford to have a "closet full of slightly used holsters", as they say. Easier to sort out the various suppliers, ask questions, make decisions and then make a purchase. I'm pretty sure I''m headed in the right direction on this build.

Thanks, Frosty. I think I'm on the right track. Gathering materials for my forge build.

Fair enough. But is there anything wrong with choosing a soft brick interior?

I've only used a forge for three evenings. I can only state an uneducated opinion. I noticed the interior of the forges were torn/tattered and the floors (being of the same material) were pretty much destroyed. I would prefer a hard firebrick floor that could easily be removed and the rest of the forge insulated with soft brick coated with a higher heat refractory. The forges I've seen on Youtube presentations that had such a setup made more sense to me. Once again, an uneducated opinion.