WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

Buzz that's exactly why I want in the NARB club  What size forge are you running yours in?

Frosty I'm building a 1/2" Frosty T that I'll use to power the NARB... the bell is just to help keep the flame from blowing off in the vice (since I don't have a gas forge to tune the burner in) so what I'm trying to figure out is if that will get me close enough for the NARB or should I try to find a chunk of pipe or something similarly sized to the forge I'm planning to put it in for the initial tuning of the burner.  

No worries Frosty that's precisely why I was asking.  Wasn't sure if a "bell and vice" tune would get me close enough or if there was another workaround to get closer like trying to run it in some sort of makeshift chamber similar to planned forge size. 

Buzz I just realized that I have in fact seen the linked thread ... it's Frosty's original one just looked different as when you link it shows your pic of your NARB so i didn't recognize it right away. I was over here kicking myself for missing vital info

Buzzkill I recall you mentioned it in another post I had commented on... you're running 1/8" holes on your drilled IFB correct? Have you come up with a solid number of said holes? Tried that bad boy in a forge? Somehow I missed that thread you linked and now will have to go over it with a fine tooth comb. You and Frosty seem to agree that the T being "dialed in" isn't super important on the NARB so I'm thinking slap a bell on the end get it as close as I can in the vice and get to trying NARB head ideas. 

Ok frosty I've been crunching numbers and have decided I'm going to back burner the bigger forge (for now) and build a significantly smaller one for knives, mokume, and try my hand at some pattern welding. I'm thinking 150-160 ci with a 1/2" T .... but I'd still like to do a NARB. So I am curious if you're aware of anyone that's done a 1/2" NARB (so I can copy what works) and then my other question is regarding tuning.... I understand these need to be tuned prior to fitting the ribbon and that they need to be tuned in a forge, but I'm looking for a workaround to somehow tune without the actual forge being built as I'm thinking NARB and that will obviously be a bigger cut out in my lining. 

MCalvert  thanks for the thorough build documentation and pics. I am currently switching the design of my first gas build to a "D" and your build along with the curmudgeon advice of the experts on it have been super helpful. 

Buzzkill thanks for the insight! There are definitely things I hadn't thought of on the drawback side of things. I have a couple new ideas bouncing around in my head to research before pulling the trigger on shape now. 

Buzzkill have you been running your drilled IFB in a forge? I know I read another member was working with the same idea, but sounded like he hadn't been running it in a forge yet. You say you're on #2? How long do you think you're getting out of a brick before it deteriorates?

Anyone tried using kiln shelf as the burner face? Just thinking about how to get away from all the skewers when I do mine.

Alright frosty .... now you got the gears in my head turning.  I was going to be a little below the halfway point with my "flat floor/ floor mounted burner" idea... if I changed the burner to a side or the top I could get away with smaller yet.  Is there an optimal position for a ribbon to be mounted in a "D"? My original floor mounted logic was to help the flame swirl. 

Yep..... this is where "dummy" comes in.  I went with dia. X pi x depth..... not radius squared x pi x depth. 

Grrr .... too big. Back to finding that happy size with enough space to fit goofy shapes. (This time I'll use the right formula SMDH)

Frosty that absolutely makes sense!

I'm crunching numbers (and I'll admit I'm not great at it) that overpack has a diameter of 14" and is 15" deep before subtracting the insulation and refractory (I'm using 5") (two layers of 1" plus 1/2"  on all surfaces) which leaves a diameter of 9" and depth of 10"  ..... I'm calculating 282.6 c.i. without subtracting a floor/ burner (I'm thinking the bottom 1/4-1/3) or "plug ends" (that will fit inside (making it shorter yet when in place)

Am I doing the math wrong? I'm trying to make this thing small with the abilities to fit odd shapes and be able to open the ends for pass through and heat treatment. 

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here I just thought I had gone over and over the numbers and had a solid plan other than the obviously unknown materials factor. 

Thomas ..... I asked him, but now I'm never going to get those cleavers out of my head.

So thanks for that.... lol

What are you running for a forge? I have a weird thing about wanting to make some cleavers (maybe not quite as giant as your beauties, but definitely bigger than the ones you get with a knife set) 

Frosty we can go with WTF, Josh, dummy .... lol 

I'm pretty easy going so whatever works. There are two bags of Kastolite one is 20(I know... way too low) and a bag of 26LI as well. I was leaning toward the sparcast28 since it has the highest temp rating, but I don't know if it's insulating or if it's essentially casting a hard fire brick heat sink (shooting myself in the foot) then there's the mysterious vesuvius lol.

As for size..... I was originally going to use that refrigerant tank, but after lining I don't think a damascus stack would fit let alone my current weird obsession for cleavers. This is where I thought of flat floor and plugs that would make that overpack's interior smaller and still allow bigger openings when wanted. I do however trust the opinions of several of you quite a bit. (I've been lurking and there's a wealth of knowledge I'd like to sponge up)

I'm up for creative suggestions to make it as small as possible and still have the ability to a BIG cleaver. (Don't ask.... I don't know what the obsession is about)

JHCC did you get your skewer burner dialed in? What size forge is that?

Which products would be best suited for lining the wool and which for casting the burner?

Hello experts, as the title states.... I'm looking to start my first gas forge and use a NARB. I have a couple options for the forge body and am leaning toward one, but don't want to have "that forge" in the corner collecting dust and taking up space. I like to make knives, want to do damascus, and have a bit of a thing for cleavers at the moment. I'm leaning toward the overpack drum in the pic with a flat floor and floor mount NARB, it's a little bigger than a standard 20 lb propane tank. My thoughts are to build "plug" ends to help keep the openings small when I'm not needing space for cleavers since they're big and awkward. I also have a few different refractory options that differ from the standard go to, but they cost me nothing so obviously I'd like to make use of them rather than buy if possible.

Thanks in advance for helping me not repeat mistakes already made. 

Josh