pinetar Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Unit is buried, probably came from a school, he is asking $500. Is it fair. I believe our shop has a 1" copper line feeding to the bldg. I have no exp. smithing, just sort of looking at equipment options. garyMobileMe Gallery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Gary, Take a look here for some more cost effective alternatives to a gas forge. http://www.zoellerforge.com./ He has kits you can buy or build the burners yourself cheaper than that Johonson unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat pete Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 for that kind of money you can find more suited way less complicated ... forges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetar Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 the 121 is out of my system. the brick needs to be rebuilt and that is too much $$. I have the 27cfm Gast blower above so i might just build a gas forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I've rebuilt them using standard fire bricks and a masonry saw. And a little joint butter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 27 c.f.m. isn't a lot, but at least it's rated for some back pressure. You could probably run a decent little gas forge on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetar Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I've rebuilt them using standard fire bricks and a masonry saw. And a little joint butter. I do have some standard brick lying around. Maybe I will take that approach. thanks to all. gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Standard fire brick forges are usually gas hogs with long warm up and cool down times. The large Johnson's I have seen are more industrial forges and not a good choice for someone starting out. I skipped the middle man and bought a Johnson heat treat forge/furnace (Pedestal model) at a school auction in Columbus OH for US$40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetar Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Standard fire brick forges are usually gas hogs with long warm up and cool down times. The large Johnson's I have seen are more industrial forges and not a good choice for someone starting out. I skipped the middle man and bought a Johnson heat treat forge/furnace (Pedestal model) at a school auction in Columbus OH for US$40. Sounds like the same model I am looking at. How would you evaluate it for someone starting out? Did you need to redo the brick or coat it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 The Johnson is a huge waste of gas at today's prices. I count my usage of propane in gallons per hour, literaly. I would either build a forge or buy an efficient one and forget the Johnson. If you were doing production and needed a lot of irons in the fire, it would be a different story. For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Way overkill for a beginner and not well sized for what folks are generally making. I didn't have to change out anything but have not used it since I moved out here as no gas! I use my propane forges I built at SOFA (in Ohio!) gas forge workshops *cheap*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower. True, but a lot of folks prefer blown burners -- and they have some real advantages. Not least being that they're dead simple to build. And it appears he already has a blower, albeit a fairly small one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 (edited) A DIY blown forge is still a lot cheaper than that Johnson and more fuel efficient. Unless you have more money than you know what to do with build your own propane fired forge. With a blown burner he can melt bronze, brass or rock if he wants to. If he wants to use natural gas he can go with a pressure booster system http://www.gas-tec.com/ Edited October 29, 2009 by Bentiron1946 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredW Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 (edited) I built my blown forge out of an 18" piece of 8" square tube. I used an old microwave blower on it and it has more than enough air. Probably less than 20 cfm's. I used a draft induction blower on it first and ended up choking the air down because it was too much. Had to run higher gas pressure to run it. Now it will run on less than 10psi and weld. I believe you can get your forge to run on less pressure than that. I also have a forge with venturi burners and can weld with it also and it will run on 5lbs. pressure or less. Fred Edited October 29, 2009 by FredW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetar Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 I don't even know if I want to B a blacksmith. Are there smithing groupies at hammer-ins? Sure would be nice to have a pretty young umbrella girl hand me hammers. Maybe someone about 35 yrs younger than myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 How far over the hill are you? Now as to pretty girls if you want them to hand you hammers forget it most of the girls at the hammer-ins I have been to are doing the hammering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetar Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 The Johnson is a huge waste of gas at today's prices. I count my usage of propane in gallons per hour, literaly. I would either build a forge or buy an efficient one and forget the Johnson. If you were doing production and needed a lot of irons in the fire, it would be a different story. For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower. The compartment is not that big in comparison to propane forges. It uses 90,000 btu's to heat to 2300 deg in 50 minutes, which seems like a long time. would you consider that to be heavy gas usuage? I could add a bad door to increase the usefulness. I wouldn't pay $500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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