Books on gas forges?

[oscer]

Are there any good books available on builing a gas forge and can any one recommend some? Thanks oscer

[MattBower]

There aren't many books that i know of that are solely about building forges. It tends to be covered, if at all, in more general books on blacksmithing. (And of course there's a ton of information on the Internet, including this site.) But this one is about building naturally aspirated burners, and it includes detailed plans for building several types of forges and furnaces with those burners.

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/1879535203

[oscer]

Thanks Matt,I've acually seen that book my son has a copy.

[Blakksmyth]

Hi Oscer,

David Robertson at artistblacksmith.com has a dvd on Gas Forge construction that may be worth investigating.
Our association will be looking into building a few gas forges down the track as coke is getting difficult to procure. We are lucky to
have the expertise of a couple of senior smiths who have built gas forges over the years and I intend to cover the construction of a
gas forge when we begin the the project next year.

Best Regards and Good luck,
Rob Kenning
Secretary
Artist Blacksmiths Association South Australia.

[oscer]

Thanks Rob, I found a book on Amazon called "Build Atmospheric Forge and Heat Treat Oven" don't recall the author. Any one ever here of it?

[MattBower]

It's a Gingery book. They're usually pretty good.

[oscer]

So I skimmed the book from Gingery and found :The forge is 6 sided with dim. of 12" Wide and 22" Long. It uses 2 burners that don't apear to be adjustable. It will go from cold to 2500 degrees in about 2 or 2 1/2 min.and they said it will run at 1800 degrees with 1 1/2 # presure for about 16 hrs on a 40# tank of propane.
It seems bigger than I need and I was wondering can you folks estimate the fuel consumption of afreon tank size forge at around 1800 degrees?

[ThomasPowers]

How much insulation and of what type?

[oscer]

I like the idea of pouring refractory rather than using kaowool. I would like to end up with a 6" ID so lets say 1" thick.

[MattBower]

Even the insulating refractories are not nearly as efficient insulators as ceramic fiber. Dense refractories are even worse. For example, at 2000 degrees F, Kaowool has half the thermal conducitivity of Kast-O-Lite 2600 (insulating), which in turn has about half the conducitivity of Mizzou castable (dense).

[oscer]

Thanks for the input Matt, I didn't know that. Just thought it would be easier to make that way and also more durable during use.If I understand what you guys are doing , you trial on ITC 100 over the wool to protect it from the irons bumpin into it? I also read that you should have 2" of kaowool. So I'm thinking if I have a forge that is about 6" dia.x 14 "long inside with 2" of wool and a good burner it should suck way less propane than the one in the Gingery book right? It is 12"wide hex x22" long with 1" of the refractory and 2 burners. Again the book says it will run for about 16 hrs at 1800* on a 40# tank.

[Dodge]

ITC 100 is not designed specifically to use for durability. It is used that way by some but it is designed primarily to be a reflective surface. Something like a refractory mortar or patch (I use AP Green's Greenpatch 421) coated with ITC will yield a much more durable coating than just ITC alone. My forges are lined with Inswool (a brand of ceramic wool) and coated with 1/4" or so of Greenpatch. I personally, don't use a reflective coating, and I'm not very careful about putting stock in the forge. Haven't poked a hole yet in 2 or 3 years :)