SoCal Dave Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 What would your ideal gas forge look like if you could only have one gas forge? Would it have one, two or three burners, (which ones), blown, ribbon burner, round, rectangle, size dimensions, front opening without a door/with a door, side openings, and lined with what? Design the perfect forge for your needs. I will submit mine shortly as I'm trying to design in on my computer and I'm not very good at this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I am working on a design of one to -- requirement are Clam shell design 3 sided - Burner Ribbon with blower - its own table thats on wheels - place for tongs & tools needed - would be great if top part could be raised & more bricks add for larger projects :<) its still on paper but I need a better forge soon ! PS-- castable top piece -- brick or castable bottom piece I don't want to watch Kwool get bet up cost to much here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I have a NC forge whisper daddy, I got it used about a dozen years ago, I am practical and could not see spending my time and money to try and reinvent the wheel. I spend my shop time either using the skills I have or learning new ones to repeat or add to in the future. I I cannot see how spending so much time and money working on something the may or may not work until sorted out, That gives you a pride in finally getting it right, or many time we have seen, It give syou ideas on wot to do next time as the furst one is not wot you had in mind. When you do get it working yoou will not likely use the skills learned. If you spent the same time on smithing skills you would carry forth all you have doen to apply to future projects as they directly relat to wot you wanted in the first place, Ability to forge. I have worked with metal all of my life, When I decided I wanted a gasser of a different shape and purpose I built it in a couple of days and it has worked great since day one. If youi want to build a forge and have success choose someone elses design and copy it exactly, So many times in here folks pose questions about why they cannot get one operatingrtight and after a lot of back and forth we find they have not followed plans, they changed one or many more critical items in the build. have fun. But think about wot I am saying, there are a lot of working designs. Piick one and build it,,Use it and later if you want a change make it and make onlyh a little change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Rich: I clearly understand what you are saying, and agree with you. However, the question is what would your ideal gas forge look like if you wanted to build your ideal forge. What would it have in it: number of burners, doors, size, blower, expandability, etc. Ribbon burners have blowers, mankel's have blowers, Chilie forges don't, Diamondback's don't, NC's don't, if you could combine all the best components of the ones out there, or build it yourself, what would you want it to have?Would you do anything to your current forge to make it better. You might want to enlarge the doors, change the chamber's size, change the burners, be able to have a small side door for unusual or odd shaped pieces. If you were going to build you next forge, what would you want it to have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Ok-- Now first off most custom made forge's are built to do what you Need ! LOL - So first thing is you need to have is an Idea of What you want to heat ? Now what size & form+ length + height so on of project are your working on LOL BIG SMILE HERE my needs are heating SS plate to from things - long bar pieces /BBQ -long twists & also forms that I can't get into a regular forge So A 3 sided height adjustable forge + table is what I am working on - I have been doing a lot of SS plate work lately making tapered tubes pieces for the art project were working on I am the Blacksmith my student is the retired Meta metal art's teacher OR is it the other way around LOL its been A hole lota fun -- so what you want to do will tell you what forge to build / & there can be many depending on the need & job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I have a whisper daddy, it could be improved by changing the door to a vertical opening counterweighted door so it will rise only the amount I need to place a scroll bar in it. But there really is not enough space in a dad. I intend to make a 2' x 3' x 6" high box with the four burners from an old Johnson gas forge. It will be blown natural gas, with the door made as described above. Any input on this plan will be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Dave I thought more abouit your question. Still do not have a clear answer for you. Think of it as if you asked us to find the perfect car or truck and tell you just wot options it should have, Tire size, engine power, sound system,,all of those things that make a vehicle fit our own needs.However that plan would not take in to accouint any needs you may have, such as wot the vehicle would be used for, how many folks it wouild carry, do you live in flat areas or face steep mouintains. Pretty tough to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 My ideal forge would have a small three square inch opening in the from and back. The back opening would have a flap on it to close it off but openable when working on very long material. The front would have a larger door to open up the entire front of the chamber. I think 10 to 13 inch wide front opening would accommodate lots of different size stock with it being 10 inches high and 16 inches long. For this large chamber, it would need a ribbon burner with a blower. I've also thought about having the top of a mankel forge for the burners with a blower. I like the quonset hut look for the overall shape and a removable door along the side about 3 inches high and going from the front to the back about 6 inches to accommodate really odd shaped material. I want versatility if I have one gas forge and I want it to get up to welding heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Look at NC whisper daddy and whisper mama forges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 There is no one perfect forge - whether gas or solid fuel. A 6" square ID cube capable of forge welding is very useful; so is a long forge capable of taking an even 24" heat on a fence picket. I think about 4 or 5 sizes/designs would be about right... I have a "stove burner" forge design in my head right now which will basically be a fire brick table with a single bottom burner then a portable top made of Insulboard 2600 will serve as top insulation. Lay the piece on the table and set the cover in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 It sure depends on what you're making. I have one forge that is designed from Jymm Hoffmans' design and it's a beauty. It's a blown design and you can melt stuff in it as it is so hot. Problem is the size is a propane tank so some items just won't fit in it. I'm thinking of cutting an opening in the side where I can put a brick in and remove it when needed. The other problem is that the piping is so large that it really sucks the propane. I also have a freon tank forge with a small single burner from Steve Genshiemer and it is super hot, can forge weld to a point, but again the size limitation. I always had a problem as I'd forge the beginning of say a scroll and then that was it. I couldn't get the next part in the forge as the opening was too small. So then I had to go to the coal forge. The other thing is that most of the time I only need a 3" long heat, not a 10"+ long heat. So I designed this forge. It raises up from the flat position to allow the metal to go under the box, plus it has a heat area of only about 5" x 6". The beauty of this setup is in pulling on the handle it raises up parralel from the floor. Only problem I ran into is that the burner doesn't adjust to the different volumes of air when opening or closing so it's a hassle adjusting it. I now have a Steve Genshiemer burner which doesn't react the same way on another forge I have so I want to try that in this format. Plus his atmostpheric burner is the hottest one I've ever used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 MY ideal gas forge, if I could only have one: would be very small and very large, very long and very short. Have one to 16 burners, be lined only with light fibrous refractories and only with heavy duty hard flux resistant refractory. It would have only a vertical opening and only a horizontal opening. and most of all it should cost me nothing to build! In short the ideal forge for knifemaking can be crap for sword tempering. What works great for doing small work is useless for doing 2.5" stock, etc and so on. You first need to decide what this forge's *primary* job is: Gatemaking will end up very different from Knifemaking for folders! Then see if you can add in a secondary function without compromising the Primary function. Note that many people try to compromise by building a large forge rather than several to save money only to find that their gas costs could have paid for several more forges optimized for their tasks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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