There's an opportunity to buy a Johnson 122b forge not too far from my house. I'm just getting into working with metal and I just picked up my first anvil recently. I don't want to damage the anvil by using it on cold steel, so I'm looking at possibly getting a forge. The owner is asking $180, and there's a picture below. Any information about the forge would be greatly appreciated.


H.

Johnson gas forges are gas hogs. Not what I would get if I were a hobbyist.

Thanks Doc. Do you have a guesstimate of the value?


H.

I'd be all over that for the price, gas hog or not. Retail on that is a little over 4k without the freight.

Forgot to add...I'm pretty sure that's the double width model. Firebox should be about 13 1/2" X 8 3/4" X 7"

have seen them sold for $600-$1000 so looks like a good price

The price is good but gas usage will bankrupt you. They are serious industrial pieces of equipment suitable for lining up as many jackhammer bits as you can fit over it and working them on a large powerhammer. If that's NOT what you are going to be doing then it's not a good buy even if free! $180 will build several forges just right for a bladesmith or ornamental iron smith.

Sort of like looking for a pickup and bringing home a dump truck cause it was "cheap". Unless you need a dumptruck it's not going to help you that much.

This is available in Mounds: http://tulsa.craigslist.org/for/3033112151.html I bought a coal forge from the seller. He and his wife seem like really good people.

get it! re sell it later if you want, but personally i would convert it to run on waste oil!
free oil hog? so be it!

Now *that's* an idea; however unless you are doing large work you may not want that thing kicking that much heat into your shop 8/10ths of the year in OK---might be nice in the dead of winter.

My work area isn't very big, so I've decided to skip the forge unless it is to resale.

Have any of you used a forge like this Majestic?

Majestic - eBay

It seems to be reasonably priced and probably pretty versatile.


H.

Good Morning,

There are quite a few different designs of Propane forges and Burners available on the internet. Ron Riel has a design, Anvilfire has a couple designs, different Blacksmith Associations have some designs on their web-sites. There is no perfect design. The best Propane Forge is the one you have, that gets your material hot enough to work. You can make a forge with 9 fire-bricks, no magic.

The open overhead burner that you see on e-bay is OK. You can adjust it up or down depending an what size of material you are heating. You can make sides for it with fire-brick (doesn't have to be the high temperature fire-brick). Leave a front and back door, back door for the flue, front door for access. Some people don't use a back door for a flue and then can't figure out why so much flame is coming out the access door. Get used to it!!

You don't have to buy someone elses design, but sometimes it is easier to get started. Different Forges are like Opinions, Lots of them. The best way is to start simple and see what works for you, make adjustments and modifications as you go. Just do!! :rolleyes:

Neil

Thanks Swedefiddle. I appreciate your insights!

H.

Herby that forge is not well suited for general forging as it's tweaked mainly for sheetmetal and armour making use.

NOT KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO HOW ARE WE TO TELL YOU IF IT'LL WORK FOR YOU?

I need to buy a vehicle, can you tell me if I should buy a prius or a dump truck? Why not? (not a random question I had to bum a ride to work from my Daughter this morning...)

:rolleyes:
Thanks Thomas. I understand your point and I appreciate everyone's insights.

Since I'm just getting into this, I'm trying to ask as many questions as I can. I don't make a stupid decision and have to throw good money after bad money. I just need to find a small inexpensive forget that I can use for the light needs I'll be running into.

All of your replies have helped me to understand my situation better. Thanks!

H.

hole in the ground, bag of chunk charcoal, (not briquettes!) chunk of blackpipe and a blowdrier. Simple forge done!

You still haven't explained your needs what EXACTLY is light work? I have a friend that "Light work" is anything under 1" sq stock and 100 pounds. To me it's what can be done in a single firebrick forge. I don't consider armourmaking "light work" as it's specialized and you need to heat up large areas in it.

I would suggest that you attend several meetings of OK smiths and see what they are using and then decide what would work best for you. The Salt Fork Craftsmen Artist Blacksmiths have meeting all over the state:South East Regional Meeting, North East Regional Meeting,South Central Regional Meeting, North West Regional Meeting for example. Hit as many as you can! (sure wasn't any around that I could find when I started in OKC in 1981!)

Also: I've been a member of several ABANA affiliates that hosted gas forge building workshops and I built 3 of my forges at them.

I don't mean to be elusive when it comes to what I'm working on, it's just hard to describe because it varies. I've already made a rain break for my home's guttering on the anvil I picked up last month. However, in a dumb newbie move, I didn't heat my stock before using it on the anvil. I didn't harm my anvil, but my further research informed me that I will if I keep it up. I have several projects that I need to fabricate for my car and my son's Bronco. Everything from armrest brackets, to filling in fender well gaps where I've mini-tubbed it. The fender well gaps will be easy because they are thin sheet metal, but who knows what's next? I'm all about learning what I can both online and by doing. I'll watch the Salt Fork website and see when I can attend one of their workshops.

Thanks again!

H.

This is available in Mounds: http://tulsa.craigsl...3033112151.html I bought a coal forge from the seller. He and his wife seem like really good people.

Thanks, I just sent him an email about it.

H.

So anything over say 1/2" sq stock?

So anything over say 1/2" sq stock?

There's no telling what sizes really. Frankly, that's what I liked about the open design on ebay...the user isn't limited on what he can do by the size of the forge. Realistically, I don't need a very large forge, I suppose I could use a torch to supplement my forge if needed.

H.

Actually you are extremely limited by the open set up as most of the heat is wasted---like trying to boil water with a hotplate set up in your freezer.

If you need that much flexibility look at the various stacked firebrick setups where you configure the forge at run time.

A lot of heat transference in a gas forge is through IR so any setup that wastes it to open space is tossing $$$ along with it.

It is tweaked for sheetmetal work---a bit, I like Eric Thing's design better myself.

Thanks 4estGimp,
My forge saga is over. I purchased this one today from the nice couple in Mounds.


The seller made this one awhile back. It seems to work well so far. I'll keep you posted.

H.

One more quick pic. Bringing this thing home, I realized how heavy it is, and that it is difficult to move around. I only had around an hour, so I quickly fabbed up a handle and strengthened the wheel base. The wheels are cheap, and from a light grill, so I'll need to upgrade the wheels soon.

H.