Fort Worth gas forge help.

[K.C.]

So I have started my forge. I made it 40 inches long,14 wide and high. It has 1/2 inch steel doors on both ends. I made the simple burner out of 3/4 pipe with a 1inch flare on he end. It burns well. What I'm wondering is what BTU and PSI am I looking for? I was looking at HP regulators that top out at 10 PSI. Will that work? I will be forging as well as heat treating. Also wondering about burner placement: I put the burner on the side middle of the forge about three inches down from the top. I am hoping to get a nice heat swirl to avoid hot spots. I figured it will bounce off the opposite wall and swirl around for the even heat I want. What do you guys think?
Thanks a bunch!

[Savage]

From what ive read about 3/4 inch burners the rule of thumb is one 3/4 inch burner for every 350 cu/in of inside chamber.

[WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith]

Look at my tutorial about how I like to build a gas forge on my web site.

One of the biggest mistakes that I think people make is building a forge way to large.  You will normally only work about 6" of hot metal at a time.

[Frosty]

Are those the inside dimenstions? If so, that's one big honking forge! Much larger than you'll probably ever need unless you're talking commercial forging shop with BIG power hammers and such.

 

1/2" steel doors are a poor idea, the heat will warp them out of use first time you fire it up. Most guys just stack fire brick in the openings to control size, etc.

 

The best advice I can give right now is search around IFI in the gas forge section and see what folk are using, mine is there. There is NO reason to make it heavy, I like SS stove pipe for many reasons I'll get into later if you like. Even stove pipe will support 100lbs. easily enough, no reason for heavy gauge.

 

How many and what size burners depends on forge volume. Placement and orientation depends on purpose and personal preferences.

 

 

Another good option is buying a commercially made gas forge. Prices are comming down and performance is going up. It's worth considering. You need to think about what you want to do in one and see what other guys are using for similar work. It's a situation where you need to know more to ask good questions. Believe me, you'll be happier if you do.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Frosty]

I double tapped the post button . . .AGAIN! ARGHHH

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[K.C.]

Thanks guys.

[K.C.]

I have a 35 gallon drum from a parts washer. Would that work instead of a propane bottle?

[mitch4ging]

The first one I built was one from an old freon bottle, which there are examples on the web. It is about 14" long with about 3" of fire blanket plus a fire brick for the floor. I have one burner, but with hindsight, I should have used 2 burners. You do have a large area to get up to temp. I now bought a NC forge, bladesmith model, gets hot fast. Like Frosty said, they are coming down in price and work great. But there is something in completing onr yourself and getting her fired up for the first time! Hope you get it figured out!

[EtownAndrew]

You will probably have times that you want more than one burner going to help heat up a long knife or something similar so you can heat treat it. I agree with others that most of the time one burner will heat the area you are working on. I was working today to build a second 3/4" burner but  expect to need it only occasionally.

[Savage]

So true what you guys are saying, i recently just fired up my 1st ever gas forge with the help of frosty, its tiny, 64 cubic inches inside, one 1/2 inch burner and i works perfectly besides the fact that i have no rear exit for long stuff to pass through. So please dont make the mistake i made lol and make a rear exit, and dont let the excitement to forge hot steel over take your safety because i too did that and forgot to use thread tape and had a floor of flames and no more leg hair. Good luck fellow forger ;-)

[K.C.]

I decided on the 35 gallon drum. It is 27 inches deep and 14 ID after the inswool and Kast-O-Lite 3000 I think the chamber will be small enuf to heat well and large enuf to have a fine working forge. I welded the legs on today and cut the guide pipes for the three burners I will install. I will use standard size fire brick in the bottom. I plan to make a 4X6 opening in the back for long material and the front will be whatever size I have after the above stated material fills the forge. I will cover the hole with a door of some sort. I will also close off chambers with remaining fire brick as needed so I don't waste fuel on two or three burners. I think this will turn out nice. What do you guys think? Pics to come.

[Savage]

Sounds big

[K.C.]

I know it's kinda big but I plan to do heat treating. The last knife I made was 20 inches long. I had to send it to Houston to have the heat treat done. That's why I left it 27. I didn't want to cut any off the drum. As far as the ID I figure after the inswool and refractory the chamber will be much smaller. Plus I plan to block off most of the forge chamber when it's not needed.

[jcornell]

Sounds like you need one big heat treating oven, and a smaller forge.  That's one really big volume for a forge.

[K.C.]

I was thinking the same thing after thinking it over. I plan to use only half the forge most of the time. Ill block off half the forge and two burners. I made 4 new burners leaving the original I made a while back. Now I will have "biggen" and a small 9 brick table top forge for the small work. After I get more experience under my belt I'm sure I'll use the big forge more.