vzimmer Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I am interested in buying a small gas forge and have been looking at the one they sell on Ebay. Is there any advice or suggestion as to the overall quality of any of these? Anyone out there that owns one that has any opinions about them would be appreciated. I have been wanting to make my own but due to some recent heath issues and deciding it is better to be learning to smith than it is to be "going to build" a forge. I am new at blacksmithing. I have started to take some lessons but due to the amount of people in the class and the fact that some of the others in the class were quite young and impatient I became frustrated with my work being burned up due to them cranking the blowers at full speed I discontinued the class. So I have been doing some reading and just want to get started. Thanks Vzimmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt walker Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Check here http://elliscustomknifeworks.com/. Darren is a friend of mine and a really good person to work with. He builds a quality forge with some neat features at very competive prices, I think. good luck .. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pault17 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 vzimmer, I understand the feelings of wanting to get right to hammering. I am/was in the same boat a few years ago. I was able to save a large chunk of money by building my own first, second and third gas forges. That, and now I know how to build and repair them as well. The time taken is not that long at all. Welcome to this most great hobby/skill and the IFI world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I'll second buying one of Darren Ellis's forges. He's a great guy to work with, and carries everything you need to build your own, repair and maintain any type of forge from any manufacturer, etc. You wont find better customer service elsewhere either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Ahh which one of the many that are sold on e-bay are you refering to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbrforge Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I purchased a kit from jay hayes and was happy with the quality and the help offered when I had questions. kit included everything needed and they come in several different sizes. On the other hand, Michael Prters book on gas forges gives you everything you ever wanted to know about gas forges and plans for several carts, forges and different burners. I did it (meaning it ain't rocket science) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pault17 Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Speaking of rocket science - If money is not a real big issue, check out the "t-rex" burners by Rex Price. I purchased a shorty for my newest forge and the thing rocks. My little brother built a forge from a Larry Zoeller kit and says that he doesn't get as much burn-time from a typical 20-lb bbq bottle. Oh, yeah, in my little "freon tank" forge (mine is actually a helium bottle from wally world - so it's a little smaller) stays bright orange at 3.5 to 4.5 psi. I put somewhere between 25 and 30 hours of use on the first bottle at these pressures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vzimmer Posted August 7, 2007 Author Share Posted August 7, 2007 The two that interest me the most are the one sold by jm_enterprises99 ans the one sold by looper567. I guess one of my main question is the difference in insulation material used. Is the liner of ceramic better than the kaowool or firebrick? V zim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 That is a good question and like so many it depends. Ceramic wool refractories like Kaowol, Insulwool and such are fragile. Even with the use of rigidizers and reflectors like ITC-100 they will degrade, especially in the area the burner flame impinges. A properly made and tuned jet ejector type burner like Mike Porter's a Rex, a Side Arm or my "T" will easily exceed the max rating of ceramic blanket refractories. Another aspect of ceramic blankets is bridging strength. If you build a box forge blanket won't stay on the roof very well if it's more than a couple inches across. There are a number of hangers you can use including running SS screws in through the lid. So, while ceramic blankets are fragile they are good insulators though it will show in absolute temp and fuel consumption. Oh yeah, there is the potential for ceramic fibers escaping and causing a breathing hazard though application of a rigidizer will go a long way towards mitigating the hazard. Insulating castable refractories don't insulate as well but they're orders of magnitude tougher. Lately Mikey has been recommending Kastolite 3000 or bubble alumina. Bubble alumina insulates quite well but is expensive. Kastolite 3000 is according to Mike around 85% as efficient an insulator as Kaowool, Durablanket, etc. Before I had access to the internet I built a little gasser for a friend using a hard rammable refractory inner liner with 1" of 8oz. Kaowool for insulation. I should've used 2" of Kaowool but this little forge has stood up well for about 13 years now. Anyway, there are lots of options and which you choose will depend on what you need it to do for you. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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