My progression page.

[Frosty]

You got me, not even a guess. Looks to be in good shape but hard to say. Cast without hardy or pritchel holes. Have you done a bearing test on it?

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

Nah I haven't received it yet, our work schedules dont always work together but I should get it this week sometime.

[Valth]

So I think I've decided to go the gas route. From my research I hear it has benefits and cons. But I read somewhere gas can be good for a beginner because of all the tending to the fire with coal etc takes allot of learning time away. I may not have weirded that right but I still want to make a coal forge, but for now I think I'm gonna go propane. I think it will be better for the area I live in. I would kind of like buy my first one to get acquainted with working with gas(no pun intended lol) then I want to build one.I found these called wilders gas forges in eBay for a decent looking price abd all the reviews are really good, two burner forges ready to hook up,I was wondering if I got one would it be good to line the wool with that plistix or similar product or will be fine just the wool? I heard the particles can blue around in the air is why I was curious.

 

ebay link removed

[Valth]

Here's the lil stand I built today

[Frosty]

That'll work, all it needs is a hammer rack and maybe a spot for a few bottom tools.

 

Well done.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

Any easy ideas how I can strap her down?

[ThomasPowers]

Forge some staples for the corners of the feet?

[Frosty]

Staples are my first thought as well. Maybe cut some wood blocks to fit the sides and glue/screw them to the stand.

 

I forgot to ask, did you screw and glue the 4x4s together? It makes for nice and solid.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

Nah no glue, and I thought to do it to but I didn't get any when I got supplies. It's all screwed together. Staples seem like a good idea and the blocks, it's not a very large anvil at all so I really want it to sit still as it can cause I know it'll bounce around allot

[Frosty]

Yeah, you don't want the anvil bouncing around on the stand unless "Valth" translates to "coyote." Your initials wouldn't be W.E. would they? <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

Sure don't, wanna keep all my toes haha. Valth translates to vafthrudnir which was a jotun or giant in Norse mythology who battled Odin in a battle of smarts and lost lol, but he was wise. On a random note.

[Frosty]

Random wisdom eh? Wouldn't that be interesting from a distance of course. Could Vafthrudnir be trusted to keep his word? Lawful chaotic so to speak?

 

Be better than having the Indian name, "Dances with Anvil."

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

So I'm sad, I have a small gas forge on the way, FedEx was so lazy they made the effort to walk to my door and leave a note and not even knock or ring the bell. So now I have to wait again for it, hopefully they leave it this time.

[Frosty]

So I'm sad, I have a small gas forge on the way, FedEx was so lazy they made the effort to walk to my door and leave a note and not even knock or ring the bell. So now I have to wait again for it, hopefully they leave it this time.

 

Bummer. We pick up everything at the UPS store, even GPS isn't likely to find out place by the street address. They're unlikely to leave an insured package without specific instructions and signed waivers.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[rustyanchor]

Funny, UPS will deliver to the house no problem, but FEDEX will not because there is a piece of electric fence tape (not hot) across the driveway to keep the horses in. FEDEX driver said he was not allowed to open any gates to deliver.

I guess it makes sense that FEDEX doesn't want the liability of loose animals.

If we know we have a FEDEX delivery coming, we have a bunch of signature forms to leave at the tape so he can leave the package.

If you can catch the driver, he should have some of the signature release forms for future deliveries

Good luck getting your forge.

 

Mark

[Valth]

Got it finally. Now I need a tank, some paste for the connections, I think I need a ball valve it only came with a regulator, hose, brick, blanket, and blowers.looks well built I can't wait to fire it up

[rustyanchor]

Get at least a 40 pound tank, smaller goes faster and can freeze in winter. TSC, a gas supplier, or a good hardware store should carry the bigger tanks. Your next "fun" is finding a place that refills rather than exchanges propane tanks, unless you can exchange the bigger tanks. My welding gas supplier will refill or exchange my 40 for the same price.

Just a random thought, you do not want the horizontal tank (fork lift type) you want a vertical tank.

 

Mark

[Valth]

Thank you for the advice, ya I found a40 at home depot, and the truck stop down from my job refills propane tanks, not sure the price though

[Frosty]

Thank you for the advice, ya I found a40 at home depot, and the truck stop down from my job refills propane tanks, not sure the price though

 

Stay away from cylinder exchanges like you see in front of convenience stores, they're much more expensive with only one upside that being currently certified tanks. I picked up two 100lb./25gl. tanks at a yard sale some years ago for next to nothing. Heck, I had to take them or they wouldn't sell me what I wanted. Testing and certification cost something like $20.00 and is once in 10 year (I think) thing. They look at the cert plaque every tie they fill a tank.

 

The 100lb. tank only freezes up when it's in the low teens ambient temp wise and I just stick a couple magnetic engine heaters to the one I'm using.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

Yea I don't want to do exchanges, but they're are quite allot of places in town that refill, i just googled. I think it's 2.99a gallon I think, not 100 percent. And it's definitely not winter her in west Texas haha. So setting up my forge... Tank, then regulator, then hose and ball valve another hose to the forge? Does it matter where they sit like regulator directly on the tank or does it have to be away from the tank? I'm still not to familiar with working with pressurized gas this way, so o want to cover all my bases

[Frosty]

The reg goes in the tank it keeps the pressure lower in the rest of the system. Next the gauge, then is where I put the 1/4 turn ball valve. This position gives you a quick shut off at a distance from the forge.

 

My forge has 4 burners so I manifold the gas at the forge. Rubber hose to the manifold, four 1/4 turn ball valves and compression fittings running copper tubing to the individual burners.

 

MY set up has nothing flammable closer than the manifold and rubber propane hose intended for weed burners doesn't burn through easily. It's NOT burn proof but it's pretty tough, nobody's done more than make smelly smoke by touching it with a piece of hot steel. That's actually kind of fun you ought to see how they jump. <evil grin>

 

That's my set up: Tank, reg, gauge, 1/4 turn ball valve, hose, manifold, compression fittings and copper tubing to the burner(s). It doesn't matter how hot the chimney effect gets my burners, they won't come close to hot enough to damaging them.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Caladin]

I'm in Austin with a small 2 burner, and my cheap bbq sized tank hasn't  frozen yet... west texas might be ok.

 

I have aball valve right next to the forge, to adjust and turn off easily... mostly on off, i have a bbq starter so on is as easy as off.

[Valth]

I just fired it up for the first time, had a small leak but was fixed before the first fire, it seems to run strong, I played with some rebar for a second then shut it off. Only ran it about five minutes, according to the gauge I know it isn't that accurate but at 10psi it runs without sputtering.

[Frosty]

The gauge isn't so useful for accurate pressure readings, what they're really useful for where we're concerned is making settings repeatable so you don't have to tinker to hit THAT temperature again.

 

Keep notes and after a while you'll know that X-psig is perfect for general forging steel under X thick but welding a billet 1 1/2" thick works best at X psig setting.

 

PSIG stands for Pounds per Square Inch . . .Gauge. NOT absolute. It's industry standard to use the term psig rather than psi (psi absolute) as gauge readings are effected by things like barometric pressure so it's NOT the exact or true pressure. However most devices operate on pressure differential so the barometric pressure effecting the gauge effects the device the same so it's a wash.

 

This is one reason why doesn't really matter if my burners run better in a range of 8-25psi and your's run perfectly between say 2-8psi. What does matter is being able to repeat the heat so that's where our gauges come in. With practice you can adjust the temp by how it sounds but it takes time to train your ear what roar means compared to shriek.

 

Now just light that puppy up and start using it.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Valth]

So i got a little time to fire up the forge today. Had a blast, i hope i have my flame right, i feel i have a hard time getting over an orange heat. On the smaller rebar bright orange darker yellow heat. On a larger piece of rod i had i could only get an orange heat. Maybe i didnt have enough gas going? Well unfortunately for some odd reason it started raining in the desert right now haha, so i shut her down for now only able to make a scroll it turned out decent, it came out really fast and nice im proud of it, i attempted some tongs on the rod but i was having a hard time with it not getting hot enough so it was difficult to forge im going to get some slightly smaller round bar to try that particular project again.