August 15, 20178 yr I'm new to smithing but am a furniture maker. As a result I make rolling carts for everything in my small furniture shop. I was thinking of making a wooden rolling cart to put my propane forge ontop of so I can move it indoors when I'm done with it. (I dont want the hose rotting from sitting in the weather) Also I'd put a rack on it for hammers and general other things. Maybe even put my vice on it. What do you all think of this? My forge doesn't get very hot on the bottom of it. Maybe put a sheet of metal between the forge and the top? I dont have access to a welder right now so making a metal cart is a bit difficult with my limited smithing skills. Maybe this is completely stupid. I did a google search and found some people doing this. Genius or idiot?
August 15, 20178 yr Eric if you lived in the USA you could get a free metal cart very easily by finding a junked gas grill cart, remove the grill and cover that gap with a piece of sheet metal---I used 4 SDST metal screws on mine and you have a rolling cart with a place to store the propane bottle! If you have one with wooden bars on the ends you can replace them with metal strap or pipe and have built in tool racks for hammers and tongs (more sdst screws, I had a surplus from building my shop...) No welding required! Where I live it's so dry that wood is very combustible and so avoiding it around my forge prevents a lot of scorch marks...I once lit a 6 inch diameter log with a wooden kitchen match in our woodstove.
August 15, 20178 yr Author Thomas, I'm in Indiana. Not sure what that means about humidity relative to this being a good idea. I'll look for a grill on the Craigslist free. A wooden cart would be very easy for me to build and I could make it very customized to fit space and aesthetic. Not sure if it's a good idea or not. Lighting a 6" log with a single match sounds crazy. Even my kilned dried wood wont do that easily.
August 15, 20178 yr When you have weeks of single digit humidities wood tends to dry out...it was softwood I'll admit because that's what we have to burn...I own my own chimney brushes and clean the chimney as needed. A wooden cart is ok; but just not one based on "I can't make a metal cart because I don't have access to a welder" I spent 4 years in Indiana and 15 years in Ohio; both places are swamps compared to the deserts of New Mexico!
August 15, 20178 yr You can always buy a mechanics cart from HF, or score an old school metal desk if you fear wood. But a 1 1/2 top takes a wile to burn and it dose not get red hot and sag.
August 15, 20178 yr Welcome aboard Eric, glad to have you. What Thomas is hinting at is putting your general location in the header so members of the gang within visiting distance can invite you to hammer ins, meetings, or visit. You'll learn more in a couple hours with an experienced smith than sometimes days trying to figure it out. Telling us in one post isn't going to stick in our memories any longer than it takes to open a different post. No problem putting your gas forge on a wooded cart, table, etc. Make sure there're a couple inches clear space under it and I much prefer a layer of cement backer board to sheet metal for a heat shield. I space the backer board off the wood about 1/2" with some broken tiles, well whatever thickness they are. Use quite a few backer board doesn't have a lot of bridging strength laying flat. Same for a piece of sheet metal, you want an air space under it so you can lay hot things on it to air cool. I wouldn't put a vise on a rolling cart, especially a wooden one, vises are meant to hold a project while you do hand work on it, even filing would be almost impossibly ineffective on a roll cart let along bending or twisting. Frosty The Lucky.
August 15, 20178 yr Eric, as a woodworker myself my mine goes to our solutions to moving 200lbs table saws while retaining their solid footing when in use. Retractable casters are the way to go. Over build a heavy table & add the retractable casters. Or build your own version of them. I have a 400lbs assembly table made of pressure treated 2x4s & 4x4s that rolls on them.
August 15, 20178 yr Slick set up Grumpy, I like it. Speaking of table saws, the tables would make nice forge stands and you see them in the dump fairly often. With the cool cam lock wheels you could store the entire smithy in one. You'd need a rack for stock unless you wanted to cut it but that's minor. Frosty The Lucky.
August 16, 20178 yr Author These are all great ideas. I'm leaning between building a cart for everything (vice, forge, hammers, metal storage) or buying a HF cart for just the forge and hammers. I'd like to have a vice spot on it so I think I'll just build. I like customizing things with my own tools anyways. Not really a fan of buying something I can make in a lazy day. Thanks again guys.
August 16, 20178 yr Remember to not put any tool holders in positions that would encourage you to reach or lean into the Dragon's Breath!
August 16, 20178 yr 4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Remember to not put any tool holders in positions that would encourage you to reach or lean into the Dragon's Breath! Spoil sport! Joking aside. Don't build your idea of the best stand till you get used to the tools, the forge especially is inherently dangerous and has a fairly large area of effect that extends beyond the forge itself. For instance, a gas forge on a large table can end up drawing it's own exhaust because there isn't enough clearance for convection. My burner intakes extend off one edge of the stand to be in the clear, it also gets the propane tank farther from potential falling objects. You're (oops, sorry Glenn) You ARE STILL a spoil sport Thomas! Frosty The Lucky.
August 17, 20178 yr When I teach I generally run my bare arm through the dragon's breath---the sizzled hair makes a much bigger impression on my students then telling them several times...(So if I look like I've waxed my arms---I've been teaching a lot!)
August 17, 20178 yr I'm not sure that frequent vibration from an anvil is good for a forge's ceramic parts...
August 18, 20178 yr 12 hours ago, Mikey98118 said: I'm not sure that frequent vibration from an anvil is good for a forge's ceramic parts... My forge and anvil don't touch. I think a ceramic or sintered burner would be at least as strong as a coffee cup. I don't think anything like normal vibration would effect one, impacts by anything hard would be BAD though. Frosty The Lucky.
August 18, 20178 yr Jerry, I think you are thinking kiln shelf wile Mike is thinking soft fire brick. Ceramic cup vs styrofoam... Indead the kiln shelf in my pro forge has half up very well wile the rigid insulation has not fared well.
August 18, 20178 yr You're right. DARN. I was thinking of a different thread where we were talking about ceramic burners. I agree, don't hammer on your forge stand, anvil or not. Frosty The Lucky.
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