Newbie Questions About Materials

[Icoza]

I'm making my first gas forge and I'm having trouble finding some of the supplies.

My first question is what material should I use for the burner bracket? I've tried looking around but I couldn't find anything about what to make it out of.

I'm also going to be building Frosty's T Burner and I'm having a hard time finding the black iron nipple pipe. Any ideas what stores or type of stores to look at for the black iron parts?

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. We can't suggest how to mount your burners without knowing ANYTHING about your forge plans. Sure lots of guys will jump in with suggestions but you could find yourself trying to design the forge around someone else's idea of how to mount the burner.

Black iron plumbing pipe is available at REAL plumbing supply stores, not the big boxes like Home Depot or even real hardware stores. 

Big multi thing stores don't move much of the specialty materials and shelf space is valuable. Things like 1/8" scd 80 pipe can almost NEVER be found outside a real plumbing supply and then it needs to be a pretty large well stocked one.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Icoza]

Thanks for the response and the burner design Frosty. Even I can follow it. 

I have been digging around and decided to follow a forge build with a propane shell so the placement should be good. I'm just not sure if the bracket burner pipe should also be black iron or some other sort of steel.

Ya, the black iron selection seemed pretty slim in most stores I checked so I'll start searching for a plumbing store. 

[Frosty]

If you're using a pipe sleeve to mount your burner you want plain steel, it will get hot enough right on the forge to be a breathing hazard if plated. There's a blacksmith saying that is true in a stay alive sense. "In rust we trust." Rusty steel is rarely plated or it's so eroded off it's unlikely to be a serious hazard. However plated steel can be very dangerous, hexavalent chrome is very toxic and doesn't flush out of your system. Cadmium WILL cause cancer if it doesn't kill you outright. Nickle is another very toxic heavy metal that never leaves your system. Zinc is BAD for you, nothing on the scale of some of the others but it'll make you dog sick and can even kill you if you're sensitive or seriously OD.

So YES plain steel! It doesn't need to be a plumbing fitting though, any steel pipe your burner will fit through with a little room to spare is fine. I think most of the gang are using scd 40 structural pipe from fab shop drop bins. Never underestimate the power of a smile, polite  explanation, box of donuts and the mystique of blacksmithing to bolster a request to dig through scrap bins. 

Oh and don't forget to watch the ditches, side roads on trash day, alley's, etc. Gold is where you find it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

We made the burner port from auto exhaust pipe. Most shops have a bin with cut off pieces in them and if you have a welder that works a charm. The wall of the pipe is thick enough to drill & tap for wing bolts to hold the burner.