Need to know best U.S made propane forge companies

[AugustAshes]

So I have been forging a couple years now with a homemade brake drum coal forge and it’s worked very well, but here recently I’ve been doing some research and have decided to switch to propane for conveineance. I am currently looking at the Mathewson metals blacksmith forge but being a kid of 15 that’s a little more than I want to spend. I have been looking around but have yet to find an all purpose propane forge that I really like so if you know of one please respond it would be much appreciated . 

[Glenn]

First off, where are you located. And what are you going to be forging? It makes a difference in the choice of forge you use.

There is no one best forge. There is the forge you have and the one you will build when your project is larger than the forge. 

A couple of years experience on a brake drum forge you have become accustom to that style forge, large and open. A gas forge is limited in use to what fits through the door and what fits inside the forge.  Before you invest you money, build a box the same size as the interior of the forge you are looking at, or 9” long x 4” wide x 4 1/2” tall, and place it over your brake drum forge. You will get a feel for the size of the propane forge.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome to IFI... I suggest reading this thread to get the best out of the forum. Then jump through a lot of the threads here to get a better idea about propane forges and don't get rid of your coal forge. For a lot of projects we have to use both forges on any given project.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/

 

[MC Hammer]

I've been using a Diamondback blacksmith gas forge.  It was my first forge starting out.  It heats well and has the added advantage of the side door that opens so you just aren't limited to the slots in the ends.  It's not a perfect forge, but has worked great for me for several years now.  I really like the whole side opening up.  It takes away some of the space problems you have when you just have an opening at each end.  My last project was two doll stands to hold up my little girls' porcelain dolls.  That's an odd shape that I wouldn't have been able to finish if I'd just had slots in each end.  I've even used the door to open so I could put multiple small things in at once.  You really couldn't do that with just the end slots.  But.........it's like asking a guy what the best kind of shaver is for his morning shave.  Each guy is going to give you a different opinion, so this is mine.

You no doubt will receive plenty of guys telling you that you can save money building your own forge.  They are right, but be prepared for a long time of tweaking to get the thing running correctly.  If you like that sort of thing, then hey different strokes for different folks, but I loved just unboxing mine and hooking up the gas to start forging the same day.

Do yourself a favor too and buy a 100 pound tank.  The little ones used for gas grills will freeze up on you in about 2 hours which will end your forging for that day.  Sure, there are ways to keep the tank from freezing which you can read about, but that's just one more thing that distracts you from forging.  You'll be thankful you got the larger tank as they are around $100 at your local hardware store.  My propane company fills mine up when they do the house tank.  It's about $55 which is half the price of a hardware store fill-up.

[Mikey98118]

Glenn gave you good advice. I will go further and suggest that you will probably end up buying and/or building two or three gas forges, for several reasons.  Gas forges are sized and shaped to get the most from your fuel use versus the maximum choices of what they can be used to heat. Everything about gas forges are trade offs between competing factors. The one sure bet about them is that the more you learn before you buy or build the more you'll gain for your investment, whether its time or money.

[Judson Yaggy]

Chile Forge.  

[Frosty]

This tidbit of advice from Glenn should go into the gems and pearls thread. A little more thought about the model forge he suggested. The model isn't for heating steel it's so you can fit the sizes and shapes you like to make in it with tongs. You'll find out if they'll fit and in what positions. For this purpose it can be anything solid enough to feel your work bumping into it, etc.

Think of it like roll playing. 

Good one Glenn!

Frosty The Lucky. 

[MotoMike]

w'd certainly concur that there is not best forge.  I built mine and at my first maintenance to the forge enlarged the opening to accept bigger pieces.  now even with the interior width and height, anything larger will need a bigger forge.  Anything larger will need more burners.  now that I've seen many decorative things I'd like to make that I was forge limited on, my next one will be bigger.  of course when in use it will be consuming more fuel and if the piece could be worked in the first one, that will be the way to go.  I know there are a bunch of good us makers out there.  

 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Sheesh. I guess we need to get into the forge building buisnesss. Any on for a Iforge? Lol. Most production forges take a bit of diy to tune them up (rigidiser and/or kiln wash) as a minimum. Secondly for effecency sake you realy need more than one. 

 

[ThomasPowers]

I built both of my primary propane forges at forge building workshops put on by my local ABANA affiliate. If you are in the USA I would check to see if your local one does similar workshops.  They took one Saturday each and no "long time of tweaking to get the thing running correctly"; I went home and connected it to a propane tank and started using them. They were a lot cheaper than buying a premade forge too.

"but have yet to find an all purpose propane forge"   While you look for one of them; also keep your eye open for a vehicles that can carry 15 people, 15 tons of coal, cross open water, win road races and be cheap to run....  My suggestion is to get a reasonable sized forge that will be cheap to run.  I've seen a number of people build huge forges  only to find that one 1/4 the size would have been just fine...(even for swordmaking you only want to heat about 6" at a time until heat treat and sizing your forge for heat treat is like buying a dump truck as your daily commuting car because you want to haul a couple of yards of gravels once or twice a year...)