MYX Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Hi. So, yesterday I got to play with my newly built forge for the first time yesterday. I have some some new parent questions. 1. My wife is scared to death of my new hobby. I understand, it makes a wonderful growl and fire comes out of it. But she's scared of me burning down the house. I am trying to be reassuring and taking on practices which will hopefully allow her to relax a little... So, I pull the forge outside of the garage so there's no fire risk from stray heat. My question if you do the same, and if so, how long do you wait until you pull it back into the garage? 2. I have heated some metal up tonight. I was impressed how the color of the metal was so... vibrant. So, I don't have a whole lot of time on it, but the tank feels a little light. I need to get the gauge put onto the regulator so I can see psi, but while I can dial it back, it doesn't seem to heat as hot when I turn it down (yeah, I know... duh). But how wide is the variation between general working temps and forging temps? 3. When people talk about soaking the piece... Something I am noticing is how it might glow bright, but then when you grab it with tongs there's a band where the tongs grabbed said object. So does that mean that it's actually not as hot in the center, or is that just because the tongs pulled that much heat? 4. I bought a burner flare from Larry Zoeller. I notice that it is glowing red the whole time the forge is running. Is this normal? I know that the burner should be out of the forge, and it pretty much is... But the flare tip is just inside, where the refractory begins... just the tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 The main thing to be worried about when using a propane forge inside an attached garage is Carbon Monoxide poisoning. CO is insidious and will infiltrate the whole house so it is a good idea to use the forge outside. Install CO detectors in the garage and several locations in the living areas. I usually wait till the forge is just warm to the touch to bring it inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 I don't think a forge, or any other kind of hot work equipment--including jewelry torches--has any business running inside a house, or inside an attached garage. Sometimes "the little woman" just happens to be UTTERLY RIGHT!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 1. Fire risk is real, so her concern and your precaution of operating the forge outside the garage are both warranted. As mentioned, get some CO detectors and place them inside the garage and living spaces. CO doesn't pool in low areas like CO2, so exact height placement isn't a major issue. If you are forging outside and are mindful of keeping flammable materials out of range of dropped glowing steel or stray sparks the risk is still there but limited. Keep a fire extinguisher within easy reach just in case. I have a detached garage where I store my forge but I still have the same concerns regarding fire. Once I've shut down the forge I let it cool while cleaning up then I block off the exhaust ports and wheel it back into the garage. The interior is normally barely glowing if at all by this point. I do leave it out in the open away from everything else though. If you want to err on the side of caution you can wait until touching a piece of paper to the interior walls no longer causes browning or ignition of the paper. 2. I'm not sure what you mean here. General working temperature IS forging temperature to me. Forge welding is at a significantly higher temperature than the forging temperature for most alloys we use. Color-wise you might be forging at a high orange or low yellow temperature, while forge welding would be more of a lemon yellow to near-white color. Keep in mind that sunlight tends to throw off our color perception and the stock will not seem as bright as it would in a shaded or low light area. 3. Soaking the piece just ensures that the center of the stock is the same temperature as the surface. The thicker the stock, the longer the soak needed. When you touch the steel to anything else that will absorb heat (tongs, anvil, dies for powerhammer or press, etc.) that will rapidly cool the area touched and cause a darkening of the material. That is not a good indication of whether the steel was heated thoroughly before it was taken out of the forge. 4. If your burner has no flare then it is appropriate to have the mixing tube just inside the shell since the opening can act as a flare itself. If you are using a flare then you'll want it a little deeper in the forge. The flare should still not go past the insulation layers into the forge chamber, but it's not wrong to get the part that glows in use inside the outer shell of the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MYX Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 Thanks for the replies. So, to all three of you, yes I am working the forge outside for exactly those reasons. The anvil shaped object is inside the garage a couple of steps with a post vise sort of in the middle making the triangle. This way, I only have to move one thing back and forth. The CO detector is a good idea, but I don't plan on burning the forge in the garage. Especially after feeling how much heat comes off the thing. I am still trying to figure out what to do on a rainy day though. But no, not in the garage. 9 minutes ago, Buzzkill said: General working temperature IS forging temperature to me. Forge welding... Okay, good note on proper terms. It was forge welding vs. forging temps I was asking about. I was working at last night, so no sun to interfere. I worked with some 3/8 or 1/2 square stock (mild steel) too last night ( I was just playing around, so I didn't measure). The metal color was yellow to orange-yellow. 18 minutes ago, Buzzkill said: Keep a fire extinguisher within easy reach just in case. Once I've shut down the forge I let it cool while cleaning up then I block off the exhaust ports and wheel it back into the garage. The interior is normally barely glowing if at all by this point. I do leave it out in the open away from everything else though. If you want to err on the side of caution you can wait until touching a piece of paper to the interior walls no longer causes browning or ignition of the paper. I have a fire extinguisher right next to the post vise. So, while I am sure it's been done before, I am working on making the forge base in such a manor that the forge can pivot upright so that the body of the forge acts like a chimney vs. letting the hot air try to head out the burner tube. I have experimented with this the last couple of nights. I left the forge outside for about an hour or so after cleaning up. I went back down and pulled it into the garage, and like you said, keeping it away from everything. But what caused the worry was that it was still 220ish degrees (with laser thermometer) at the point I brought it in. I like the paper idea. It seems a good basic test. More I will test outside the garage while it's still hot to find the range where the exhaust heat still poses a threat of catching something on fire. Another question. I have seen on the board here that looking into the forge might be dangerous due to IR. So, I am one of those guys that loves to zone out and watch the camp fire embers warble and such while camping. It's relaxing. I am finding that the glow of the forge has a similar effect. So... I should probably avoid this eh? 15 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said: I usually wait till the forge is just warm to the touch to bring it inside. You are talking about the shell, not the innards, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Correct... and if you, like me love to stare into the forge be sure to do it with proper IR glasses, unless you want premature Blacksmith Cataracts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Kindling temp for paper is Fahrenheit 451 so I wouldn't worry if the temp is in the 200's degF unless that is the lowest temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MYX Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 Ha... Of course it is. Thanks Ray Bradbury... 451 Totally slipped my mind. I was focused on other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Now we need a sequel named for the melting point for steel so I can remember that off the top of my head too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MYX Posted October 19, 2019 Author Share Posted October 19, 2019 Well, no books like that so... music then, and say Rush and 2112, but just did a search and steel melts around 2750, so that won't work. Hmmm... We need to change the melting point of steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 Easy enough we just redefine our units! (I mean look at angstroms and AU and furlongs per fortnight; perhaps we could use the temp that hydrogen fuses to helium at and just use negative numbers for everything!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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