johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Ok so I began on my new forge a few weeks ago. I purchased the burners from TScustomsFORGES a while back. I have included pictures. I built the forge itself using reclaimed steel from some heavy duty steel shelves, so free. The brick I got from a local industrial refractory supplier. They gave me suggestions on design and said to wrap the brick with some blanket and then gave me almost a half a box of blanket for free. I have a lot left over. They also gave me a good deal on the brick and I can get more as needed. My inner chamber is 6x6x18 so right at 648 cubic inches. I wanted it a tad bigger so I could also fit smaller armor pieces inside to heat treat as well as blacksmith work. My thought is I could add a brick or two in the back if I needed to make the interior volume smaller. I got it all together and gave the forge a try and not a great result. I ran it at the edge of the garage where the forge could vent any excess gasses and didn't run it for long because I was not getting a good burn. Seemed like there was a lot of combustion occurring outside the forge. As I said I shut it down very fast was worried about carbon monoxide build up. I tried varying the PSI throughout the range without a lot of success. The burner kit came with a 20 psi regulator. I am running a standard propane 20gal tank. I also tried varying the opening of the forge with firebrick. Seems like my burners are starved of oxygen. That and as I read these forums (that I just found) I may be rethinking my burners and will build my own based on Frostys design. I can take more pictures when I get home from work, not really sure what to be looking for. Any thoughts, did I royally screw the pooch, or just a little. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Do you want to heat armour pieces for working or for heat treating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Heat treating, made it just big enough for elbows and knees. But I want to be able to do black smith work. I might get some soft brick and cut it to line the sides and top of he interior. Say an inch of soft brick on the sides and top. Then a removable back to shorten the interior. So when I want to heat treat a piece I can pull out the soft brick and use the forge that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 In general you are much better off with a kiln than a forge for heat treating armour; they are often easy to find cheap used. You using 1050 steel? Have you mined the forums at armourarchive.org on the subject? Not much traffic these days but extensive archives! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Yep, i have been on armor archive. Eventually I would like a kiln for that purpose. I was trying to find a route that would allow me to blacksmith then tinker with armor to get started. It is probably a pipe dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Did you see Eric Things forge designed for dishing stuff? I've done a lot of dishing in coal and charcoal forges as I can localize the heat. (Been in the SCA since 1978) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 (edited) I had not, I googled it. Pretty xxxx cool. Edited July 28, 2020 by Mod30 language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 I hope you didn't pay much for those "burners" from what I can see they look like a hack by someone who doesn't understand how NA burners work. It doesn't look like he even got the basic ratios right. Can't read directions either. Making a forge / heat treat oven combo unit generally won't do both very well. Also the hard firebrick is a deep heat sink requiring a lot of fuel to bring to temperature they also have about the same insulating properties as an equal thickness of marble so more fuel to make up for heat conducted to the air. The most current discussions about building forges is in the "Forges 101" sub forum here, current burner discussions are in "Burners 101." Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 9 hours ago, Frosty said: "I hope you didn't pay much for those "burners" Not too much, didn't know better. When I finally found this site and started to get educated I discovered my folly. Any suggestions for saving the forge body? Coating the interior with Plistix perhaps? Pull out the walls and ceiling and do a blanket? Looks like I will probably build 2 T burners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 I understand, guys who don't k now any better are a fraud's stock in trade. Nah, unless you like burning say 3x as much fuel as necessary I'd write the forge off. If you have the ceramic blanket why not build a proper forge? Don't throw the heavy brick away there are plenty of things for which it's perfect, a heat treat oven maybe. Just not an efficient propane forge. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Replace with good brick and use the current ones to build an apron for the forge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd428 Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Can I use this brick for the floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Still a heat sink. Sure you can use it; just how much extra gas and slower start up times do you want to invest in that forge over the years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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