TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Alright y’all, Let me start by saying I forge with coal and I don’t know diddly about gas forges, a friend of mine had this homemade forge given to him, he’s interested in starting into blacksmithing, I told him that I’d build him a coal forge and loan him an anvil but he said he wants a gas forge and doesn’t wanna use one of my anvils he wants a shiny new one.. lol anyways he was told only one burner would work an it didn’t heat well enough to actually do anything with, he brought it over to my shop and asked me if I’d take a look at it and see if I could make it run right, I just started looking through the vast expanse of information on here about gas forges and I saw a few things that made me start to wonder if this thing is even worth messing with, I read some post that said this blanket stuff is dangerous to breathe when it’s all fluffy like this one is, I’m afraid to even mess with it now after reading that, because dust poofs outta off it just by touching it! so I read some stuff about ridgidizers and refractory that should have been on it, but I’m wondering if that’s possible now after this blanket has been cooked on for who knows how long, Another thing I read was from Frosty talking about not having a fire brick inside the forge, which this one has, something else I noticed was that this thing only is open on the front and has no hole in the back, doesn’t it need that to vent an pass longer stock through? it’s body is constructed with fire bricks held together by angle iron, the burners are also home made, it looks like mig tips for the orifices and the rest of the parts are just normal plumbing fittings which i saw some of y’all built your own burners using those materials but I don’t know if these were built correctly, also one has holes drilled in the pipe but the other one don’t? so after just the little bit I saw from y’all talking about building these gas forges I started having doubts on if it would be better to start from scratch and build a new one? or put on a bio suit with an air supply and work with that dusty blanket and try to fix this forge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 21 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: I read some post that said this blanket stuff is dangerous to breathe when it’s all fluffy like this one is, I’m afraid to even mess with it now after reading that, because dust poofs outta off it just by touching it! so I read some stuff about ridgidizers and refractory that should have been on it, but I’m wondering if that’s possible now after this blanket has been cooked on for who knows how long, Another thing I read was from Frosty talking about not having a fire brick inside the forge, which this one has, It sounds like the ceramic fiber blanket has been heated up already, which means that, yes, it is dangerous; start by getting rid of it. The way that brick is being used is as the forge shell; this is fine, so long as you put insulation inside of it, and go on from there. Your big problem is those two burners. To begin with, there should only be one burner of that size in such a small forge. Those Frankenstein burners need to be completely rebuilt. All things considered, you would be better off to begin from nothing, than to add good time to bad, trying to bring that mess up to snuff. Yes, you can get the job done, but will you end up with something worth your time and expense? Probably not. that said, if you want to continue, I'm willing to coach you through it. Shall we begin with the burners? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 That’s what I figured, that this thing would be a better use as a bird house lol, thank you for the heads up Mikey98118! I think if I’m gonna build a gas forge for him and supply the tools, shop and time then I’d rather start from scratch and do it right the first time, Rather than waste your time or mine but thank you for the offer to coach me through fixing this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Ditto Mike, that forge CAN be saved and MADE to work but it'll be faster, cheaper and better to start from scratch. Show him this one Billy, it's probably about the same volume but gets HOT enough to weld easily with a single 1/2" T burner. The one in the pic has been running maybe 4-5 minutes. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 Thanks Jerry! I’ll show him that one an see what he says thinks like I said before, to date I only have experience in building coal forges so this will be a whole new territory for me to learn in! as I’ve never read through on any of the gas threads till just today, so I’ve got some more reading to do an I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions to, after I get one built and tested it out for him, then I might go ahead an build me another one for myself to play with inside my shop when it’s to foul of weather to work outside in my smithy since I ain’t got around to putting a roof up out there yet lol, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 He would be way better off with a new forge and an old anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Good Morning T/W, Someone has really made a concoction for the burners, that style burner NEEDS TO HAVE the propane jet absolutely in the center of the plumbing fittings. There should be a radius on the inside of the reducer which connects to the burner pipe. Why there are holes drilled in the pipe below where the Gas Jet is, is anyone's guess (trying to draw in more air?). It will be easier to start with new ideas, than resurrect what you have. Good Luck, the learning is under way!! Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 8 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: or put on a bio suit with an air supply and work with that dusty blanket and try to fix this forge? I am delighting in every word of this thread. Applies directly to what I am currently working through... Thanks! Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: He would be way better off with a new forge and an old anvil. Lol I agree Randy! thanks swedefiddle! Anachronist58 I’m glad I’m not the only one lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Can it be rescued? Sure. Should it be rescued? Different question. As the man says, just because you can drive a car with your feet doesn't mean it's a good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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