MacLeod Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 I’m almost there. Wind and water tight, well a couple of drips. Biggest spend was 20 5 by 2s, £550 I have no off cuts left! A lot of measuring! Everything else was bought at car boot sales, on line sites and bartered for with, well you know me, fireside sets Not sure what the current policy is on loads of photos, we didn’t used to like that because of varying internet speeds? Let me know if I should stop! Anyway, here’s how I started, I slightly fractured a water mains when clearing the site. Ducks were happy. Got down to the hard and got a few tonnes of 3 inch down spread and roughly level. Pulled some timber out of a skip then had to go to the mainland and track down cement Spent the big bucks on the timber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 Looks like the chickens were happy too. Should have had my wife there for you, she would have dowsed and located the water main. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 Just now, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: Looks like the chickens were happy too. Should have had my wife there for you, she would have dowsed and located the water main. Man I wasn’t popular. It was ‘bath night’ in the village! I managed to lift the windows(second hand, swapped for a few tins of wd40) into place with ratchet straps and supporting them when taking up the slack. Sheets were from a demolished cowshed down south. Was sheeting into the dark to beat the weather. Ran out of timber so some pallet wood went in to strengthen the frame Stripped down and serviced what ‘followed me home’ over the last few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 13 minutes ago, MacLeod said: It was ‘bath night’ in the village! Now that's funny, I don't care who ya are. Looks like it is coming right along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 Moved some tools in. Getting some steel hot after quite a few months and without banging my head made my day. Now having a large dram! 2 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: Looks like it is coming right along. Thanks man, I’m getting there! I’m knackered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 That is an interesting forge. What kind of fuel? Looks like gas with some type of medium to heat the steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 It’s one of these mysterious ceramic chip forges circa 1980. First impression is it’s sipping on the propane and getting things hot quickly. I bought it from someone who picked it up from a college, I had it stripped down but think I have it tuned quite well now. Looking forward to working with it. There’s not much information online about them, so happy to share my findings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 1 hour ago, MacLeod said: Ran out of timber so some pallet wood went in No man is out of timber if there are pallets around. Goodness what an Unblacksmitherly thing to say. There was a lot of talk about ceramic chip forges back in the day on theforge.list when it was the go to blacksmith talk site around. It's still there but darned quiet anymore. FlameFast keeps it's tech details pretty close to the vest but chip forges used to be THE gas fired forging hearths in the UK, maybe Europe, I don't recall. There were quite a few folk from the UK on theforge.list and we yanks didn't know much about them to we talked a lot. I've always wanted to give on a try, much good was said about them. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 This was the first I had heard of ceramic chip forge. After some internet research I see that they are still made in the UK but the price of a new one which appears to be a bit larger than Mac's is over $US 7k. Also, they do not appear to get as hot as solid fuel or regular propane forges. However, they do look like a more neighbor friendly set up than a sold fuel forge. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 As I recall from old conversations you can turn the fire up till you can melt steel but that causes problems for the burner under the chips. My concern was about pushing a piece back into the chips without deforming it and how do I watch to make sure the thin sections don't melt while the thicker are heating. Yeah, I know leave forming the thin sections till last but that was way back, late 80s maybe early 90s. Nobody had pointed that bit of the obvious out to me in the day. I couldn't bite the bullet and pay $7k even if they were available locally but I'd sure like to test drive one. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 3 hours ago, Frosty said: you can turn the fire up till you can melt steel but that causes problems for the burner under the chips. The air and gas is forced up through a grid of 1.5mm holes, before I got this one running I had to drill them all out as they were full of burnt steel and solder so I imagine that’s that issue. I didn’t pay thousands for this one, picked it up for £200. It’s very quiet, a lot quieter than my gas bottle forge. The ceramic chips are very light so no deforming of hot stock yet. The only issue I had with them was that on the first go m they started spitting and shooting themselves out of the forge, in a tin shed it was like a soundtrack from a gun fight in a John Wayne western! They soon settled down so I put this down to them being stored in a bucket in damp conditions for the last however many years. I’m looking forward to using it more and discovering its and my capabilities and shortcomings. I’m still getting distracted by the steel bonnets George! Didn’t realise that MacDonald wrote the Flashman books I enjoyed years ago! One of the most gripping history books I’ve read in a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Do you have a source for the replacement chips? They do wear with use. One nice thing about using used sheeting is that it makes the shop look like it's been there a long time! However most folks I know flip the sheets so the rusty surface is on the inside as they will last longer with the tinned side towards the weather. My shop's walls were a friends roof that was replaced after a major hail storm. The original deep blue color was sun blasted to a nice pastel but still in good shape so I used it towards the outside to help the shop "blend in" as most folks in my area have an outbuilding or 6... We have a free service that will locate buried lines before you build; I think they got called out 3 times to get power to my shop. Evidently the utilities decided it was cheaper to pay for the "free" service than to do repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Nice looking couple of vises in the back of the van! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 6 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: source for the replacement chips? Hi Thomas, hope you're keeping well, I've found a few now in the UK although I got quite a lot with the forge to keep me going. There's also a few on mainland Europe that ship. Took a wee while on the phone, google doesn't tel, you everything. I thought about shiny side out for the sheets but passing neighbours would think I had won the lottery also the holes were already on the ridges of the sheets and the roof took most of them. All that being said I do like the rustic look of it and there's a good few years left in them. The pipe I burst was a spur off the mains that goes to just a handful of homes, I knew it was there and thought it could withstand me flattening the crushed rock. No real harm done. 5 hours ago, JHCC said: Nice looking couple of vises in the back of the van! JHCC, you sure you're not Scottish? Good spot, I had arranged to purchase the leg vice which is a bit wider than mine at 5 inch and is in great condition. It was going for a song, so I wanted to sweeten the deal for the seller. When I went to collect it while down south i brought a couple of miniature bottles of good malt in the van, the gentleman I bought the vice from was so taken aback with that wee gesture he threw in that heavy machine vice as well. I was delighted. He offered more tools as well but I knew my van was going to be on its axles heading back north and I didn't want the ferry listing. It's back to fireside sets for a while now. Since Frosty educated me on technique the order book has swollen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 The other issue with rust on the inside is that it falls on everything over time. Of course out here we can measure more dust precipitating than rain water... The chips was just a thought to keep an eye open to get them on the cheap over time rather than having to, gasp, *buy*, them commercially new! (Because you had to have them *now*...) Solid fuel and chip forges are faster heating due to conduction being better for heat transfer than radiation. Only faster method I know of is induction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 1 hour ago, MacLeod said: you sure you're not Scottish? My wife comments that I look good in a kilt and that I’m cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 8 hours ago, JHCC said: My wife comments that I look good in a kilt and that I’m cheap. You’re more Scottish than me then I look terrible in a kilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine shop Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 Macleod, I would love to hear feedback on the chip forge. I have one of the forge/ brazing hearth combos but I don’t use it much now I have a small propane forge I can move outside. Those chip forges seem to be very cheap on the uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 On 1/24/2022 at 10:26 AM, Machine shop said: feedback on the chip Hi Machine Shop! A pleasure. I’ve done a bit of forging using it now and am getting to grips with it. I am stunned by how little gas it uses in comparison to my T burner gas bottle forge and enjoying the relative whisper it makes too. The speed at which it heats is also a game changer for me. Frosty was right about localised heating when you have a lighter bit of steel on a piece of work. I lost the beard off a dragon I was making for a lamp stand and an antler off a stag head. I’ve persevered though and as the ceramic chips are very light, fine and easy to rake around your work I’ve found that a bit of practice and care allows you localise the heat quite effectively. I have no negatives so far. Great for making the hand bottle openers, got these down to two in an hour now. The other ‘achievement’ I have made was to straighten a two metre length of coil spring for another job- impossible in my other forge. You can pick them up cheap - but some sellers are still wanting mega bucks. I think there’s a general fear of them as there’s a lack of information on them. Will update more as I move on. Any aspect you would like investigated just give me a shout Happy hammering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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