Gas Forge

[Houaha]

i was thinking about trying a gas forge instead of using my coal forge, i was wondering how long can a 20 gallon propane tank will go for and at what psi, and about how much i could make the BP0192 Gas Forge for?

[Houaha]

also how do u change the psi?

[Glenn]

Fuel = temp. More fuel, more temp. PSI and flow are just measures of how much gas your moving into the forge.

Freon tanks can be obtained from a HVAC (air conditioning) shop for free. The rest you can scrounge. The insulating blanket, propane tank, hose and gauge you will need to purchase.

[Dave Hammer]

The cost associated with building a gas forge is directly proportional to what your needs and skills are and how good you are at scrounging materials. Some things that generally need to be purchased include regulator, hose, tank fitting, thermal blanket (ex...kao-wool), blanket coating (ex... Plistix-900 or ITC-100), plumbing supplies to make a burner, firebrick for doors, firebrick or refactory for the floor. These materials alone could run as much as $100 or more, depending upon how large you want to make your forge. I also use a good needle valve to control gas volume.

Most of us who would build a gas forge could scrounge (with little cost) materials to make the forge body and stand. If you have to buy new materials and pay someone to do the welding (or construction), it would generally be cheaper to buy a gas forge from someone else.

Your first efforts should be to figure out what you are going to do with the forge. If all you want to do is heat up to 1/2" bar to make little things (leaves, hooks, etc), you only need a small forge. If you are going to want to make larger things (tools, scrolls, sculpture, etc...) and want to be able to forge-weld, your forge requirements are drastically different.

PSI can be controlled by a regulator, but alone, is not a heat indicator. The amount of heat you generate (as indicated by Glenn above) will be determined by the amount of gas and air you inject into the forge. Some forges run with low PSI, others with hi PSI, depending upon the design of the burners and air supply source.

Good 'starter' gas forges can be purchased on eBay for around $200. It is difficult to build one much cheaper.

Edited September 25, 2008 by djhammerd

[Houaha]

well i wanted to use it for small things but also for larger things so i gues a medium size would do for me

[Sam Falzone]

Have you looked at the ammo can forge Solvarr designed?
I've used it - it's sweet, super-portable and you can do anything with it ( a pass-through for longer pieces and reaches welding heat). It only uses one burner. WWW.FORGEMONKEYS.COM
Looks really easy to fabricate too.

I'm of the mind to buy already made propane burners rather than build my own (... something-or-other about exploding propane ...)

I recommend checking out Ellis Knifeworks for burners and regulators and lots of other stuff.
Ellis Custom Knifeworks