Ironman smithworks Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 So im planning on building a forge. Tye dimensions imma be running are 24 in long with 22 in roughly inside work area 8x8 inside dimension, so 12 in overall hight and width running 2 in insulation. Wondering what i should run for burner sizes, 1/2 or 3/4 inch, running 3 burners spaced even through the square box im makeing custon may go 10 inches wide too just a possibility due to the pokers i make can get wide at times if i run out of heat wile pounding. And also was thinking bout doing 3/8 or half inch plate for the outer shell of the forge itself would that be heavy enough with the insulation. thanks for listening to my jabber jaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 That's a lot of forge and will be a bit of a gas pig. Depending on how hot you need to get, I would go with (3) nominal 3/4" burners provided you are thinking of standard NA propane burners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman smithworks Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 (edited) yea just normal propane burners i am planning on setting up a 100pound propane tank along with it and valving the burners so i can run 1 2 or 3 at a time of my choice. i do alot of twisting on fire pokers and also heat more than one at a time cause i have a way of doing them quickly hence why i was gonna go wider i may go shorter with it tho vertically probably a 6 or 5 inch opening always open to suggestions want it to be efficient and i plan on doing Damascus blades and stuff too down the road as well so that needs to be taken into consideration for heat wise Edited March 11 by Mod30 Remove @name tag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Welcome from the Ozark Mountains. Boy 3/8 or 1/2 inch plate is way over kill for a forge, one that size would take 2 people to move it. I would use 12 gauge (1/8") sheet. I would also make a baffle to isolate the burners not being used for smaller work and fuel economy. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman smithworks Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 (edited) sounds good yea i wasn't too sure on size for plating thank you for that ill probably go with 1/8 inch then Edited March 11 by Mod30 Remove @name tag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Good Morning Smith, Welcome to IforgeIron. There are folks on here from everywhere. If you put your locale in your avatar, there may be someone close to you. A friend of mine was making a lot of fence pickets with 1/2" square. he was twisting them by hand. slide a piece of 3/4 pipe over the twist section. hold in a vice, use a crescent wrench to twist. COLD. The twist is always even. Most of us have started with a large Forge, like what you are talking about. Most of us have the same Forge sitting in the corner. It doesn't have to be that large of a diameter to be long. I had a job to Hammer finish 3/4" solid square, 10ft long. 130 pieces. I made a brick Forge, 1 brick high, 2 bricks wide, 5 bricks long. I was heating over 3 feet at a time. I had a 1 3/4" burner pointed in one end. 3 bars at a time in a rotation. 10 feet in 3 heat sections, ended up over 11 feet. Good Luck with your design. The size of the soup can isn't critical, it just holds the insulation. You can make ceramic buttons {like a drawer pull) that are held to the soup can with a piece of wire (drill a hole through for the wire. the wire doesn't get hot), this holds the soft insulation in place, for a long Forge. Just a thought. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman smithworks Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Cool beans maybe ill shorten it to 12-14” overall still want sum length and maybe drop a burner i am planning on sword smithing too down the road as well but maybe shorter will be better 2ft is quite long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 My current gas forge has a 14" long interior, and 90% of the time I wish it were shorter. You are much better off with a 6-8" long interior and doors that can be opened at both ends. This actually works better for forging sword lengths, as you can only hand hammer about that long a section at a time. For heat treating a dedicated vertical 55 gallon drum lined with 1" of refractory blanket (properly rigidized) and a 1" burner works better than any long multi-burner forge I've ever seen used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman smithworks Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 That does make sence honestly plus it would cut the cost to make it and i was planning on doing doors on it too. down the road wanted to do a kiln style forge aswell for treating the steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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