I feel like I've asked this or discussed it before but I can't find it now. I have a 3 burner NA gas forge that I've never used because it's just so big. I also have a single burner which I'll carry back and forth between my main work area and the garage work area depending on weather. I've been wondering though, if I could temporarily close off a portion of the 3-burner cylinder to run as a single or 2 burner forge - so I wouldn't have to move my single burner back and forth between areas.

I feel like the easiest solution is to simply get a chunk of firebrick that fits inside, with a hole cut into it for material to pass through, and maybe set a piece of angle iron behind it to keep it from falling over. 

I've also considered fabricating a "back wall" frame which fits inside rather than against the outside - out of bedframe scraps with firebrick in the frame. Then attach a long horizontal handle so I could slide it in/out to the desired location. Would the metal frame stand up to the repeated heat of the forge though? Is this any more effective than the unframed firebrick solution?

Also wondering if there's a solution that can include insulation & coating but withstand being removed/replaced.

Any ideas would be great, thanks everyone!

 

Sure it's doable and not too difficult once you decide how you want it. It doesn't need to prevent all the flame from passing, just block almost all of it. A baffle that slides back and forth could be problematical, needing a relatively smooth floor to slide on. You could lay a couple thinnish strips on the floor to slide on and pull them when the baffle is in position. Oh heck connect the baffle to the slide strips and move it with them though you would have the far end sticking out of the forge in 2 burner mode. If you don't access the forge from one end having a length of steel sticking out shouldn't be an issue. 

Another thought would be to build a tab on the back of the baffle that is easy to grip with tongs.

Stacking a fire brick baffle would be a PITA and you wouldn't want to do it if it weren't cool. The above ideas should work when hot, I'd just turn the burner(s) off when moving the baffle.

Making the baffle should be as easy as cutting two pieces of ceramic blanket to shape, rigidizing them, pinning them together with stainless steel wire bent in a U. And lastly butter and cover with a water soluble hard refractory and a kiln wash. I'd make the refractory and kiln wash thin on the away side, it's mostly there for structural support that can take the heat. The hard refractory and kiln wash in the flame face wants to be a little thicker but not a lot, say 1/4" or so. 

Don't forget to do the pass through in the baffle! It WILL want the hard refractory as or thicker than the flame face of the baffle itself. Burner flame WILL be channeled into the pass through so it'll need to be a bit tougher. 

A lifting tab on back and generous exercise lung power if any ham handed oaf knocks it over in use. No, I didn't exclude you from the list, I say some most harsh things to myself when I screw up.

Frosty The Lucky.

Shainarue,

Frosty is quite right on all points. However, you want that baffle wall to have an internal pass-through. You also want to try baffles in both forges. So, I will add that "as with outer baffle walls, so with internal "B" walls." You can comb through various discussions on this thread about external baffle walls consisting of everything from simple hard firebrick, to movable and replaceable kiln shelve walls trapped in angle iron pockets on the outer side of hinged and locked forge doors. What is the difference between them? All of these schemes work, but they are all a choice between extra work now versus added convenience aferward .

  Over and over, I have suggested that newbies simply start out with a movable wall of firebrick. Why? Because, this gives them time to ponder the choice above, while working with something simple and temporary. No big investment in time or money means no hesitation when its time to do something permanent.

  As without, so within. You have stated that you wish to be able to run stock through the internal baffle wall. Frosty has brought up the complication that you will need the baffle to stay in position during all that movement. I suggest that you simply employ firebricks, cut and ground to do this job. But,  but, but, they will be a heat sink!!! Yup, and so what? We are not talking about the length and width of a forge floor; we are talking about the rather small area of what becomes a temporary rear wall; it is temporary in two senses. To begin with you only use it when needed. And finally, it is essentially a test rig. Once you decide how you want to construct a sophisticated baffle, its work is done. And you want to take just as much time thinking that over as you put into building your forges. Using something--anything--for a baffle will start your imagination turning over, and you will suddenly have a dozen different ideas churning away on this issue. Which one of us has built even a second or third forge, without coming up with a better plan, the moment it was just too late? Work with something simple, with a minor investment of time and money, before taking the plunge.

BTW, it would be nice if you share your thoughts with all the others with these same questions, once you start working with that temporary rig. We so-called experts can yak all the long day, but we cannot share what we don't have. We cannot share the sense of wonder; that takes doing something new; for us it isn't 

Thanks for the input Frosty & Mikey! 

I will likely go with the firebrick to start since I don't foresee needing to move the baffle once the forge is hot and going. But if a project comes along where I see the benefit of being able to move the baffle during the session then I love the idea of a tab that can be grabbed and moved with tongs. And if the tab is close to the bottom, it will prevent it from tipping over when I inevitably bonk it with a piece I'm passing through. This ham handed oaf constantly knocks over bricks set up for the back baffle. I used to have a stand with a piece of rectangle tube cut in half which held the bricks in place. I lost that stand when we moved the first time and haven't made a new one. So the single burner that I tote around, I just prop a brick (or shovel, or metal plate - whatever's handy, lol) up against the back. 

Anyway - so yeah, I knew I would hit the internal baffle when using the pass through. 

With firebrick, hitting them will just push them back as long as it's not just a single brick standing there - no biggie. With the fab'd baffle, hitting it would also push it back and possibly chip the coating but the tabs at the bottom should prevent it from falling over.

I'll try to remember I have this thread and update when I start using that forge!

Shainarue,

I noticed two things about your three burner forge. The first thing is that its burner design is very dated. If you change out their air entrances for a Frosty design, they will get a lot hotter. But, worse still is that you have completely sealed the burners against secondary air induction. You will find that some secondary air induction is needed with most burners, and those burners are among them. Simply turn the first burner on and push some of the ceramic wool aside to allow a little air in, watching the flame as you do so; that should show all that you need to see.

I'll do my best to remember to play with that when I get it fired up. Need to get propane.