Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 is it cheaper to buy a gas forge or make one i have noticed with a lot of things that it is chaeper to buy the thing rather than make one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgtwister Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 me personaly would say its cheaper to make it but i have good resorces for the stuff to make one most likely a few if i wanted i have a vast colection of stuff so i woldn't need to buy much to make it so in my opionin it would depend on your resorces most that i have seen you could buy that were a good price the shipping was a lot of course it also depends on how much money do have to spend me i need all my money to pay the bills so i would make it my self i also have welders a lathe and the use of a milling machine to make things easyer i would figure out the cost of all the stuff you would need to make the type you want figure your time then compare the cost and see what works best for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 There is a compromise between the two. A couple of web sites sell complete burners that you can insert into a shell that you made. For example, if you can weld feet onto a piece of pipe, and weld short pieces of smaller pipe to the top for the burners to insert into, and line the inside with insulation (also sold on those sites) you could consider making the forge's shell and purchase the other stuff from sites that cater to people making their own gas forges. So this is another option to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Depends on how you figure cost. If it's just the dollars and you're handy at putting things together then making one is FAR cheaper. If on the other hand you have paying work and need it NOW buying is far cheaper. This is a perfect opportunity to do some design work including a cost analysis. First check the sites selling forges and see what one the size and volume will cost. Make a list of everything, do a spread sheet if you know how. Next, design a forge to your specs. Make a materials list and price everything including shipping and consumables. Next make your best estimate of how long it'll take you to build it. Double that number and probably triple that one. Tally it all into your list or plug it into your spread sheet and see what you think. Charts are REALLY good for this part of it. Now you have some hard numbers to consider so it's time to ponder the imponderables. (That should be unquantifiable of course but I couldn't resist the turn of phrase. You know me.) Namely, what do YOU like to do? Are you a, "Git er done." kind of guy? Or, do you like tinkering? If the former buy your forge if you can afford it, if the latter you'll be WAY happier building it yourself. There's LOTS of tinkering to do, it's fun. If you decide to build keep us posted and ask whatever you need or want to know. If you buy we want pics! Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofthesmith Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 id put my money on make, i got away with about 65$ for mine. it aint big but it works for what i do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbalist Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I like making stuff but if I lived in the USA I might buy one from here: diamondbackironworks They look awful nice! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 There is lots of info on building them on the web. Both Ron Reil and Larry Zoeller have web pages that detail building a forge. Those pages are a good resource in figuring out how much the materials are going to cost you. The big thing is figuring out your time value. I'm building one right now. Based off one of the BluePrints here. So far I have about 5 hours of my time and zero dollars in expense for the body and legs. Granted I'd say almost 2.5 of those 5 hours is in removing the old paint/tar off the forge body. (tip: the flap wheel on a 4.5" grinder moves paint much faster. Then blast it for final clean up) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Granted I'd say almost 2.5 of those 5 hours is in removing the old paint/tar off the forge body. (tip: the flap wheel on a 4.5" grinder moves paint much faster. Then blast it for final clean up) Taking it to a remote location and building a fire in it works WAY faster and easier. IF you can do so safely of course. This one cost me maybe $200 and probably 40 hrs. Another one would take maybe 15 hrs. experience counts. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Done both, but would not start by building the first one, I did not know enough about how one was supposed to function, and how well, so I had no basis for comparison, it worked out alright after much frustration, but the double burner I bought is the one I use most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I thought about that, but my brother gave me this big speech last week about the riveters from the Golden Gate Bridge all went wacky cause the rivets were pre-painted. Plus I have close neighbors.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Wow Jerry, four burners for a little forge like that??? Trying to burn the forge up??? Lol, could you explain why you have the four burners in that forge??? And maybe a BP for it??? It looks really nice and well made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 (edited) Wow Jerry, four burners for a little forge like that??? Trying to burn the forge up??? Lol, could you explain why you have the four burners in that forge??? And maybe a BP for it??? It looks really nice and well made. I matched the burner count to the volume at 1 ea. 3/4" burner for every 350cu/in. What may not show is it's a variable volume forge. The lid is on a scissor jack, the sidewalls are soft brick and can be moved to suit my needs. Each burner is mounted at the inside quarter of it's quadrant, there's a little more than a brick thickness between them. Each burner is on a separate 1/4 turn ball valve so I only run what I need. so far I've only run all four in testing. If I take the lid up one brick width in height it'll require 1" burners to make the heat. The table is 3,000f split hard brick coated with ITC-100, underlain with 2,300f insulating castable refractory. The side with the jack is the back, all other sides are easily accessible but there are stock rests on the left and right only with the "front" plain. The stock rests telescope out on sq. tubing up to about 14" leaving 4" in the guide tubes for strength. The stock rests hold full size hard firebrick and with the addition of a tray I can lay more brick as it's extended. this will allow me to extend the enclosed volume of the forge considerably but would require additional burners to make heat. There are tong racks on each stock rest on 12" long telescoping sq. tubing. If you turn the tong racks upside down they are then the same level as the stock rests and can extend the stock rests another 10" or so. If you want to download Google Sketchup http://download.sketchup.com/ I'll be happy to send you the 3D drawings so you can look at it from all angles, move stuff, change things, etc. Frosty Edited November 10, 2008 by Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 i think for the price of what i am looking at and with a groop order being put together by BAM i will probly buy a chile forge tobasco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 i think for the price of what i am looking at and with a groop order being put together by BAM i will probly buy a chile forge tobasco And a fine choice it is. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer3j Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 If you get curious enough to build, buy Michael Porter's book on burners and forges. Mr. Frosty pointed me in that direction. A bunch of the "why" is answered. Several good people, including a character here on the forum, provided input for the book.mt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 those daimondback forges look realy nice.. but shiping to belgium is a bit costly.. :-( so i'l be building one myself some day....., when i have scrouched all kind of scrap to use as meterial for this project.. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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