looking to add a natural gas forge for pattern welding. any comments ideas brands plans etc ???

any problems getting natural gas hot enough for reliable welding ??

thanks in advance :)

You can try Johnson Gas Appliance, they make nat gas forges though they don't usually have the rep of reaching welding heat. I think it may be a matter of turning them up high enough or perhaps relining them with something more efficient than the hard brick and refractory. Of course things may have changed and they are coming with more insulating refractories now.

You can build your own, following the numerous gun (blown) burner designs and plans available online. It'll need a larger orifice, nat gas burns neutral at a 1 : 10 gas to air ratio.

Will it do it? You bet it will, steel mills run nat gas as a matter of course. Can you get it to work for you is the question. Not so much can YOU do it but can you get enough gas service. For the most part the gas company delivers to the house via a 1" or 3/4" pipe at a few inches of pressure. The Johnson Appliance forge I have has a 1 1/2" delivery pipe.

If your gas company can deliver enough to make it work, it'll work quite well.

If you click "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location we can be more helpful, folk in your area can let you know about get togethers, tool deals, lend hands on help, etc.

Frosty

frosty thanks........i filled in out. i am on the left coast ( LA)

i have a 2 inch nat gas line ( low pressure) which runs close to where i like to locate a gas forge. thanks for the insight on the steels mills.

so the answer is yes it can be done.......... can i do it with what i have......yet to be determined. i will contact johnson and see what temps they claim.

I had no problems forge welding with my Mifco/McEnglvan crucible forge.

Ran on normal low pressure line natural gas. Orifices were about 3/8" and it had a blower.

I had no problems forge welding with my Mifco/McEnglvan crucible forge.

Ran on normal low pressure line natural gas. Orifices were about 3/8" and it had a blower.

thanks for the info.......

some thing I read about carbon steel welding was that the fluxes used was as important as the fire because the higher the carbon the lower the heat of the weld and maybe search centaur forge's fluxes might help in a lower forge weld heat

ok thanks i will check it out

Actually the problem in billet welding for blademaking is that many of the alloys used contain Ni and Cr which tend to form a very resistant oxide that is hard to deal with. So billet welders tend to juice up their fluxes with more aggressive and TOXIC flux materials fluorspar being a common one.

If you are billet welding with plain carbon steel alloys then a regular borax flux should suit you fine.

Many of the commercial fluxes are not good for billet welding as they contain iron filings that help with making a weld but mess up the pattern in a billet.