2 Propane forge project and some pictures

S

stefanj

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Aug 5, 2007
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I am building two forges.
1- is 24 inches in length, about 8 inches in diameter. It is lined with 2 inch think inswool which is slightly compressed ginving me 5 inches in diameter on the inside. I capped off the end and placed about 3-4 inches of inswool in the bottom to seal it off. I have placed a very thin lining of Satanite in it (mixed it way way toooo thin). I will put another coating or two on and then cover with ITC-100.
I have not figured out what I will use for a burner.

2- 14 inch tube in length and about 8 inches in diameter. Also lined with 2 inch thick inswool, Satanite (need a couple of layers) and will have ITC-100 over the Satanite once the Satanite has cured. I capped off the end and placed about 3 inches of inswool in the bottom. I am using a torch from Harbor Freight with the Piezo start which all I did was cut a large hole in the forge wall and tac weld it on. I'm not sure if this is the best way but I'm new at this!!

Any suggestions for improving these??? I did notice on the shorter forge that I probably should have moved the burner to where it is about 3/4 of the way back if not even a little farther because the tube is so short most of the heat just goes strait out the front!! You can notice the difference in coloration of the satanite which isn't fully curred yet.

I should be putting the second coating of satanite on tonight.
I will post some pictures in the future!

Stefan


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Here is the inside of the short forge after a short run to speed up the curring of the satanite! Notice the difference in heated areas!! The majority of the heat swirled out the front. We'll see how well it heats up a blade once I finish making it! I am debating wether or not I should try to close off some of the front of the forge to restrict the heat escaping, say maybe a half moons worth of inswool and satanite??? Not sure about this idea, or just make a face with fire bricks??
dsc0077hu2.jpg
 
One last thing, since I want my forge to look pretty I bought some flat black hi-temp spray paint for the outside!

About how long should it take to heat up a rail road spike to forge???

Any ideas, help or anything is appreciated!

Thanks,
Stefan
 
I was hoping that I could get some input on these???
Any suggestions for the big forge burner wise??? I want to be able to forge weld!!
 
I forcefeed the ones I build with a blower and propane. I started with design on Don Fogg's website I think it's dfoggknives.com and kind of worked from there, I am still fine tuning my design, but it can definitely get hot enough to weld!
 
That’s an awfully large opening to let the heat out. I would definitely close off the front of forge. You might want to make an insulated cover (with a small opening so you see) on a hinge than could be swung up and out of the way to retrieve the piece that is being heated.

Also, is the heat being applied directly to the work? That could be the reason for uneven heat.

I had built a propane forge a number of years ago. I had a forced air burner that shot the heat in from the front, under a piece of kiln shelf (the billet being heated was on top of the shelf.) There it came to a piece of firebrick that was cut into a V shape. That directed the heat to the back and sides of the forge, and it swirled up and to the front.

I had no problem getting to a welding heat.

The design I used was called the Draconus. I got the plans for the forge and burner from Don Ferdinand of Wyvern Outdoors. Try running an internet search on “Web Wyvern”
 
butchesforge said:
Stefanj--no offense--your wasting your time with the torch,you will be lucky to get to a red heat much less forgeweld-go to this site and you will learn a lot!:thumbup:-Butch

http://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml
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No offense!! I hate waisting my time since it is something I don't have much of (I deploy a lot) and I appreciate all the help I can get since I hate to have to learn the hard way!!

Thank you!
Stefan
 
The Harbor Freight weed burner will give you enough heat for forging but not sure about welding. I doubt very much that the galvanized shell will get hot enough to be a problem but something to keep in mind.
 
Raymond Richard said:
The Harbor Freight weed burner will give you enough heat for forging but not sure about welding. I doubt very much that the galvanized shell will get hot enough to be a problem but something to keep in mind.
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I am planning on painting the outer casing with some High Temp Fireplace/BBQ paint which should help mitigate some of the hazards of (I believe it is zinc oxide) galvanized steel. Before I knew about the hazards of welding galvanized steel I had made a large frame which took many hours of welding (years ago). A friend and I got very sick from that stuff!! I wear a respirator when messing with it now.
 
I split some fire bricks for a floor so I would not chop up the insulation when putting knives in and out and give a nice flat working surface. My firebricks are on top of the insulwool and the castable come up to the edges.
 
I also use firebricks as a front door, just stacked across the front.

Let me know if the weed burner gets hot enough, I really just need to heat treat to 1500.
 
yea, just mentioning the galvanizing to be on the safe side.
i too would be interested in the temp you can get with the weed burner. i have one of those and have always thought of making a small forge, because my natural gas forge is too big for some jobs and spins our gas meter like crazy.
-Lou
 
is the gas igniting in the back end of the forge? it seems like you have the back totally closed up, i cant recall ever seeing a tube forge without two open ends. looks like there was allot of flame out the front from your other post... just thinking outloud.
-Lou
 
L.K.Smithy said:
is the gas igniting in the back end of the forge? it seems like you have the back totally closed up, i cant recall ever seeing a tube forge without two open ends. looks like there was allot of flame out the front from your other post... just thinking outloud.
-Lou
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Probably part of my problem!!!
I drilled some holes in the end of the burner to get some more air in there and it helped to raise the heat up a bit 700F. My forge now sounds like a V2 rocket!!!! I think if I put a small opening in the end that might help. I might try that and I'll report back with what the results are.
 
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