Building A Forge.

D

DustinHall

Joined
Dec 31, 2008
Messages
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I have a few questions. I'm using a 10 gallon portable air tank for the body of the forge. I'm debating on whether to make it a charcoal forge or propane. I know they both work but, which one is more cost efficiant? I don't have a lot of money to put into this... kind of just trying to make it from stuff I have around the garage, ya know. For insulation, I wanted to ask if coating it with quick-crete would be any good? If not, what other (cheap) alternatives are there? No where around here sells ceramic blanket material that I know of. I guess those are my only questions. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
You're just going to fight with it if you don't use the right insulation. Quick-crete will not work afik. You can order the blanket from Darren Ellis and it won't cost too much. If you can't afford enough for your forge size, then go for a smaller forge.
 
Dustin,
Darren Ellis and other suppliers sell ceramic insulation, you'll need to get some ITC or Satanite to coat the ceramic fibers.

I've used charcoal, coal, propane and waste oil forges, I'd say a propane forge is easier for a beginner. With a solid fuel forge there's a lot of things you need to learn about fire keeping, with propane you just get the fuel/air mixture right and forge away.

With all the forges you'll need some sort of air source, these are easily available for about $20 or so on fleabay or from a local heating and air supplier. You can build a nice burner out of black pipe available from Home Depot or a plumbing supplier.

$20 blower
$10 black pipe fittings for burner
$5 hose for propane
$20 high pressure regulator
$5 regulator from HF
$10 Satanite
$40 Kaowool
$10 miscelaneous gas fittings

For about $120 or less you should be able to have a nice propane forge and enough insulation supplies for another one.
 
While I would love to aquire those materials and build a real nice forge, I just can't afford it right now. Thank you for taking the time to reply though, Will. I'm basically just trying to build a servicable backyard forge so I can give this forging thing a try. Any one else know if the quick-crete will work (at least somewhat)? I've heard of a clay/dirt mixture being used before.
 
The problem with something like quick-crete is that it may explode trying to reach temps, you need a refractory cement. Hopefully your safety is worth waiting to do it right.
 
You're right, Acrid. I do want to do this the right way. I'm just being impatient. I guess I'll save my pennies until I can get some ceramic liner and refractory cement. I'm also leaning more toward propane being that it's cleaner, safer, and heats up instantly. If anyone knows of a good link to building a simple gas forge, it would be great if you could post it. Thanks.
 
Look for a coffee can forge.

I am going to try to get some fire bricks from my friend and stack them up to make a charcoal forge.
 
Dustin you can use one part fireclay and two parts silica sand for a refractory lining. Btw, gas is far more dangerous than charcoal... just to clear that up. Please take proper safety precautions and check your gas lines for leaks often if you use propane.

I've used propane, charcoal, and a limited amount of waste oil and coal; I simply prefer charcoal because you can adjust the fire size and I find it easier to work with. Its hard to get charcoal at a good price under 1000 pounds so unless you want to make your own, propane is the economical way to go.
 
There is another charcoal forge design on Tim Lively's site which is simple and made from a washtub and a blower. I've never used or built one, but they appear to be cheap and easy to build and work well. Propane is nice because there is little time and effort at startup and shutdown.
 
Thank you for those links bikermike! And thanks for your input Dan. I'm still debating on whether to use gas or coal...
 
I made my first charcoal forge from a truck tire rim ($5 at a junk yard), a bolt on 2" pipe flange that bolted onto the center of the shallow end of the tire rim. I then screwed in a 4" long by 2" pipe nipple, then screwed on a 90 degree pipe elbow, and then another 6" long by 2" pipe nipple. I hose clamped on a flexible hose (2" dryer vent type) onto the end of the 6" nipple. This hose was about 6' long. For an air supply, I used a big blow dryer with the heating element removed from it, hose clamped onto the other end of the dryer hose. If you leave the heating element in they burn up the hair dryer from constant running. If you remove the heating element they last quite a while. I picked up the hair dryer at a yard sale for a buck. I used satanite and soft fire brick to line the inside of the coal forge, building it deeper with the fire brick around the top rim. I put a mesh stainless steel expanded metal screen in the bottom to keep clinkers from getting down into my air supply pipes. The whole project was maybe $20. I used that thing for about 5 years. It held up nicely.
 
I'll be using a tank like this for the body of the forge.

Not sure if I should cut it in half horitontaly and bolt hinges on so it has a lid for easy access or cut the face off and make some kind of door.

I'll be using a hair dryer for the blower as it's probably the cheapest.
I'm going to try and get some inswool and itc-100 or satanite but, if I can't I'll probably just use a clay/sand mixture. This will be my first forge and it doesn't have to be anything real fancy, I just want to beat on some hot steel! :) Anyway, I appreciate all of your replies. Feel free to add anything else!
 
Very little satanite will cover all of the ceramic blanket in your forge, depending on the inner diameter. Probably as little as 2lbs would mix enough to seal it.
 
Are you building a gas or charcoal forge? Ceramic blanket, firebrick, or castable refractory are de rigeur for the former, as you really won't like the results of a home made clay/silica/mud anything lining in a gas forge. It will just burn after a short time, or could spall, crack out in chunks, etc. :thumbdn:

Adobe or clay mixes will work for a firepot liner in a charcoal forge, or you can just have a mild steel fire box (the above-mentioned tire rim, or a brake drum) without a liner in a coal type forge. A coal type forge will work fairly well with charcoal for fuel in a pinch. Charcoal type firepots are typically deeper than those for coal, however, and more often have some type of refractory. There are many good smiths who won't have any type of brick or clay in their coal forge.

Whether or not you cut your forge horizontally in half or cut the end off for a door also kind of depends on whether it will be a gasser or a solid fuel forge. A propane forge will usually have a door at the front and often the back, but really not cut horizontally and hinged. That would be a more obvious choice for a charcoal forge. Even then, it's kind of either/or between open top and fully enclosed/door in front design. Check this one out if you haven't already.... http://www.dfoggknives.com/charcoal_forge.htm :thumbup:

If you look at Larry Zoeller's site, the "paint can forge" is built without welding and just uses off the shelf hardware store parts. And if you go check out plans for a Ron Reil style "e-z burner" at
http://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml#Reil
which is composed of once again off the shelf hardware store parts that you won't have to order and will be cheap, you can make a gas forge for little cash with most of the investment being a modest $40-$60 on kaowool and a $30-$40 regulator. (Or a spare non-leaky acetylene regulator will work.)

That can get you started forging and then you can figure out if you like side arm burners, blown burners, ITC-100 coatings, kaowool or castable, etc.:eek:

I started with a charcoal forge that cost me nothing but a little time to build and that's a good way to start for sure.

Just my $.02, hope it helps.:D
 
Dustin, my first forge was an old barbeque grill I found on the side of the road, it was one of the rectangular shaped ones. I made the clay/sand refractory and made a "v" shaped lining. The twyere was a piece of 1 1/2" black pipe that had 1/4" holes drilled every 1 1/4", buy an end cap for the end opposite of the air input end. Make sure the pipe extends out a couple inches past the "forge" body so you won't melt the air supply hose. Use some of the dryer vent hose from Home Depot or wherever. You can use a hair dryer or something similar for a blower. The great thing about this forge style is you can just block up the holes at one end so you just have a fire where you want.
 
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