fired up forge for first time... looking for suggestions

[ScottRoush]

I put together my forge.... air compressor tank approx. 400 cu/inches, with 2 inches ceramic wool and Plistix coated. The working surface is a high temp brick. The burner is a venturi side arm contruction purchased from Larry Zoeller.

I just want some folk's input on how things are looking so far. Zoeller recommends NOT vortexing the flame since venturi burners do not operate... uhhh.. let him say it:

"I have always felt that you really only need to vortex the burner when you are running a blower driven gas forge and not on a atmospheric forge. I feel that because you are pushing the heat through so fast with the blower that you need some time to let the heat disperse evenly in the forge body. You do not have all that much flow with the atmospheric burners, so it seems to spread more evenly. The forge also has the flat firebrick bottom, every forge that I have seen that had a flat bottom and a vortex burner the flame seamed to hit a flat spot and wants to shot out the front opening giving another hot spot or uneven heat. I am sure that there are others that will disagree with this thinking, but these are the findings from my own personal experience with forges over the years."

So I've got it setup like he says and you can see from my picture that the area opposite of the burner is probably an intense hotspot. That is also where my analog thermocouple is located. I'm not sure that was a product of good forethought. I probably should have located this on the opposite side or further forward.. or at least in an area that is more consistent with the rest of the working area. When that picture was taken, the pyrometer was reading a consistent 2000 F at 5 psi.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I have a 'moveable back wall' made from a piece of durablanket that has an opening in the bottom. This can be moved forward and backwards depending on what I'm doing... to enlarge or shrink the working area.

I also have a bunch of firebricks I can use to build up the front to close up the space somewhat.

Anyway, if you guys could give me an idea about how this setup looks, I would very much appreciate it. For example, should I reconfigure it somehow to spread the heat more evenly or should I keep that hotspot. Reil's website has a similar setup and he uses that hotspot for forge welding.

 

[Dan Zawacki]

Looking great for a first forge. Over time you'll find two things happen;

1: You'll grow so accustomed to the idiosyncracies of this forge that youve been working in for a while that you will use them to your advantage without even thinking about it.

2: you will grow to know what you like and dislike in a forge, so that when time eventually comes (as it always does) to rebuild or replace, you'll have a much better idea of how to get what you want out of your next forge, and why.

I can't speak about the difference between venturi vs blown, but I can say that the observation about firebrisk bottoms is true. The vortex airflow tends to work best when the chamber is smooth and round. If the airflow hits a convex corner and a concave corner, as formed by the edge of a brick in the bottom of a forge, really interrupts that airflow and will result in a very hot edge.

 

[Bailey Knives]

I am still using the first forge I built, but it strictly does heat treating now. Like Dan said, you will learn to use it's quirks to your advantage. I can keep a knife out of the hot spot on my forge, or use the hot spot to heat up a specific area.

That all said, your forge looks well built, and I am sure will be kicking around for a while.

 

[ScottRoush]

Thanks fellas.... I've been playing around with some rebar. Gonna make some tongs. I think everything is gonna be AOK.