Forge Design

B

blackboogers

Joined
Jan 16, 2002
Messages
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What design forge do you prefer? I will be building either a horizontal or vertical propane forge. My queston is: 1.What are the advantages or disadvantages to a horizontal or vertical forge. 2.what are the advantages or disadvantages to burner placement (aimed at center floor or at a tangent to create at vortex). My tube will be of a 12 to 13" I.D. Sch.40 pipe., lined with 6# kaowool about 2" thick and then finish sprayed with ITC 100. I will not be using a blower but will use the burner plans found on Ron's page are burner designs. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly apreciated. And also if anyone wants the address I found a place that sells the kaowool for 1.50 a sq. ft. for 6# and I can get the ITC for 25.00 a pint (I hope that is enough). Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
What ya going to do with the forge?

For knives and small stuff I have one that is 8" dia. about 11" long.

The venturi burner is about 2/3 back, on a tanget and aimed slightly to the front. I have no problem reaching weld temp. at 10 psi

I forge at 4-5 psi.

I would make a couple suggestions. On the shell tube that holds the venturi tube. Tack it in place, if it needs tweaking it is a small matter to break the tacks nad move the angle. I tacked mine and got it right the first time. The 3 little tacks have held the burner in place for a couple years.

One of the mistakes that people make is building toooo much burner for the forge. All this does is push the heat out of forge and into your face face. the orifice size I use is a #51 or #56 drill bit.

I have vertical forge in the works for welding only.

I have a file at the house written by Randall Graham on small forges email me at irnsweany@juno.com:D
 
I plan on using Ron Reil's ez burner with a tweco tip, I will be using it for heating blades for heat treat and forging damanscus.
 
Now wait a minute Mike. My welding forge is a Freon can forge with 4 inches of Kaowool and a 2" Kaowool split blanket over the opening. I use a mini mongo and can WELD at 4 to 5 psi. Too much burner is a very relative thing.
 
I get mine free. Check with some contractors in your area that use it. They always have scraps!
 
You have to buy a box, its a 1'x25' roll. But from what I've seen at other places thats real cheap. Hey Peter what size bottle of propane you buying and long does it last?
 
I just use the BBQ size bottles. It depends on what I'm doing. It will burn for about 4 hours max.
 
Well, I mixed and poured my castable refractory, yesterday...it was the recipe found here .

It was a godawful mess, but it was fun...reminiscent of playing with clay, or in the mud. I'll post pics when I have them, and let everyone know how it works!!! The lining came out about two inches thick, and is a sort of an off-beige (I had not realized going in that colour was important to the lining!!! DOH!!! Got lucky, I hope).

I'm looking to do a horizontal (so I can work on larger/wider pieces, with a T-Rex burner (gonna try for tangential, to get the even swirl, but my metalworking skills are not tremendous--so I'll take what I can get) rigged to a barbecue-sized gas can. The dimensions are almost identical to yours, Boogers. I put two firebricks in the floor to make my shelf, and I anticipate being able to weld at about 10-13 psi, according to the info on the burner. If what I'm seeing here is true, then my fears of it being under-burnered may be illusory. I hope. This has been fun, but it's not something I want to do every year...all in all, if I were doing it again, I'd probably just go with Kaowool and ITC-100.

Hope this helps at all. Oh, and before I forget, does anyone know of a place to get the hard refractory board that Ron Reill uses for the movable wall in his adjustable forge? I'd like to make an end-plate out of it, and I can't seem to find anyplace around DFW, Texas, so I'm expanding my search. I'm not proud, I'll pay shipping...I JUST WANT MY FORGE!!!!

Kal

:D
 
Just so you know what to expect Kal, When I said 4hours burn time I'm talking ultra low pressure and small stuff. At 10-13 psi you are going to go through that bottle PDQ. One of the things that make mine hotter at low pressure is the blanket over the front. THIS IS DANGEROUS so I don't recommend it. It will also not work with many burners because of the back pressure.

Get a tub big enough to set the propane tank in with water. This willl allow you to get all the propane.
 
Hi,
Sound like you are having fun. Remember to break that puppy in right or you will have cracked refractory. Let it dry thoughly and then use several LOW burns gradually working up to 20 minutes to get that puppy baked out. Then fire her up and make your ancestors proud...Ken

PS: One forge I rushed shot a baseball sized piece of red hot lining at me. Startled the hell out of me as well as bruising sever knuckles on the hand holding the tongs.
 
Try these folks out for forge supplies.
R.A.B.Inc. 310)396-1370
6585 Cypress St.
West Monroe, LA 71291
Also check with Gene Osborn over on the CKD, Tool forum, he knows all the contacs in the DFW area.
 
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