forge idea

hardheart

hardheart

Joined
Sep 19, 2001
Messages
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Would a layer of inswool coated with ITC work in this? 8" diameter and about 21" high. I was thinking of cutting 2 doors in the side. Thought I could also make a salt tube and drop it down the center through the hole already there. Replace the plastic handle with some bent flatbar. A buddy & I were cutting up a water heater until the oxygen ran out, thought of maybe putting more wool on the outside of this and using the heater tank as an outer shell, if it would be worth it to hold more heat. I'd like to try a forced air setup, dad's got a couple squirrel cages, and I can get hold of an old torch gauge/regulator or two easy to hook up the propane with.

Also got a 26" piece of rail track, weighs 95 lbs. Gonna clean the rust off the top and look into something to mount it on.
 
In case you haven't visited this page:

http://www.dfoggknives.com/tools.htm

You will probably enjoy it. Good info on making salt pots, forges, and all sorts of interesting things.

Eight inches ID seems a little cramped. You line it with 2-inch CF and you only have about a 4-inch ID.
For a salt pot, it would be too cramped too, because you're going to be dropping a 4-inch (or so) tube down the thing. There's no room for combustion.
The salt pot section on Don's site demonstrates probably the simplest, cheapest solution that works.:thumbup:
 
Do I need 2 inches, I thought a 1 inch layer of the #8 stuff would work. If so, I can always get bigger pipe, one of the benefits of having oil rigs being built in your backyard. :) It's just that this was convenient, and I can make about 50 more attempts if I screw up, since there's a whole pile of them at a place 15 minutes away.
 
I think you'd benefit a lot from looking over the forge and salt pot links. They should give you an idea of what's required.

Here is a picture of a few of my salt rigs for reference:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64178&d=1166324689

The stainless steel salt tubes shown here are 4-5 inches ID. These rigs all feature burners made from simple plumbing supplies and arranged basically as described on Don's site. They work very well.

I hate using CF for a forge for numerous reasons (I prefer cast/brick refractory), but for salt pots, you're kind of stuck with it. For mine, I ran the 1/2-inch super-compressed 'paper' along with the 2-inch wool sheet. You want some space around the tube so you get decent combustion.

Digital controllers on the salt pots are a must in my opinion. They're a piece of cake to set up if you get the manual with the controller and play with it a little. Again. This is all covered on Don's site. Please take advantage!:)
 
I think I have those pages saved in a folder already, I'll take another look. I have about 40 pages in there, plus whatever e-books, diagrams, TTT charts and such I've been able to scrounge online so far, so I need to start combing through it again, anyway.

Your setup is very nice, I was actually looking at controllers on ebay in another tab. Lot of cheap ones from China, probably a bad idea.
 
hardheart said:
I think I have those pages saved in a folder already, I'll take another look. I have about 40 pages in there, plus whatever e-books, diagrams, TTT charts and such I've been able to scrounge online so far, so I need to start combing through it again, anyway.

Your setup is very nice, I was actually looking at controllers on ebay in another tab. Lot of cheap ones from China, probably a bad idea.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd stay clear of those. I prefer the simpler Watlow brand controllers. The instructions are pretty clear and not written in that comical 'Chinglish' language they use to write instructions over there. Plus, you can simply call any Watlow dist. and get a manual if you pick a unit up on Ebay without one, and if you run into troubles, you can get real-live support from a real person to walk you through something. It's really worth a few buck more. I like to stay with controllers that are very similar and from the same maker, regardless of who it is. It's just simpler in the long run that way (you will be using more than one eventually).
 
Since you are not yet familiar with forge building,I will assume you are not fully familiar with salt pots either. Salt pots have to be carefully built and designed,and CAREFULLY used. They can be very dangerous.
I would suggest you built several forges and when they become second nature, then think about salt pots.
2" of wool is better than 1". The blower should not be a big squirrel cage, just a blower able to keep a steady flow rate that is not much more than a hair dryer.The guages need to be able to handle the feed rate of a forge.Every supply you will need is available from Darren Ellis
http://forgegallery.elliscustomknifeworks.com/
For salt pot design,a site to look at is:
http://www.mstarling.com/salt_pot_design.html

Have fun, but be safe
Stacy
 
Jason Cutter's is the one that actually had me thinking this bottle could do alright even with the thin walls. I'll probably still use it as a forge only, at least for practice. I wouldn't mind building a few from different materials, just for fun. Gonna get some well casing for the outer body of the salt. I still kinda like the idea of combining the 2 into 1, modularity is something I like, but that can come later.

I was going to have the stainless welded by one of the fabricators in town, for their expertise, plus my welding machine doesn't have the right spool. Dad's gonna check with one of the steel suppliers for some stainless sched. 40 drop off, think that's thick enough?
 
hardheart said:
... stainless sched. 40 drop off, think that's thick enough?
Click to expand...
Yes, sched. 40 is good enough. Weld the bottom with SS at least as thick (I usually use 3/8 or 1/2 for that.
I think you'll find it most useful to have two appliances forge and salt pot for two reasons:
One: You don't want to be disturbing CF once it's installed. It'll degrade pretty fast doing that, plus you don't want to be releasing fibers that you'll be breathing when it's blown out the forge/salt pot.
Two: there's going to be enough set-up difference between the two that it's going to become a major pain going between forging and HT. This is an area you want to streamline, not encumber with apparatus set up/changes. You'll get things working the way you want, then have to set up for something else and then after that set it up back the other way....you'll be pulling your hair out!

For salt pots, you can't go wrong with Don Foggs design/tutorial. The way I look at it, Why reinvent? But to each his own, I suppose.:D
Good Luck and happy building!
 
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