Gas forge! Picked me up a nice slightly used one.

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
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Surfing around on CKD, I noticed a thread about knifemaking supplies being sold. One item listed was a 2 burner atmospheric gas forge. Further investigating revealed the seller to only live about 130 miles away, so I drove up Saturday and checked it out. Forge is about 7 years old, but has not been used for 5 years or so, and doesn't really look like it was used much at all.

The actual forge is a ForgeMaster Farrier's 2 burner model. No door on this one; just a rectangle opening in front about 15" long, and is about 8" deep. Came with a tank about half again as big as the usual BBQ grill tank. Probably will need to get a bigger tank though. The ignition switch is broken, but not a problem for me. Easy to replace, if I even need to worry about that anyway. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the forge. Especially for $250.
 
You won't regret buying that forge, Danbo. I have the Forgemaster Blacksmith model, and it's a nice forge. The farrier is a great unit also.
 
Before I paid for it, I had him start it up to make sure it worked. Worked fine, but I obviously wasn't going to let it run for a long time, since I had to put it in the car. Will I be able to make damascus with this small forge? Will it get hot enough?
 
My farrier/blacksmith uses a similar sized 2 burner forge. I can't remember the brand off the top of my head. His is only lined with ceramic blanket, but it does have a door and a vent hole in each end. I know he has brazed stuff with it, and I'm pretty sure he said he has seen guys weld with similar set ups. You'd definitely want to at least put some satanite in there and ITC100 too. Its gets hot quick though and I don't think he's running the gas at much pressure.
 
Danbo said:
The ignition switch is broken, but not a problem for me. Easy to replace, if I even need to worry about that anyway. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the forge. Especially for $250.
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Hey Danbo....I found this link for a Forgemaster dealer in your state....with replacement parts......www.anvilbrand.com/shopanvilbrand.html
I have the Blacksmith model and love it...enjoy.... :D
 
Danbo, I agree with Matt, you might want to put some ITC-100 in it to help. Drop me a line if I can help with anything.

:)

-Darren
 
This forge has firebrick inside, and appears to be hardly even discolored, much less damaged.
 
Quit spending your money on things other than my knives!!! ;)

You will be able to weld in it Dan. But in most forges like yours the work actually sits on the floor of the forge. When you weld in it, you will get flux all over the floor and it will eat up the floor (unless the floor is fire-brick). The other problem is that it will leave flux in there and when you put a simple piece of plain steel in there it will get flux all over it (messy and totally unneeded).

You can either lay some stainless channel in there to catch the flux, or try to gouge a trough into it if you have a fire-brick floor. OR, form one with kitty litter or brick.

That's just my experience with this type of forge and welding in them.

Get yourself a 10 lb. hammer and you can start buying 2" round W2 from Brian!!!!!!

Nick
 
Hey Dan, I bought some refractory brick for the bottom of mine from Dan Morris at Old World Anvils. It worked okay, but when that wore out I made a thin adobe brick out of sand and kitty litter, kind of like what Nick said. Also, ITC-100 inside will make it get up to heat a lot better. I must say that after owning this forge, I'm much more inclined to relegate it to simple forging, and building a vertical forge just for welding. These things would last ever so much longer without that darned flux!
 
ITC-100 is a coating for the forge lining. It gets glassy after a heating. It really reflects the heat and helps the lining last longer. I think Darren sells it, too.
 
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