Home built forge Questions....

[Aiko555]

I have a 3 foot section of chimney liner. It is orange in color and some sort of kiln fired masonry about 1.5 inches thick. If I were able to drill a hole in this, line it with that "firewool" stuff and block the ends with fire brick, do you think that'd make a sufficient container in which to forge blades?

I also am searching for plans for the propane delivery system. I have a craftsman 2 speed leaf blower for the air and a propane tank already.

I did have some plans from old posts - before my hard drive crashed. Thanks for your help!

PJG

 

[Matt Shade]

Chimney liner would probably work, it should be able to take pretty good heat and handle the expansion/contraction of heating up/cooling off ok I think. As long as you have it insulated well it will probably work fine for you.

Here's what I did for a burner:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278592

I think thats about as easy as it will get for building one. Since you want to use a blower on it, you just need to make sure you have the 1/8" nipple for the jet down below the threads in the reducer so you can put an elbow or something on it to go to your blower. You could put a large flood valve in to act as a choke on the blower. Would let you tune your flame alot more.

Be sure you get some satanite to coat your fire wool with, and ITC 100 on top of that if you can. The ITC100 isn't completely necessary but will make your forge much more efficient. You can get it all from Darren Ellis http://refractory.elliscustomknifeworks.com/

Also, be sure to have the burner going into the forge sort of on a tangent to the walls so you get a good swirl/vortex going. It will breath better and heat much more evenly.

Good luck, building the forge is fun in itself but once you've got it you won't know how you ever lived without it

 

[Michael J. Spangler]

i don't know those flus (sp?) are kind of fragile.... father is a mason and i've worked with him now and then since i was little.... let me tell you they break a lot easier than you think. would't want one cracking from the heat and bradking apart sending hot debris and afalling burner towards your body.
you're better off going to a scrap yard and getting a piece of metal pipe. worth investing the money. and try surpluscenter.com look for the 12v dc blower they sell.... great for hooking up to burner. also might want to check out indian georges web site for his plans on making a forge. its nice and efficient, and cheap to make. it'll last a lifetime

 

[indian george]

i don't know those flus (sp?) are kind of fragile.... father is a mason and i've worked with him now and then since i was little....

Boy!!! Was that last week??? Because you are still Little Grasshoppa to me.