Home made vs Store bought forges

J.Wade

J.Wade

Joined
Sep 3, 2004
Messages
775
Hi guys

I am starting to look at upgrading my gas forge. My current forge is a bit small for what I would like but works well. I have seen alot of great looking homemade gas forge tutorials and was wondering what are some of the pros and cons of building a forge vs buying a forge.

I know there is a great cost difference, but I consider time to just as expensive as money, If it will take me as long to build a forge as it will to make a knive that will pay for a forge I would rather make the knife.

also I was wondering what differences between natural gas and propane there are, Is it possible to use a house natural gas line to run a forge?

I would of course have a pro do the work with setting up gas lined to a forge.I have natural gas in my house and was just curious if anybody has a forge running off of there hook up.


thanks in advance
jimi
 
jim, if ya check out the search option on all the major forums there is tons of info on this topic, i have one of each like them both, as for as store bought they are high dollar for a good one --i have the n.c.tool co. 3 burner whisper low boy great forge plug and play out of the box-but it comes at a hefty price
i looked at your web site and you are definately skilled in the shop for the money diffrence i would make one-as for as running natural gas everything i have read on it is negative you would have pressure problems. hope this helps bb
 
I started out with a hand made dragons breath forge. It got so hot it would melt cast iron. The next one I bought at Centaur Forge. Its a three burner and costs about $650. I wanted to make knives not forges so it was worth it to me. Now I think I could make a forge that would suit my needs but like you said "time is money"
 
I made a forge out of stove pipe today. It was an idea this morning. Finding a piece of stove pipe took more time than the hour it took to make the forge.

As far as the natural gas goes its to low a pressure for a to opperate a burner.
 
I forge weld with a shop-built forge on NATURAL GAS that uses a Mankel two-burner manifold (with a fan) originally intended for propane.
Also, I run 4 salt pots on natural gas (usually two at a time) with the burners depicted on Don Fogg's website (the part about salt pots).

You need to use 1-inch line off the meter (make up for low pressure with increased volume). Some propane burner designs with jets will probably need to be drilled out, but other than that ...

Keep in mind that the forges/salt-pots we use are pretty lightweight (low BTU) appliances compared with things like pool heaters that also run off residential pressures. IF for some reason, you need greater pressure, the Gas Co. will probably be more than happy to come and swap your regulator/meter for one that will give higher pressure ... at least they suggested that as an option if their one-inch gas line suggestion didn't work out (which it did).
 
I have built over 15 forges and it takes me around 3 hours to build one. I have a tutorial on my site. If you have a question feel free to call.:D ;)
 
I currently own a single burner shoers forge (nctool co) which is fine for really little things, but not good for blades. I'm going to be making a new forge, dragon's breath style, using IG's plans, when i've got the chance to get all the parts together.

Having used IG's forges, they're nice =)

The biggest thing is, how much is your time worth to you? I bought my first forge because i didnt have the tools to make one, nor knew the people who had the tools. Now that i know some people with the tools, i'll be looking to upgrade =)
 
I am a farrier and have several forges store bought and self built. The problem I have with the store bought is the atmosphere, I can not get a neutral or reducing fire and end up with lots of scale, I can with the self built, scale is very minimal. Also I can not get the vortex and end up with hot and cold spots in the store bought forge. Here is a shot of my forge running you can see the vortex. This is a blown forge and I can weld at 4psi. I think it took me 4 hours to make this forge, I used castable refractory and that takes more time. I have heard a lot of good about Indian George's forge and I personally will be building one this winter as I need a longer forge.
 
Since my time in the shop is limited, I opted to buy a forge from Darren Ellis. It's one of his blown burner forges and has been fantastic (as has Darren himself). I can forge at 1-2psi and weld at 3-4psi. Pretty reasonably priced to boot.

-d
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top