"New" Forge Design

J

John Frankl

Joined
Oct 16, 2001
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I say "new" because it is new to me, not because many others out there smarter than I may not have already done this. But I haven't read about it, so I''ll share.

I really like the idea of making an ovular or elliptical shaped forge for damascus. More length with less area to heat, while still getting the vortex effect. Most people cut a pipe in two, top to bottom, weld in panels, and go from there. Well, I have to have a pipe rolled and welded, so I am not about to then go cutting it in half. Besides, I'm a pretty bad welder:confused: So I came up with an idea for getting the shape without any cutting or welding.

I am going to line an 18" pipe with 2" of Kaowool--pretty standard so far. Then I am going to cut two pieces of Kaowool board and slide them down into the forge to make the shape I want. Then I will stuff the empty spaces between the wool and the board with all the old wool trimmings I have been saving from other forge builds. Then Satanite or something similar to cement everything in place, etc. This should give me the shape I want on the inside, while providing a bunch of additional insulation. (For what it's worth, the wool and board are pretty cheap here in Korea, so the extra $$ there are negligible.)

Thoughts,

John
 
You could also just smush a pipe.

Check out Michael Burch's forge on Darren Ellis' site: http://forgegallery.elliscustomknifeworks.com/

Michael used a 16" diameter x 21" long piece of pipe for his forge body, but he did something a little different than most. Wanting to make the section he can get a heat in a little longer, Michael used a trick shown to him by Bill Buxton of squishing the pipe some to elongate it a little more to provide a longer heat zone. This also aids in retaining the somewhat circular shape of the pipe, so you continue to get a good swirling action of the fuel/air mixture inside the forge. To squish the pipe, Michael used a log splitter, but a front end loader or something of the like could be used as well.
Click to expand...
 
let me know how you like.

Forge shapes are a funny thing.

I played around with them for a while. round and square seem about equal in performance to me.

I even made a torus ring forge. It might have been to small only about
8" ID and 8" long but it would not hold any heat. If you looked at it at night the when running the flames just slicked right on out of the forge into the air.

My favorite forge right now for just forging (no welding in it) is one made from a toolbox. The way the wool is in it is sorta kinda ellipitical.

As long as the burner is sized to the forge body,...
round or square the fire doesn't care.:D
 
I have another modification I'm considering.

I may try pouring castable right up to the bottom of the door. From there I will use wool. This will eliminate the great majority of flux problems, while also making the portion of the forge that actually needs to be hot come up to temp rather quickly. Of course I realize the castable will suck some of the heat from the wool until the temps between the two equalize, I still think this may represent a good compromise between an all wool vs. all castable forge. Also, the Koawool board panels on the sides will run the entire height of the forge, making it come up to heat even quicker, but not coming into contact with flux.

Sweany, I know what you mean about shapes. I think how the burner/flame enters the forge is just as important.

John
 
John,

Tim Zowada's forges seem to be about the shape that you were describing. I have one and it works very well. Tim has someone cast the the bodies out of refractory cement. Perhaps you could cast one yourself. I seem to recall someone casting a forge around a basketball or football (or something), then letting the air out of the ball when the cement was dry.
 
Chris,

I have used a Tim Zowada forge and they are great. But I am actually describing a vertical forge.

John
 
John,

I guess I just assumed it would be horizontal. What are the advantages or disadvantages of a vertical forge vs. a horizontal forge (in brief because I don't want to hijack your thread).
 
Search Don Fogg's forum for complete answers. Both are good, but vertical keeps your work away from direct flame, off the floor for even heating, and out of the flux if you do damascus.

John
 
John-


This is sort of similar to what I did with my current forge. When I got the pipe for it, it was really bigger than I needed, but I didn't think I could squish it down and get it even. So I welded in two flat panels of 1/8" thick plate before putting the Kaowool in. Once the insulation went in, it was an oval chamber. :thumbup:
 
Nick,

Actually, an early email from you provided some of the inspiration for this--thanks again.

But I figured why even spend the extra time and money with the metal panels and welding when Kaowool board will cost less time and money and provide more insulation? We'll see how it works.

John
 
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