Newbie - building a forge

O

ouztse

Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
8
Hello forum!!

I am a newbie as stated and have been lurking around reading a bunch of posts learning. I have decided to build a forge to give me an opportunity to tinker with. I am using an old hot water heater tank that I cut to 15" long and 16" diameter. I also split it length wise and the plan is to decrease the diameter to 10". That will give me a roughly 6x13 in chamber using 2" inswool. I also want to place a fire brick in the bottom instead of just laying material on the wool. I will be coating the wool in satanite and probably ITC-100 as well. Is the chamber to small for a single burner? Can it be bigger? do I need an opening in the back at this point? How should the nozzle (propane) be positioned? Does it point to the center of the forge or should it come in on the edge of the chamber to swirl the heat? how far into the body does it protrude? I am just wanting to pound on some steel at this point no forge welding at this time.
I know this is a lot of questions and being the type of person that I am I want it to be functional while I learn the basics and maybe be expandable as my skills increase.

Any help, pointers, suggestions and comments welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Eric
 
Eric, welcome to Shop Talk.

This search engine will find lots of info on forge building:
https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=000051236030827549219:_i6taktwi50

The size you gave will run fine on one burner. I highly recommend a back port ( opening). If it is not needed, it can be blocked with a fire brick.

ITC-100 is really good idea, as it will make the forge run better.


BTW, where in VA are you?
 
My store is in Strawbridge Marketplace shopping center. Send me an email and we can get together.
 
What is the name of your store? Do you have a webpage? I would love to stop by and chat if you could.

Eric
 
I just shipped a burner to VA Beach, was that you?

Stacy's shop is called Either Ore Jewelry.
Strawbridge, 2165 General Booth Blvd # 160
Virginia Beach, VA
 
No Not me right now. just starting forge build. taking it slow trying to stick to my plans and it is HOT here right now. I'll have to check out your burners.

Thanks.

Eric
 
Okay a little update on my build. I will try to start uploading pics of the progress also. So I am using a 15" section of a hotwater tank that is 16" in diameter. I cut out an 11" section length wise to reduce the diameter to just under 11". When I tried to weld the tank back together I had problems doing the inside. Let's just note that I am an amateur welder. I scratched my head a bit and then proceeded to weld the outside. The outside looked decent but when I looked on the inside the see what kind of penetration I was getting and noticed a shiny line that corresponded to the weld line. The tank is lined with some kind of glass / ceramic. The next thing to do is cut out the top and bottom of the tank to make the front and rear sections. All I know is that my metal cutting skills need to improve!!! It is good that this doesn't have to be pretty. More to follow...

A couple questions though. What position should the burner come in the chamber at? Directly in the center or along the edge to swirl the heat?

Thanks for reading.

Eric
 
Hey Eric, check out the stickies. There's a big section in there about building forges. If I recall correctly you want the burner to come in on the side, around the 3 o clock position, tilted slightly towards the front. That way the flame swirls around the chamber towards the front. Kinda hard to explain with out pictures. Which there are in the stickies!
 
No problem! I'm going to start building a new forge shortly... I think I'm going to go a bit Gonzo on it and real whip up a nice one! Well as best add my meager abilities will allow at any rate. We can have a build along if you wish! An online one anyway... unless you live in n. California...
 
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