Two brick forge advice

S

sparrow75

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Mar 22, 2009
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I started building two brick forge and would appreciate some advices from members that have experience with these type of forges. I searched a bit and found all of these different variants of "chambering" the bricks. Which one would be better? Currently my bricks are shaped like D on the drawing. bellow is drawing of the position and angle of the burner hole ( 1/3 from the back end of the chamber )

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Carved bricks

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I fired up the forge and get a nice swirling and uniform heat on test piece of steel,but couldn't even bring the forge to heat to pass non magnetic. Maybe it will, but it took good amount of time and torch begin to heat up worryingly. I used one of these hand-held torches which work on camp stove type cartridges.. is that too weak flame for this? I am considering taking of the burner and putting it on longer pipe with valve connecting via hose to bigger tank. Or to build some type of burner? Flame pattern is like this

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If i put the burner inside the hole it would go out, so i found out that this is the best it can do

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I must say that this is all very temporary setup ( i had to try :rolleyes: ), as i plan to reinforce the bricks better and also to build steel pipe-type :D forge.
To resume: Chamber shape, burner type, position and angle of the hole?
Thanks for taking time to read
 
I had the same problem with heat until I coated the bricks with refractory. I used satanite first then covered that with ITC100.

With the small burner, you'll need as much heat reflection as you can get.
 
I made mine like Charles, but i had the same issues as you. I switched over to a Benzomatic TS4000 torch head which made a huge difference. Also, you may want to enlarge the burner hole as you line it with satanite or fire place cement the torch wont fit.

-Xander
 
No, sometimes also called a weed burner, like a long pipe and burner attached to a propane can, venturi burner essentially. Mine has a small nozzle, which is the only reason it worked.

A great burner for the 2 brick is the Magna Industries MT245C. Solid brass, big long flame.
 
Thanks, i will look up for something similar to Bernzomatic or Magma. is the full or partially opened back end of the forge desirable for something other than accommodating larger blades, is it affecting heat retaining? Also can blade be putted on the bottom of the forge or is it better when suspended "mid air" somehow?
 
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I don't know about heat retention, I just want it for longer blades. And just putting on the bottom is fine, though I wish I had something that supported them vertically on edge, just because its easier for me to to grab pieces with the tongs
 
I've searched, this thread seems to come closest to answering my question about torch hole placement. The first photo of drawings - how did that placement work out? Aiming across top and at angle?

How about size of hole in front and rear? I've got the bricks and am ready to make a mess carving them later today.

Thanks!
 
I just measured, the front hole is 1,5 x 2 inches, and back 1 x 1,5.. i think that a little larger holes would be fine, if not even better. Torch hole placement works good, nice swirl and decent even-ish heat on blades up to 4 inches in length, but still the best when the blade is moved forward and backward a little through the chamber
 
Thanks! I'm off to spread dust everywhere :) I found a source for bricks just up the road so I can always make another if I find I made it irreparably wrong. Not sure that is easy to do but knowing me, I'll find out! That's part of the fun, of course.
 
I still have not been able to find any of these bricks other than online. And the ones I found online were cheap but shipping was crazy. I have been to three different fireplace stores and four Home Depots and nobody seems to have the damn things in Canada.
 
sparrow75 said:
I just measured, the front hole is 1,5 x 2 inches, and back 1 x 1,5.. i think that a little larger holes would be fine, if not even better. Torch hole placement works good, nice swirl and decent even-ish heat on blades up to 4 inches in length, but still the best when the blade is moved forward and backward a little through the chamber
Click to expand...

Any chance of a pic or two of your "sorted" setup? Particularly the torch and it's hole, as I have a feeling it's the most important bit.
 
Grayzer86 said:
I still have not been able to find any of these bricks other than online. And the ones I found online were cheap but shipping was crazy. I have been to three different fireplace stores and four Home Depots and nobody seems to have the damn things in Canada.
Click to expand...

Grayzer,

I live in a part of the world that just does not have a use for much fire brick. I did six or eight google searches before I found a guy locally who repairs kilns. When I called him he ended up giving me some used brick that he had taken out of kilns in for repair. I know it is a long shot, but look for kilns, kiln repair, pottery kilns(thy use the same bricks).

Good luck in your search.

Jeff

If you do end up with used brick, get alot more than you think you need as they get kinda crumbly after all those heat cycles
 
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All torches are not built the same. In fact, some are very poor while others are very good. I recently got a thermocouple to test with, and tried the two torches I had close by. The Bernzomatic was a self-igniting model that puts out a decent flame. Both temps were measured through the back slot on of my my Atlas Mini forges. The results speak for themselves.

regular torch (Bernzomatic) rear of chamber 1220°
MT245C torch rear of chamber 1490°
MT245C max temperature of forged steel 1864°
forgetemp.jpg
 
timgunn1962 said:
Any chance of a pic or two of your "sorted" setup? Particularly the torch and it's hole, as I have a feeling it's the most important bit.
Click to expand...

Well.. you can hardly call this sorted :), but here it is.

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I don't think that I will be doing any more improvements on this setup, as i hope to build a little bigger forge in near future. One good thing about this kind of arrangement is that you can somewhat control the atmosphere in the chamber and angle of the flame by simply moving the bricks on their stand ( careful, they get hot )
 
Grayzer86 said:
I still have not been able to find any of these bricks other than online. And the ones I found online were cheap but shipping was crazy. I have been to three different fireplace stores and four Home Depots and nobody seems to have the damn things in Canada.
Click to expand...


I just checked shipping to Canada via USPS and yeah, it is costly. The minimum price is for a box that can't fit even one because of the 2lbs limit - my 2600 degree bricks weigh 2.5 lbs each: $19

Next up is a box with 20 lbs limit for around $40 but they only hold three bricks

I think you'll do better finding some in Canada if not actually locally.
 
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So you like the location of the flame hole? A bit toward the rear and off center toward the top, angled to the front? This is the only build I've found in searching that addressed the placement in terms of all three of those aspects. Most just stick it in the middle, a bunch put it near the top, some place it toward the front or rear, none angle it that I've seen.

Thanks for sharing your results!
 
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