Two Brick Forge

Please don't "bump" your thread in 10 hours. Doing that too often is a good way to get it locked.

If it sits for a day or two, and you get no response to a question, re-post the question in a more clear way, but just bumping the thread is not good etiquette.
 
The smallest chamber you would want would be 2½", so if you double the bricks, they should be fine. They appear to be soft bricks, which is good.

As for bumping, realize that a lot of people don't read until they get to work in the morning. The traffic on here after 9pm is much lighter than during the day. Be patient and someone will usually respond.
 
Zaph, so would I hollow out the inside of the two inside bricks and put another one on the outside of both sides? Would I go through the inside brick all the way?

Sorry about bumping, I won't do it again. :)
 
The bricks in the link look like they are hard bricks; probably similar to the ones on the right of the photo. The "box" in the photo looks like it is made from soft (insulating) firebrick.
I'd expect 2 problems with the hard brick. First is that they are hard and making a hole for the burner is likely to be a minor challenge (diamond core drill/holesaw?) Second is that they are not insulating and are dense. The lack of insulation means that it'll take a lot of heat input to hold temperature. The density means it'll take a long time to reach temperature in the first place.
Size-wise, 4 of them can be used to make a box 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" x 9" long, with a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" hole through the middle.
 
Reading some of the comments on acehardware.com, it sounded like they are soft bricks. However, I found a site stating they weigh almost 4 lbs. each. That's about twice as heavy as soft bricks, so I'm pretty certain they are hard, non-insulating. I am convinced they are hard bricks that won't work well, if at all, for a forge.

If you check out the links Stacy posted, there are step by step instructions for making a 2 brick forge. The burner shown will attach to your forge exactly the same as a regular torch would, only it would get much hotter. You can also buy burners on eBay that will work much better than a torch.
 
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So how exactly would I use the burner you offered me Zaph? How would I use and connect it? What would I need to make it usable?

Sorry about my newbieness, but I'm trying my best. :)
 
Erd,

The attached pictures may help give you one idea of how to mount the burner. It's probably not the best way, but it took less than ten min. to build
(all from scrap parts I had on hand) and it works!





The burner stand is 2 pcs of aluminum angle iron, a couple of bolts to hold them together, and a u-bolt to hold the burner tube. The weigth of the hard fire bricks hold the burner in place. It couldn't be much simpler than that!

Jeff
 
Iwannashoot said:
Erd,

The attached pictures may help give you one idea of how to mount the burner. It's probably not the best way, but it took less than ten min. to build
(all from scrap parts I had on hand) and it works!





The burner stand is 2 pcs of aluminum angle iron, a couple of bolts to hold them together, and a u-bolt to hold the burner tube. The weigth of the hard fire bricks hold the burner in place. It couldn't be much simpler than that!

Jeff
Click to expand...

nbd5.jpg


So how and what would attach to the forge hole? Would I unscrew the red thing and attach it to the tube somehow?

Zaph, what did you said I would need to make the burner work? What would they do and how would I attach/use them?
 
Erd,

You would need the regulator and hose assembly in the right hand side of Zaph's picture. The fitting on the end of the hose attaches to the male flare fitting on Zaph's burner and the regulator end attaches to your 20lb propane tank. This kind of regulator is used on "fish/turkey fryers" and you can get a replacement at places that sell the burners(I saw one at Bass Pro the last time I was in there.) You don't need to attach the burner to the forge. Just line up the end of the burner tube with the hole in the side of your 2BF and let the flame shoot inside and swirl around the chamber.

Jeff
 
Iwannashoot said:
Erd,

I built one like Zaph's only I used 4 pcs of allthread to hold the bricks together rather than the long screws. I have sucessfully heat treated about a half dozen knives so far, and all have come out fine. I have only done blades made from 1084 as there really is no way to to get a consistant soak at temperature for some of the more complex types of steel.

Also, I found that the standard type of propane torch would not get hot enough to get the blade to non-magnetic, so I built a venturi burner similar to the designs you see on the Web(I used 3/8ths inch pipe and scaled everything down to that size). That burner gets the forge plenty hot to HT simple steel, but I still find it necessary to gently move the knife back and forth inside the forge to even the heat out on the blade. For this reason I personally would hesitate to try heat treating a "large" blade.

Good luck with your build.

Jeff
Click to expand...

I am planning on building a 2BF using zaph1's design. I will use his new burner for the heat source. As to consistent temp, I plan to add a thermocouple to the design to monitor the temp more precisely.
 
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