Vertical forge observations

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
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well I got the vertical forge all welded up and got it lined with wool. I thought i would post my observations so far of it. first off its very easy to build, where my other one seamed harder but maybe not. next, the vertical forge is so much easier to line with wool and give it its coatings. that is something that made me very happy as i have dreaded relining my other forge. i thought it would have been about the same as my horizontal but it was a peace of cake. Also the vortex action of the flame seems to be much nicer then in my other forge. my other forge is round inside and it works great but man the flame swirl in the vertical is just mesmerizing. I think it is because the heat wants to go up and so it makes a nice rising vortex of heat. Now the forge is not done, I gave it its first coat of Satanite let it dry for a little bit and fired it up with the top off. a few little cracks showed up which i expected. but holly cow it came right up to temp fast and i mean fast. I then let it cool down and then i put another layer of Satanite on the liner and i am letting it dry as we speak. the floor and roof is Insboard as i had enough left over from my other forge to make it work. the roof is made from 2 peaces and the floor is like 5 or so. but the floor is covered with satanite and then its getting a thick coating of Bubble Alumina as i will be using flux in this sucker. so i really have not put her through her paces but i will and i will keep you posted. I just am really happy with how simple a vertical is compared to my horizontal. Pictures will be coming soon.
 
Sounds good.

Five layers of Insuboard,plus stanite, plus bubble alumina is a bit overkill for the floor.....but it wouldn't be a JT forge if something wasn't a bit OCD.
Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
Sounds good.

Five layers of Insuboard,plus stanite, plus bubble alumina is a bit overkill for the floor.....but it wouldn't be a JT forge if something wasn't a bit OCD.
Stacy
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Sorry about the mix up. the floor and roof are only 1" thick but took a few pieces to make them up as i did not have one whole chunk of fiber board. just look at the thickness of the pipe its kinda over kill. i will post pictures in the morning when i head back to work.
 
Just yankin' your chain, JT.:D
The patchwork floor makes a lot more sense, though.

Stacy
 
JTknives said:
even without the insulation on the floor? what is the normal operating temp of the outside shell with one inch of wool.
Click to expand...

I've heard of folks leaving the floors open completely. Heat rises I guess? I wouldn't do it myself, but to each his own.

I'd insulate the floor and then pile on the kitty litter to catch flux. FWIW, you just want plain old fashioned clay kitty litter like you use to soak up garage spills, none of this auto clumping with flavor crystals stuff :D

-d
 
deker said:
I've heard of folks leaving the floors open completely. Heat rises I guess? I wouldn't do it myself, but to each his own.

I'd insulate the floor and then pile on the kitty litter to catch flux. FWIW, you just want plain old fashioned clay kitty litter like you use to soak up garage spills, none of this auto clumping with flavor crystals stuff :D

-d
Click to expand...

so i dont want the stuff that has a good smell to it :D. so then to test it you you lift up the lid of the forge and add one cat and start the forge up ;)
 
1" of wool covered with cat litter works great in the bottom of these. It's a 'trash can forge'.
After 3 years or so, I remove the melted together mass of wool clay, 2-3 boxes of borax
from the bottom and replace.
 
Don Hanson III said:
1" of wool covered with cat litter works great in the bottom of these. It's a 'trash can forge'.
After 3 years or so, I remove the melted together mass of wool clay, 2-3 boxes of borax
from the bottom and replace.
Click to expand...

thats what i'm planning on doing.

man it comes up to temp fast. i set it to 1.5 psi and i hit 2100 deg in less then 5 min and it was nice and even. this style of forge is then next best thing to sliced bread. if the shell is warmed up and everything is around 500 deg i can hit 2100 in like 2 min. it is just amazing that's all i have to say. also i am getting a more complete burn as the gas has time to burn before it leaves the forge. I am very happy with it. i will post some pictures of it later tonight.
 
I know a fair number of great smiths eschew all things vertical in heating implements, but I concur, sir. When I built my first vertical pipe forge I immediately liked it better for bladesmithing and especially welding. The only thing that sucks sometimes is not having a floor to rest a workpiece on for general blacksmithing, but that's merely a great reason to have two or more forges.
 
Salem Straub said:
I know a fair number of great smiths eschew all things vertical in heating implements, but I concur, sir. When I built my first vertical pipe forge I immediately liked it better for bladesmithing and especially welding. The only thing that sucks sometimes is not having a floor to rest a workpiece on for general blacksmithing, but that's merely a great reason to have two or more forges.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking of getting a piece of kiln shelf and spanning the 2 openings and then presto i have a floor.

I can not help my self and i keep starting it up to let it run. now i am doing a low burn to see how little propane i can use, and i must say i am really shocked. I have the psi set to right on 1psi and the needle valve just cracked open to sustain a flame. it is just purring along and is sitting at 2050 deg right now and it seams to be slowly be going up. it is using so little gas right now its just amazing, like i said the needle valve is open just enough to let gas out if you where to close it any more the gas flow would stop. My other forge would not even hold a flame with this little gas let alone hit 2000 deg.
 
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Sounds like a good idea. Curious to hear how that works out. I still need to have at LEAST ten different forges, though. Maybe I should become a forgemaker instead.:D
 
Salem Straub said:
Sounds like a good idea. Curious to hear how that works out. I still need to have at LEAST ten different forges, though. Maybe I should become a forgemaker instead.:D
Click to expand...

I have become a maker of knife tools :rolleyes:. And just a little bit ago i said i was done and was not going to make any more. o well what can you do. I have been thinking of connecting a co2 flow meter onto my propane line to see what my flow rate actually is. co2 is close to the density of propane so it can give me an idea what I'm burning.
 
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JTknives said:
also i am getting a more complete burn as the gas has time to burn before it leaves the forge.
Click to expand...

Just remember, if you're burning completely inside the forge, your atmosphere is oxidizing and it will make welding difficult. You want a nice orange flame a couple of inches long exiting the forge door. When that's the case you know that all of the free oxygen inside the forge is getting burned since some fuel has to exit the
forge to burn....

-d
 
here are the pictures, all the steel is like 3/8" as thats all i could find at the time. I still need to find a way to attach the lid but for now gravity works great.

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