Trying to figure out appropriate forge size for burner- any help appreciated!

Prometheus · 2006-12-02T04:59:20+00:00

Hello all,I got myself a box of firebricks, and stacked them so that the areainside my little forge was 81 cubic inches. The only burner I haveright now is a plumber's style propane torch- and that's not likely tochange until well after the holliday season, whether I'd like it to ornot. I'm guessing that the volume of the interior is just way too big forwhat I'm doing- it will heat a 1/2" bar to a dull red, but it's evenslower than just holding the torch on it in the open air. The interior dimentions as I've got the bricks stacked are 2" wide,4.5 " high, and 9" deep. I've got a hole drilled at a approx. 30degree angle (pointing slightly upwards, so the tank can sit nearlyupright) in the center of one of the firebricks on the side. Thefirebricks are cheap fireplace liners from Menard's, 4.5" x 9" x 1.5".There are some cracks where air can get in due to the roughness of thebricks, and after a little experimentation, I made an opening of about1.5" x 2" on each end by laying a firebrick on each end. That seemedto work about as well as it was going to work- which is not very well,of course.I'm sure there are some problems with the design that will beimmediately apparent to someone with more experience, so I'm hopingone of you guys will have an idea of how I can tune this up a bit.What I *can* do within my resources and budget is cut the firebrick towhatever size is appropriate for a propane torch forge, and make ametal box out of anything from 11-20 ga. 1018 or 301 stainless thatthe firebrick can slide into- I think I could also manage to get asecond propane or mapp gas torch. hopefully, that's enough to get megoing!Any suggestions, and particularly info related to volume and ventopening sizes will be really appreciated. I'm sure I'll upgrade tosomething better with a real burner and that ceramic insulation soonenough, but I'm just messing around on a budget for now.

J

John Husvar 19 years ago

Yep. The object isn't to make heat: That's easy. It's to keep the heat where you can use it.

There are variations of propane forges and kilns all over the net, from bean can or one brick size, using ordinary propane torches to monster furnaces that can melt pounds of bronze, using burners maybe more suited to industrial tasks. :)

I built my two-burner tube forge from plans on Dave Wilson's site.

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I built the Plan 2 forge.

It's served me well for somewhere around ten years with only minor repairs like relining now and then. I've welded no few pattern welded billets in it. When I quite making long things, I turned off one burner and blocked one half of the forge with some Kaowool blanket. Still works fine.

If I decide to play a bit, I'll see about building a lighter version or maybe a toaster forge this Winter.

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spaco 19 years ago

The one inch thick firebricks from the farm stores work okay for this duty. They are cheap and easily replaceable. Some people lay them on top of the kaowool at the bottom. That's where I put the joint anyway. Some people put the firebrick on the bottom of the forge first and then run the kaowool up to it. If you make the "pipe" forge that's on my website, the pipe is 18 inches long, so two of those 9 inch long firebricks fit without trimming.

Pete Stanaitis

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Steve Smith 19 years ago

I'm trying something different on the forge I'm making this winter. I cut my tube into a half cylinder and I'm going to lay it on a flat floor of brick. I'm thinking (hoping) that coating the Durablanket with Satanite will make it rigid enough to stay up. The edges will have a small piece of angle to hold the Durablanket.

Steve

spaco wrote:

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alvinj 19 years ago

Never thought about it. :) I guess I should call for their specs and prices and post it. :)

Alvin in AZ

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Martin H. Eastburn 19 years ago

Some guys gets all of the breaks!

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

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BradK 19 years ago

Alvin,

Remember, the Post Office has the 'flat rate Priority' boxes -- all you can stuff, up to 70 pounds, for $8 or $9 shipping. Two sizes of boxes.

Brad K.

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Chilla 19 years ago

God I wish we had those in Australia! Everything goes by weight through national post and, by weight & dimensions though international :-(

Regards Charles

BradK wrote:

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alvinj 19 years ago

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The prices are...

"K23" (2300F) $3.85 and are the light weight and light colored ones shown.

Standard "heavy" firebricks (also seen there as the dark yellow ones) are $1.46 each.

"K26" (2600F) $5.00 and are quite abit heavier than the light weight ones and are the only other firebricks they carry anymore they've dropped -at least- two others since I bought mine. At that time the K23's were $2.45 and the stardards were 75c (seems like).

I sure as heck don't know which type a guy needs for forging! :/ You guys tell me so we'll both know. ;)

2300F too low a temp for forging?

Meant to go by there yesterday and stood in Lowes parking lot thinking "what else was it I was wanting to do? :/"

Going by there I could have learned more about 'em like weights and other sources etc.

Anyway... how's those prices? :/

Alvin in AZ ps- my girlfriend is behind holding up the cardboard to hide all the other really "good" stuff I got, no she ain't naked, if she was naked I wouldn't have been bothering with pictures of my stupid pile of bricks!

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