DIY Gas powered Forge

[LandyAndy]

Hi Guys.
I have always wanted to mess with a forge,my boy is very much into that sort of thing.
I have 6 brake drums off one of the shire trucks.Lindsay asked if he could have a couple for a forge.
He was talking wood/charcoal fired I suggested LPG as its safer in summer and easily controled.
Anybody got such a beast??? Pics please.
Andrew

[Vern]

Mate of mine made his own gas powered forge for making knives. Will see if I can get some details for you.
He made me a sweet little knife from a whiltshire file, gee its sharp.:)

[LandyAndy]

Mate of mine made his own gas powered forge for making knives. Will see if I can get some details for you.
He made me a sweet little knife from a whiltshire file, gee its sharp.:)

Vern.
My boy is into knives big time.He has been making them from Landy leaf springs.
He has made a few for his mates as 18th birthday presents.
Cheers
Andrew

[roversmith]

Melting Furnace (home made) - SmokStak (http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php't=90056)

Andrew, came across this. Hope it is of some help.

Cheers Greg

[Slunnie]

We do, its LPG powered also (Town gas, might be natural???). Hasn't been used in years and years - not enough heat.

[crash]

Try and look at some of the knife or blacksmithing forums for forge ideas.
Roversmith link is the correct concept but what you want to do for a forge is turn it on its side and have the burner come in from the top or side.
When it comes to melting metal and propane fired forge you must have a well insulated furnace to keep the heat in and bring up a high enough temp. If you have say an "open" forge like the old days of blacksmithing using coal you will lose too much heat and take a very long time to bring your metal up to temp.
Propane burners are very easy to make. If you really want to get some heat (in the correctly designed furnace can melt cast iron) is the use of waste oil.

[Ratel10mm]

Get on Blacksmithing Forum | I Forge Iron (http://www.iforgeiron.com) & look for Corin's posts. There's not a lot he doesn't know about gas.
For knives, there's a local forum:
Australian Blade Forums (http://www.australianbladeforums.com)

And lots of excellent information on both:
BritishBlades - Home (http://www.britishblades.com)
Bladesmith's Forum Board (http://forums.dfoggknives.com/)
And also BladeForums.com (http://www.bladeforums.com)

There are plenty of other fora, but these are the ones I visit most frequently.

A solid fuel forge works perfectly well, I haven't noticed any great difference in the time taken to hear metal, however coke or charcoal seem hard to find in most of Oz. Gas has another advantage in that it's easier to see what's happening to the steel - useful when forge welding.

There's many more blacksmiths & hobbyists than you'd think, so there may well be a club near you - have a look in the relevant section of IFI.

[Bigbjorn]

If you are making sword or knife blades in the traditional way from wrought iron by repeated firing, hammering, laminating and or plaiting, then a coke or charcoal forge is essential. The carbon from the burning fuel is hammered in as the laminations/plaits are hammer welded together repeatedly and the wrought iron is turned into steel.

[LandyAndy]

Here are some of his knives.That cannon he made on his lathe,its 35mm long,and fires ball bearings with his own homemade black powder.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/10/1740.jpg
Andrew

[Ratel10mm]

Nice work. :)
Get him onto those forums, he'll be most welcome.

Had another thought re. gas forges. If you're going induced air, not forced, they tend to be much harder to get right (apparently. I haven't made one yet). One suggestion I liked the sound of was to use a weed burner. It has been done successfully by a BB member as I recall. The other idea if you need something a bit larger is a roofing burner. Tar impregnated sheeting is a common way of waterproofing flat roofs in the UK & these things are common there.
It saves all the aggro of setting up your own home made burner.
And a BBQ regulator will not give enough flow for a forge. You'll need a regulator with a needle valve.

All in all, if you can source Charcoal (not briquettes) coal or coke locally, a solid fuel forge will get you going more cheaply than a gas forge in my opinion. My portable come forge follows the '55' forge design & cost me nothing but $5 for a brake drum, time & a couple of welds to make.
The rest was scrap or to hand.

[Vern]

Tried to get photo's tonight for you, but my phone not work with the flash, stupid phone. Gas forge was quite simple, he did however import the gas torch thingy from the states, it was about $100, full venturi jobby. His knives are quite impressive.

[Landy Smurf]

nice work there. this is something i would love to have ago at. there is an old blacksmiths workshop near my grandparents i have not been in there for ages but i know there is massive bellows in there

[rick130]

All the farriers I know have portable forges on the back of their utes/trailers for hot working horse shoes.

Whether they are hot enough for what you want ?

I think they should be as the farrier that lived around the corner was messing around with knives, etc too as a bit of a hobby. John only moved a few months ago, but we discussed a few times about using old saw chain to make Damascus type blades too.

[crash]

If you are making sword or knife blades in the traditional way from wrought iron by repeated firing, hammering, laminating and or plaiting, then a coke or charcoal forge is essential. The carbon from the burning fuel is hammered in as the laminations/plaits are hammer welded together repeatedly and the wrought iron is turned into steel.

That is true, to get more carbon in is to use cow or horse hoove trimmings while firing (old blacksmithing trick). This trick can be used with mild steels as well
An up wind burner is the most simplist burner to make, or if you want more control a Reil type burner. Both are easy to make.
As mentioned before a BBQ fregulator does not work, need a regulator like the ones used for Oxy sets (remeber a LPG bottle is left hand threads)
If going gas and using bottles get the biggest bottle you can, the small 5kg bottles will freeze up (keping them in a bucket of H2O helps)
Using Waste oil will give alot more heat than gas but messier and could be a free fuel source.

[LandyAndy]

All the farriers I know have portable forges on the back of their utes/trailers for hot working horse shoes.

Whether they are hot enough for what you want ?

I think they should be as the farrier that lived around the corner was messing around with knives, etc too as a bit of a hobby. John only moved a few months ago, but we discussed a few times about using old saw chain to make Damascus type blades too.

Lindsay has tried to make a knife out of saw chain but couldnt get it quite hot enough.He has managed to fuse normal link chain.
Andrew

[LandyAndy]

He now says the truck drums are too big and need too much heat.He has started making another LPG jet out of 38mm tube,something he got off the net.
He does have a smaller LPG forge he made a whislt ago,couldnt get the heat into it due the the bbq reg.

I would still like to see pics of any of your forges,as I said in my original post,its something that has always interested me,just never had the time to chase it up.

He has most of the bits saved up for some sort of jet motor he was designing.It includes 2 turbo chargers feeding one another as the turbine:):):):):):) He hasnt talked about that project for some time,must remind him:cool::cool::cool::cool:

Andrew

[crash]

He now says the truck drums are too big and need too much heat.He has started making another LPG jet out of 38mm tube,something he got off the net.
He does have a smaller LPG forge he made a whislt ago,couldnt get the heat into it due the the bbq reg.

I would still like to see pics of any of your forges,as I said in my original post,its something that has always interested me,just never had the time to chase it up.

He has most of the bits saved up for some sort of jet motor he was designing.It includes 2 turbo chargers feeding one another as the turbine:):):):):):) He hasnt talked about that project for some time,must remind him:cool::cool::cool::cool:

Andrew
Sounds like an upwind burner, go to burner engineering on this site AlloyAvenue network (http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/forum.php) this will get him heat and also how to make some refratory (insulation) to keep the heat in. If the brake drums are not insulated you will lose to much heat into the drums themselves.

[Tombie]

Just make sure he fits flashback arrestors...

Unlikely, but it can result in explosion...

Please be safe.

[Vern]

Andy, i'll get my mate to send me some pics of his forge, reckons it gets real hot. He likes making his knives out of things like files, coil springs etc...
I'll get a pic of some of his work as well.
He made a nice little knife the other day, someone offered him $400 for it. Makes me appreciate the one he made for me so much more now knowing what it could be worth.:)

[LandyAndy]

He has built another burner,it goes well but neets a proper LPG welding reg as it flames out too easy.
Toombie,I will ensure he gets a flashbak fitting too.
Andrew

[LandyAndy]

Andy, i'll get my mate to send me some pics of his forge, reckons it gets real hot. He likes making his knives out of things like files, coil springs etc...
I'll get a pic of some of his work as well.
He made a nice little knife the other day, someone offered him $400 for it. Makes me appreciate the one he made for me so much more now knowing what it could be worth.:)

Lindsay has made several knives for his mates as 18th birthday presents,they looked a million bucks.
He has tried making a sword but hasnt got the heat to do the whole blade yet.
Andrew

[crash]

He has built another burner,it goes well but neets a proper LPG welding reg as it flames out too easy.
Toombie,I will ensure he gets a flashbak fitting too.
Andrew
Can you post pics of his burner and forge set up.

[bee utey]

My sister in law fires her pottery kiln with LPG so I looked up kiln burners on goggle:


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/10/1341.jpg

Ceramic Burners (http://www.combust.com.au/ceramics/ceramics.htm)

[Phil HH]

It's pretty easy to make your own burner. I forget where I got my information from, but it was on the net somewhere. I used a MIG wire nozzle as a metering jet, and dispensed with the inconvenience of a regulator altogether (probably dangerous). The oven is a horizontal section of oxy bottle lined with fire brick and 'refractory', a sort of soft fireproof plaster of paris. The burner fires down through a hole at the 2 o'clock position. This oven is handy for small jobs when it would be inconvenient to fire up the coke-fuelled hearth, as the heat-up time is much shorter. (I try to use the term 'forge' to describe the whole work area, like the term 'workshop' - this terminology comes from an old blacksmith).


Oh, by the way, if you build one of these watch out for the wafts of flame that come out the front.

[Phil HH]

You may find this site useful ....


Forge and Burner Design Page #1 (http://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml)


or
BP0192 Gas Forge - 100 Series - Articles - Articles - I Forge Iron (http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/blueprints/100-series/bp0192-gas-forge-r416)

[Bigbjorn]

It's pretty easy to make your own burner. I forget where I got my information from, but it was on the net somewhere. I used a MIG wire nozzle as a metering jet, and dispensed with the inconvenience of a regulator altogether (probably dangerous). The oven is a horizontal section of oxy bottle lined with fire brick and 'refractory', a sort of soft fireproof plaster of paris. The burner fires down through a hole at the 2 o'clock position. This oven is handy for small jobs when it would be inconvenient to fire up the coke-fuelled hearth, as the heat-up time is much shorter. (I try to use the term 'forge' to describe the whole work area, like the term 'workshop' - this terminology comes from an old blacksmith).


Oh, by the way, if you build one of these watch out for the wafts of flame that come out the front.

The "whole work area" of a blacksmith is the smithy. The forge is the bed of coke with a bellows or blower wherein the metal is heated. A friend did his apprenticeship as a blacksmith at Evans Deakin South Brisbane the same time I was apprenticed as a Fitter-machinist. He tells me he grew to hate jackhammer and chipping hammer points as the apprentices had the job of re-pointing them by the 44 gallon drum full. I met him as young tradesmen doing casual work on the ED's ship repair gang. He left the trade due to lack of work and much later undertook extra studies to become a farrier. He made enough from this to buy a motel. He points out that a farrier is not a blacksmith unless apprenticed as one but many blacksmiths acted as farriers particularly in country towns. A proper farrier studies horses legs and feet to be able to create shoes that will correct deficiencies.