Forge pics / ideas

[J CARPY]

I am wanting to build / buy a forge, and would like some ideas. If anyone has any ideas pictures / plans what ever it will help. I saw Little Johnnie, (by the way Lin good video thanks)and maybe that would be a good route to take.

[Lin Rhea]

I sent you an email Joe. I saw Johnny this evening at a local event and he is still making them. His is hard to beat. Lin

[J CARPY]

Thanks Lin, I am very interested in that.

[tippit]

I'll second that!  My little forge from Johnny is just a perfect set up for blades...Doc

[Bobby Urban]

Can I use Bing and find this forge?  Pics?  Info?

Thanks guys

Oops - Just saw Lin's sticky post above.  I am not always the sharpest knife in the drawer.  

Happy New year to all

[J CARPY]

I am working on a budget. I think I can get most of the material, I need to know some specs. such as where and how much air/gas to install What type of burner How to vent? And mistakes, not to do. I don't have any hair to burn off. LOL. Does anyone have a drawing?

[Lin Rhea]

Email sent Bobby

[Cody D Works]

I looked into building a gas forge but the Kaowool nixed that idea for me I cant afford the Kaowool :/ My brother in law has a perfect size pipe for one too.

[gudspelr]

I'm in the process of building my first one right now.  Started off with the idea of doing a forced air vertical forge, but it's changed quite a bit since then for various reasons...

Got an old gas cylinder from the junkyard about 10" (exterior) diameter for a horizontal venturi forge.  Bought all the black pipe fittings for a 2 burner setup and am using MIG tips to get the propane in (it's a medley of other burner ideas I've seen).  There's a pottery supply place around here that sells ceramic blanket and refractory cement, bricks, etc.

I'm definitely on a budget at the moment and it's taking me longer than I'd like, but will hopefully have a decent forge when it all comes together.  Good luck to you-look around at a lot of the forges and you'll get some good ideas of how you can do it.  Lin and the other guys on here are a huge help, too.

Jeremy

[gables]

J Carpy-
You might find some ideas here on how others have made thier forges.

 http://www.zoellerforge.com/

I slowly pieced mine together fairly cheap. I spent about $125 total. I started with an 11gal air tank from Harbor Freight. I bought my blower fan online from Surplus Center. The forge is lined with the protective wool and satanite. I have some fire bricks in the bottom. I bought a kit for the burner but would recommend you buy the parts from a hardware store. Feel free to PM me if I can help.

[Cody D Works]

yep been reading that site for the past thirty minutes.

[J CARPY]

Thanks for the site I have been sitting here studying it has some good information. What is the big difference between atmospheric forge and a forced air forge? Where would you put air into one of these forges?

[Cody D Works]

Forced air has a blower atmospheric pulls air in with the gas I believe. Forced air is more efficient I believe.

Not a pro but this is what I have read.

[gudspelr]

Look at Karl Anderson's vertical forge pics on this page:

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=110;t=001246#000006

I like the simplicity of the gas delivery system a lot in this style of forge-just a needle valve.  Get a squirrel cage blower (found a cheap bathroom fan that'd work, too) on the end of the pipe, hook it all together and there you have it.  He's got some great pictures where you can see all the parts/valves he's using.


Jeremy

[Wampus]

I built the Don Fogg vertical forge several years ago and really like it.  I've tried a horizontal version using the same burner and it doesn't heat as evenly and it uses more gas.

 http://www.dfoggknives.com/forge.htm

[Cody D Works]

Does anyone have some extra Soft firebrick they want to get rid of? lol i have one of the weed burner assemblies i could use for a simple forge.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Here is a thought.  Buy a really cheap used charcoal forge off Craigslist for $5 to $20.  Set up a cheap squirrel cage burner off craigslist as a blower to provide forced air into the charcoal.  Use this system as an inexpensive forge until you can put together the funds for a propane forge.

Thousands of blacksmiths forged using charcoal for millenia.  If you have a forested area that burned near you and it is legal you can harvest all the charcoal you need for the price of gas to get there to pick it up.  

Charcoal is trickier than propane to work with and get uniform heats.  It will work great with some practice and can be done on the cheap.

That or make a small pan forge with modified mud ash mix and a home made propane line burner.  There are a lot of cheap options available for the short term.  Do some serious web research and you will get a lot of ideas.  Once your making knives that look good, lots of folks will trade you materials, work, and other things for one of your knives.

[J CARPY]

Thanks a lot. I have been looking at the internet at a few. I think I have the basic idea of what I need. I will go back to work and see what I can scrounge up.I am from south La. sounds like I need to hook up a crawfish burner to a piece of insulated pipe? Sorry I kept looking for Clay's response, did not realize there were 2 pages.LOL! I'm sure I'll ask again once I have parts.