Forge plans

[jonathan creason]

I finally got around to building a 2 brick forge the other day and quickly realized that it's going to take a long time to forge a blade with it.  It just take a long time to heat anything up.  Luckily we had a large trash pickup day this week and while I was out running I noticed my neighbor was throwing out an old propane tank.  Needless to say, it's now sitting at my house.  Does anybody have plans for building a gas forge from a tank like this (preferably with pictures)?

[madness522]

Try   Zoeller forge  for some ideas.

[Jeremy]

The issue with your 2 brick forge isn't the forge chamber size, but the heat source.  A single propane hobby torch isn't going to do much; two would make a difference (I use 2 in my 1 brick miniforge) but still may be too low/slow of a heat for you.  Use a Mapp torch (or two) for more heat and you'll be happy.  Make a 1/2" burner though and you'll likely get up to welding heat pretty quick (and destroy those bricks pretty quick too)  

The Zoeller forge site is a good reference.

[jonathan creason]

I did consider switching to Mapp, Jeremy.  Only problem is, by the time I buy the Mapp torch and a couple of canisters of gas I could have bought many of the parts for building a large forge.  Of course, right now I don't have any plans to build massive blades but one day I might.

I dunno, it's something to consider as the brick forge certainly does fit in the limited space I have right now.

Thanks for the suggestion guys, I'll check that one out.

[madness522]

If you can find a Bernzomatic JTH7 high temp torch it will get plenty hot enough for your 2 brick forge.  I ran one of those in a 1 brick forge until I got an oven and real forge.

[jonathan creason]

Thanks for the suggestion.  There's an Airgas store a half mile from my office, maybe I can find one there.