Forge Build

[digger doug]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

Think those are way out of my price range...

I meant for you to build one like or similar…..

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by digger doug

I meant for you to build one like or similar…..

You're like the wife, you should have said so...

[digger doug]

Not me...I would improve it.

The foot pedal that raises the top insulating bar, I would make it in sections
(1 firebrick for each section).
So you stomp on the pedal, up goes the main bar, raising each section
(use some 3/8 chain here, short pieces 6" long maybe) and put piece in/on/over slot with fire.

Slowly let bar down, some firebricks go all the way down, others rest on top
of piece, each sort of roughly molding around the part to keep as much heat in as possible.

Also, not a single long row, make a front and back row to work with ends of bars (piece in back of bar end will go all the way down.)

[Bubba]

Way, way back when I was in IL. I found this place.

ARMIL C.F.S., Inc.
15660 LaSalle Street
South Holland, IL 60473

Phone: 708.339.6810
Fax: 708.339.0517
Toll Free: 800.565.0306

Look around on their site they have different shapes and sizes of
bricks. It's a crematorium supply place.

[Bubba]

Forget the site: https://www.armilcfs.com/

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Bubba

Forget the site: https://www.armilcfs.com/

Walter,

Thank you sir, and not too far away! I will call them tomorrow.

[Matt Shade]

Originally Posted by digger doug

I always thought this one would be handy for all the various work I see
around here:
https://mifco.com/forging-furnaces/f...h-slot-forges/

I got to use a forge very similar to that in the welding lab at college. For some jobs they are really nice, for others they are just a pain in the ass. I have heard they are not very efficient to run either but the school's were hard piped to the buildings natural gas so there was no way for me to know how much gas they used.

If you wanted to heat small parts you had to leave them clamped in a set of tongs and leave the tongs in the forge/on the hearth as there isn't anyway to put small parts in without them dropping down inside onto the burner and its hell to dig them out with the fire going. The professor was not happy at how fast the tongs got burnt up and worn out.

If a guy wanted to make a run of simple things like gate hooks or cold chisels you could stage 3 or 4 parts across the forge and have somewhat of an assembly line going . It worked well for having a 16 students sharing 2 forges, but I wouldn't want one of these in my home shop.

[digger doug]

Tnx for the write up Matt, I've always wondered about those.

I'm used to seeing a local forge shop (as you drive by they got the doors open)
and have the "pigeonhole" style furnaces for the ends of bars.

[Matt Shade]

Originally Posted by digger doug

Tnx for the write up Matt, I've always wondered about those.

I'm used to seeing a local forge shop (as you drive by they got the doors open)
and have the "pigeonhole" style furnaces for the ends of bars.

The vertical set up like the one you linked makes it work a bit like a coal forge in that you can lay a piece across the firebox and heat just a section of it similar to the way you lay a piece in a coal forge and it mainly heats it right over the blower where the fire is concentrated. It didn't really lend itself well to laying a piece down in the firebox, you always bridged it or held the part in tongs and used that to dangle it over the firebox ala roasting marshmallows on a stick.

I think its a rather specialized set up. If you were making fence pickets with twisted baskets or something and wanted to lay 6 of them across there and just heat where you were putting the twists it would be awesome. If you were making horseshoes there is nothing to sit them on while they are heating and you either have to leave your tongs in there with a band on the handles holding them shut or go fishing all the time.

I think a traditional forge with a cylindrical firebox and adjustable doors on the ends is the most versatile, especially if you can put a big enough shelf on the font of it to hold up longer bars.

[allessence]

My old mankel blown forge was a bottom burner. I made it into a top burner for that very reason.

firebrick the hard stuff takes a very long time to heat up in a forge..

the newer light bricks heat up fast as does Koawool coated with a product.


I'm found of blown forges myself from a gas savings stand point..

Induced forges do use quite a bit of gas, but they have also come a long ways.

today a homemade forge can out heat a factory made one pretty easy and can be custom shaped for nearly anything.

Shade still waiting on more photos.