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New Forge Construction Page 2

Monday, October 6th, 2003
Day 5: Legs mounted; shells done.

I mounted the legs today, so the shell is basically done. Tomorrow I will start on the stand. I wasn't real happy with the last one. It was pretty much thrown together as an afterthought 2 days before the Ojai faire. This time I will take the time to make the legs all the same length, and other little details like that. :)

The leg is just a piece of 1 1/2" angle cut out to hold the shell.	I weld it at the bottom, and along the curve in front.	The forge sits nicely on a table or in the stand I will build.
Here are some shots of the finished shell. I will probably add a piece of angle down the length on each side between the 2 current legs so that I can mount the plumbing to it. I may also add some type of handle to it down low so that it is easier to lift. The last one had a handle up on the top, but it was so high that it was hard to lift the thing.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2003
Day 6: Main plumbing installed

Well it's finally starting to really look like a propane forge. I installed most of the plumbing tonight. The burners should be here in a few days I hope. I am going to be going crazy once it's actually ready, but still waiting on the burners. I still need to build the stand tomorrow. That should keep me busy for a day or two, but then I will start to go nuts. I'm just not a patient man sometimes.

Here you can see the piece of angle iron I welded between the legs.	I cut 2 tabs of 2" wide flat stock and welded them to the angle iron so I could then mount the plumbing to them.	Here is another shot of the plumbing mounts. Be sure to put your plumbing together before welding these on. I then held the plumbing in place so I would know where to add the tabs.
Here is the plumbing as I have it labeled now so you know what's what.	The 2 burners and all of the 1/4" tubing has to still be added.	I haven't decided what kind of handles to add so I can move it easier. I will probably wait till I am all done to add them.

Thursday, October 9th, 2003
Day 8: Top of the stand done

I built the top of the stand and the stock rest tonight. I'll be adding to it tomorrow, and should be done with the whole thing by Saturday. The stand will be 1 1/2' angle iron and the stock rest is 1" .060 tubing with 3/4" tubing running through it.

Here is the top of the stand with the beginning of the stock holder in place.	The holder on the first forge was an afterthought. This one is set up so I can use it from either direction.	Here is a close up of the set screw for the stock rest. When you weld the nut onto the tubing make sure you have a bolt stuck through it so that it won't lose shape, and it will be centered in the hole.
		I'll be putting the legs on tomorrow, and also adding to the stock rest. I am really itching to get the burners. I am expecting them any day now.
Here is the stand top with the forge on it.	Here it is with the plumbing put back on as well. I added the needle valve and by-pass tube yesterday.

Friday, October 10th, 2003
Day 8: The Stand is done

I finished the stand today except for painting it. I ran out of paint on Tuesday, so I will make a trip to Home Depot tomorrow to get some more. I use flat black BBQ paint. I made the stand a little taller that it probably should be, so I think I will be taking about 4 or 5 inches off the bottoms of the legs tomorrow. Right now the opening in front is right about neck height. I wanted it high so I didn't have to bend over to see in, but I don't want the heat hitting me right in the face as I work it. My last one hit about chest high, and I think I will shoot for that again. I'm also thinking about adding some kind of rack to the side to hold tongs, but I'm not sure. I may work it for a while and see how I like it.

Well, here's the stand. I added a shelf under it for laying tongs etc. It also stabilizes the legs. I'm thinking of adding a loop along one side of 1/8" x1" flat stock so I can hang tongs on it.
Here it is with the forge on it. I'm really going nuts waiting for the burners. They should be here tomorrow or Monday, but I want them now.

Tuesday, October 14th, 2003
Day 9: The Stand is really done now.

I added pads to the bottom of the legs so that I can add wheels later if I like. I also painted it. I am still deciding if I want to add the tong hanger to it. I probably will later. Still waiting on the burners. The damn post office lost my money order in the mail to Rex.

Saturday, October 18th, 2003
Day 10: The burners arrived today! Woo hoo. Thanks Rex!

The burners arrived today and I got right on it finishing up the forge. I first added the KAO wool lining, then the fire brick to the bottom. I then added the final plumbing and fired it up. Adding that 4 inches to the length and the larger hole in front really made a difference. It takes a little longer to get things hot, but overall it works great. I will add more narration to each pic tomorrow. I'm going out with some friends now to sing Karaoke. That should be interesting.

I laid out the KAO wool and pushed the door down into it to leave an impression. Then, I cut the outside of the line with a razor knife.	Here it is installed. I also have a pint of ITC that I plane to use over the top of the KAO wool once I am happy with everything.	Here is the front door. I mostly used scraps left over from the first forge to finish this.
I wrapped a piece of string around the shell then measured it to find out how much to cut off the roll. Because it is on the outside it ends up about 1 1/2" long, but I just mark it and cut it again.	I clamped a fire brick in this stand and ripped it down the center with my skill saw and a masonry blade.	Here I am using my 4 1/2 angle grinder to clean up the edges and round it off. I first used the skill saw to cut a 45 degree angle so I could then make it round.
Here are the bricks right after being cut. You can see a little rib down the center cuz the blade isn't deep enough, but it breaks easily.	Here it is installed. I rounded off the bottom so it fits well in the forge.	I installed the KAO wool so that the seam is at the bottom and is covered by the brick.
Here it is after being lit for about half an hour at 10 psi	Here I am next to my baby.	Here is a wide shot showing the whole plumbing set up.
I didn't really like the handles I put on the last one. They looked good, but the 1/4" rod was too weak and bent easily.	This time I cut the handle off my cheap Harbor Freight chipping hammer and welded it to the door. It works well.	I made a bottle opener and tested it several times to celebrate finishing up.

Monday, October 20th, 2003
Day 11: All over but the shouting.

This will be one of the final updates on this portion of the page. I cut and bent the piece for the tong holder, but I didn't weld it on. I used clamps and just worked with it to see how I like it. I will keep that going for a while till I decide whether to weld it on or not. I took a couple of pics tonight with the lights down low so that you can see the flames better.

Here it is just after lighting with both burners at 10 psi.	Here is a little project I was working on tonight. This knife was started out at the Ojai Pirate Faire. Now I need to finish it and ship it.	Here is the knife on the left the next night ready to get ground and polished.

Thursday, November 6th, 2003
Some minor modifications

I had an issue with this forge not heating up enough cuz I made it longer that it should probably be. I decided to fix it by adding a movable wall that will stand up inside the forge and basically make it shorter so it is more efficient.
I clamped up a piece of 1/8" thick sheet metal to the open door and then reaching in and traced the opening from the other side.	After cutting it out with my torch and then cleaning it up with the grinder I checked the fit.	Once I knew it would fit I welded 1" dry wall screws to it so that the durablanket would stay in place. Here it is sitting on the durablanket ready to be cut out.
Here you can see the tab I welded on the back so I can grab it with a pair of tongs and pull it out if needed.	Here it is installed. I made it so it is a pretty tight fit, but can still be pushed in or out by hand. It has made a big difference in how the forge works though.
Here is the tool rest I had mentioned earlier. I decided to weld it on. I may add one to the other side as well later.	I added the hammer rest shown here to the side of my anvil stand. I'll make the ends tomorrow.	I took a couple of 4x12's and sandwiched a 2x12 to make the stand the right width. I glued it and then used 3/8" bolts and counter sank them in to bolt it together.

Tuesday, November 25th, 2003
More modifications

I was having trouble getting the forge up to heat, so I figured I would make the opening a little smaller. I took some 1/4" x 3/4" steel and welded it around the opening.		Here it is from the outside. It worked pretty well. The forge gets noticeably hotter now that I am not loosing so much heat out the front. I think I'm going to add some ITC 100 to it soon. I was waiting to make sure I was happy with how it worked before I used that on it.

Monday, March 13th, 2006

Other Guys Forges. I have created a page with some pics of other guys forges on it. These are forges that they based off some of the information they got here. They may also give you some more ideas about what you can do.

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John Deer Toys