Square Body Propane Gas Forge

Stuart Ablett

Member
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Tokyo Japan
Forging ahead with the new square body forge.... :D

I got the Isolite bricks................

7_bricks.jpg
That is 7 bricks, they cost about 680 yen each, so about $5.50 each, and the ceramic tile things ($1 each) are for covering the bottom of the forge, as they are easily replaceable and should wear better than the super soft Isolite bricks.

Thus, I'm into the forge for around $40 (not counting the other stuff I already have from the other forge I built,the gas regulator, the popane tank etc).

02_basic_idea.jpg
This is the basic idea, with a back piece too.
I'm going to cut the bricks a bit,to make better, tighter joints, and then I'll wrap the whole thing in fairly thin plate metal to make it durable and somewhat portable.

cutting_brick.jpg
To cut the blocks, I just use a hacksaw, works well, but you DO wear the blades out. Took two blades, could have taken three really, as the last cuts I was wishing for a new blade! :rolleyes: (I only had two hacksaw blades :eek:).

first_cut.jpg
This is what a cut brick looks like.

bottom_cuts.jpg
The bottom two bricks cut.....

sides_in_place.jpg
The sides in place.........

sides_in_place_base_shelf.jpg
........with the shelf tiles in place.

bottom_sides_top_done.jpg
OK, the bottom, side and top are done! :D

On to the back, this took a bit of noodling and some cutting, but I like the way it turned out, I don't think I'll have much trouble with it.......

back_detail1.jpg
Taken apart to give you an idea of the joint.....

back_detail2.jpg
last one, need to start anohter post! :wave:
 
OK, here is the back all in place.........

back_done.jpg

now for some shots of the "Size" of the forge.......

front_size.jpg forge_height.jpg side_size.jpg
It is not that big, about a 22cm x 23 cm x 23 cm cube, or just under a 10" cube.

The actual forge size is..........

opening_width.jpg opening_height.jpg forge_depth.jpg
that is 9cm x 8cm x 16.5cm deep, or just around 1200 cc, or 1 1/4 pints.

Well that is it so far, I need to get some steel to cover it, and weld that up, then I need to work on my propane burner.

Cheers!:wave:
 
Stu,

That's looking good. Brick forges are one of the most flexible of all,

I was playing around with my forge yesterday, got a stand and getting it tuned properly...yellow, I think that's pretty hot...:thumb:

(here's another one for you Joe, how I built one!;-)



Stu,

Are you going to totally enclose it in steel? Or just make a frame around the edges to hold them together? I was just curious how you were planning to mount the burner and/or wether it was going to enter through the top (angled) or in the side. It's looking good, that's gonna be one nice forge.:thumb:

I was trying to forge some brass this past week, to try and hand forge a saw back to make a handsaw out of...it didn't go quite as stellar as I would have liked and I got frustrated. I'm going to try the slotting method by using a small mini-mill (you can barely see it in the background on the floor, upper right of photo).

I tried to keep the forge down at around 1300 degrees, a friend of mine helped me measure it, but we weren't too successful, it was a bit fugly...
 
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Stu,

that is one seriously cool little forge. So cool, I searched ebay for isolite brick... with no success :(

Not that I have the time to make one, given what's happened, but still... very cool...

Thanks,

Bill
 
Thanks guys!

I was looking at it tonight, and I think I'd like to modify the design to allow me to open the back of it if I want to heat up something longer, so what I plan on doing is to make a tube of fairly thin plate, something near 1/16" :dunno: that goes around the bricks, top, bottom and both sides. I think this would also have the advantage of being able to open it up to exchange bricks if one got badly damaged somehow.

I saw this online.......

square_forge_rear1.jpg square_forge_rear2.jpg

not exactly like this, but something that would pull straight out from the back, leaving the rear of the forge open.

I'm thinking that if the front and rear panels were even bolted in place it would be fine, I'd not be opening it up when it is hot, but then again, maybe that kind of function would be nice to have....? :huh:

I've got to find some high heat glue that will bond the Isolite bricks to metal.......

I know I had some stuff for motorcycles that was a stick of putty looking stuff, you cut off a section and kneaded it together, then stuck it on, in 5 or 10 minutes, it was like steel, you could even drill and tap it, and it was supposed to be high heat...........?

I'll have to look around.

Needs some more noodling for sure :D :wave:
 
Oh yeah, Bill, you can get these bricks at most pottery places, they use them to line their kilns.

If I were you, in the US, I'd just order some of the Duroblanket stuff (or whatever it's called) I could not source it here.

I'd then build a round forge!:wave:
 
Stu,

I think the brick forge is a good idea. I think I would go for a clamshell style forge next, using brick as the floor with a clamshell over the top. That allows you to be able to lift it, place the work underneath, and put the clamshell back in place, using bricks to cover the exposed areas around the clamshell...kinda hard to explain.

Those bricks would be fine without the metal.

Here's one that uses metal for the top, but the bottom is all brick.

 
Thanks Alan, I was a member of that group a LONG time ago, the e-mail I used has changed, so no I have sent them a note, asking to change my e-mail and reactivate my account.

Anyways, I understand that you should be looking at around 350 cubic inches of forge area per 3/4" burner, well as it stands now, my little forge is a LOT smaller than that........

Mine works out to 1188 cc, or 72.5 cubic inches, so I think the one 3/4" burner I have, even with the back door open, should be more than enough.

Cheers!
 
Thanks Alan, I was a member of that group a LONG time ago, the e-mail I used has changed, so no I have sent them a note, asking to change my e-mail and reactivate my account.
I just thought it was so similar to yours, it was funny...not sure if you designed yours off of Phils design, it seemed you were modeling it after the square one on Zoeller's site.
Anyways, I understand that you should be looking at around 350 cubic inches of forge area per 3/4" burner, well as it stands now, my little forge is a LOT smaller than that........

Mine works out to 1188 cc, or 72.5 cubic inches, so I think the one 3/4" burner I have, even with the back door open, should be more than enough.
Well, there is one unknown factor in the equation, that is how much will a T-Rex handle. A T-Rex burner will handle more than 350 cu in but it's never been determined how much it will handle.

The 350 cu in number comes from Porter's book, which has a lot of errors in it, and is based on some research that Porter didn't do, at least my understanding. That is probably a good and tested number for Porter's burners, and maybe those are the same as a T-Rex, I don't know that, just that the T-Rex apprears that it can handle more. Much of Porter's book was based on what Ron Reil and Jerry Frost had come up with and/or a few others. It is a good book, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot of un-substantiated comments in it. It's very helpful for most folks, even if some errors do exist. It's one of the few texts on the subject...

It will depend on what burner you use, to some extent. But where does the 350 cu in number come from? For the most part it really is determined by fuel, and how much fuel you put into it and/or how well it distributes in the chamber.

Smaller is always going to be hotter, look at the single brick you built a micro-forge with last week, it was white, and that's hot!:thumb: The trick is enlarging the chamber and keeping it white.:doh:And you don't want it white all the time, bright orange is good, IMO, but yellow ain't bad either. I guess when it's going white is when it's sparklin'...beyond that and it's melted. I guess that's the trick with welding, you get it right in between the yellow/straw at which point the flux does the work. I've only done a few forge welds in a coal forge, but there's a green flame when the flux catches, it's kinda a cool color...
 
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Thanks, as always, for the info Alan! :thumb:

The only burner I have is one I've cobbled together, it needs some tuning and a flare!

I am planing on building a better one, got to find the time, and the parts!

Cheers!

PS, I've not yet had a look at the forge you link to, I'm waiting for them to approve my membership.
:)
 
Sorry Stu, I tried to link to it, and could get one of the images, but it didn't like linking to that page for some reason...I grabbed a few pics and will attach them to this message.
 

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Stu,

I'm told that you don't need a flare actually, and in your case where you'll be going in through the side, I don't think it would matter. I'm told it's only if you need to see the flame, at least a good friend mentioned that. Your burner that you made will work fine for this, it should work nicely in fact.

I'm going to try and forge a railroad spke knife, isn't that pre-req for any smith?:eek:
 
Thanks Alan, I'll give it a shot.

How do you think I should aim the burner, I know straigth up and down is a no-no, as the heat will go straigt up the burner, but an angle through the top, or just through the side?

Cheers!
 
Stu,

I'm heard and see people trying to get the burner to circulate around the chamber, so if you can come in from the side and have the burner aimed at the top of the chamber, it should start to circulate, and that would be the hottest.

I saw this link that Phil posted to the SBMetal list.

James Riser's brick/gas forge:



What I find interesting is that if you look at the Note at the bottom of that page, you can see that Ron Reil reccomended to put an opening through the rear brick, and that's one thing you commented about Phil's forge, that you would like to incorporate that.

If you have the rear opening, you should be able to do most work for lathe tools and other edge tools (chisels, plane blades, etc...?).
 
Stu,

This insulated brick design makes me wonder if I shouldn't try one similar myself...I have about 12 bricks, 6 x 2800 degrees, and 6 x 2300 degrees.

Somewhere it said it takes about 7 or 8 bricks...how many did you use?

This is much simpler than a freon tank.
 
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