Forge body

[huntforlife]

Im building a "Blown mini forge" and found a piece of 8" dia. gas main. Its ductile iron (I think).

Will this be safe to use instead of stove pipe for the forge body?

[SBuzek]

It should work read this thread
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=51872
Stan

[DiamondG Knives]

One thing I had a problem with on one of my forge bodies.

I found a great piece of what I thought was schedule 80 gas line. Nice thick wall, lots of mass.
Once I had it all put together and tried welding on some attachment points, I found out it was cast iron!

God Bless
Mike

[Ray Rogers]

It's way more massive than it needs to be but, if you can weld on it as Mike mentioned, then it will work. The next problem to consider is the diameter - 8" is pretty big for the Mini-Forge if you use the propane torch as a burner, not enough heat for that much volume. Even two inches of wool still leaves a 4" hole so, if you can find something smaller - or use a larger burner - things might work out better. My first large forge which used a large blower and a nice big burner only had a sheet metal shell that was .030 in thickness and one layer of wool so you can see that all that mass isn't really necessary ....

[huntforlife]

Thanks fellas. Im fairly certain that I cant mig weld steel to this pipe. I'll dig around the barn and see if I have something a little smaller in diameter. I "think" I have some 6" stove pipe kicking around here somewhere.

I bought all the plumbing for it yesterday. Couldnt find 1" pipe at the hardware store so I went with 3/4". Im running the 3/4" into a ball valve into a 90deg. reducer to section of 1/2" pipe that Im going to drill for the torch head. Hope to get the torch this week as well as inswool and satanite.

[C Craft]

Originally Posted by huntforlife

Thanks fellas. Im fairly certain that I cant mig weld steel to this pipe. I'll dig around the barn and see if I have something a little smaller in diameter. I "think" I have some 6" stove pipe kicking around here somewhere.

I bought all the plumbing for it yesterday. Couldnt find 1" pipe at the hardware store so I went with 3/4". Im running the 3/4" into a ball valve into a 90deg. reducer to section of 1/2" pipe that Im going to drill for the torch head. Hope to get the torch this week as well as inswool and satanite.

Hey I am going to throw a couple of things at you in your orginal post you said,

Originally Posted by huntforlife

Im building a "Blown mini forge" and found a piece of 8" dia. gas main. Its ductile iron (I think).

Will this be safe to use instead of stove pipe for the forge body?

I used a piece of 10 " pipe 1/8 wall x 22 " length to form this one.

Please click on thumbnail for large picture:






It is a double Venturi type propane burner not a blown but, is the same concept different type burnerss.

I was able to use 1/8 thick pipe which allowed for me to be able to weld to it and such but also to keep the overall weight of the finished forge down.
The thickness of the pipe does not necessarily have to be a heavy wall only heavy enough to be able to weld on. The inswool is what allows for the insulation factor and this forge is wrapped with two layers of 1" thick inswool and on the bottom it has one layer of inswool and a layer of 1" fire brick.
So you see once I got through lining the pipe the forge chamber had been reduced from a 10" x 22" to a useable chamber of 6" x 18" with two inches of insulation all the way around.
This is something to think about when determining the exterior size of pipe to use. The pictures of mine was taken before the burners were installed but the collars for the burners to mount into were already welded into the forge body. The burners themselves are held in place by three cap screws around that collar.
I have some forge componets you might be interested in, refrence this thread
http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52104
Let me know if you would be interested in them.

[huntforlife]

Ok. I got the body figured out, got the plumbing figured out. Now is there any kind of adhesive for the Inswool to get it to stick to the forge body?

I got the satanite on the way, and already read about how to mix it and what not. Do I need a fire brick in there to lay the blade on for heat treat?

Only things left are to get a table made and get everything put together.

[ranger1]

Zen, This is no good without pic's. Lets see this baby all fired -up.

[Ray Rogers]

There should be no need for adhesive for the inswool if you cut the wool to the correct size. It has enough 'body' to it to hold itself in place just fine. A firebrick in the bottom of the forge is a good idea because it will hold up to the wear and tear much better than the wool. Just put the brick in the bottom of the forge and cut the wool to meet with the sides of the brick so that the brick forms part of the cylinder of wool that lines the forge body. If you decide you must have an adhesive, any store that sells wood stoves and related equipment will also have high temp adhesive. There are many commercial products that can be used but they will be more difficult to get and, again, you shouldn't need it.....

[huntforlife]

Thank you Ray. I wasnt sure how dense the wool was. Think I might have some fire bricks in an old stove out back. Off to scrounge more parts.

[huntforlife]

Well I found a piece of 6"dia. stove pipe today about 10-12" long. I also was able to scrounge some fire bricks out of an old wood stove I had out back.

I dont know what the bricks are made out of or what temp they work to, but I figure if they were in a wood stove they might just work in the forge. Any opinions? They are 1" thick X 4" wide and are reddish in color.

[Ray Rogers]

They should be fine in the Mini-Forge ...

[huntforlife]

Excellent. Thank you again Ray. Appreciate all the help.
Hopefully if I get the wool and satanite this week, its all systems go next weekend.
I also scrounged a blower off the old stove that has a dial type rheostat on it. Might give that a shot prior to buying the cordless blower.

[Ray Rogers]

By all means, try the blower. It is probably more than enough for a forge as small as the Mini. The only reason I used a battery powered blower on the original Mini is because someone gave it to me and I wanted to see if it would work. Batteries make it portable which is cool if you need that feature but most of us don't move our forges around all that much ....

[huntforlife]

Totally understand that Ray. I adopt a lot of things from others as well and hold onto it. I tell my wife Im not a hoarder, juts a collector of parts. Might end up going the wireless route in the end anyway. I cant use the forge in the basement for safety reasons. 300 gallons of fuel oil and fire tend to make a fella nervous.

I most likely wont even be able to use the forge until the spring at this point. It gets bitter cold here in the winter, and we live on top of a mountain, so the winds are wicked. I would imagine heat treating outdoors up here would be a conundrum all in itself during cold times, with the time elapsed from fire to quench and keeping the quench warm and what not.

Sure appreciate all the input. Hope you dont mind if I pick your brain ever now and then.