Building a Gas Forge

by Albin Drzewianowski

An alternative to buying a propane gas forge is to build one yourself. A lot of blacksmiths have built them. If you have some very basic machining skills: accurate layout, drilling, tap and die work; along with some basic welding, you can build your own. Most of the materials can be bought or scavenged locally. In the past it was hard to buy small quantities of the ceramic insulating blanket, often called KAO wool. But now there are any number of "blacksmith friendly" places where you can get the materials you need.

You Need to Be Careful. You Are Dealing with a Potentially Explosive Combustible Gas.

• Make Sure That You Understand All the Principles Behind How the Burner Works.
• Make Sure That All Connections Are Properly Made.
• Make Sure That You Use an Appropriate Regulator.
• Your Safety and the Safety of Those Around You Count on This.

Building a gas forge can be as simple as sticking a propane weed burner into a stack firebricks which have been stacked up to create a forge chamber. (This can work, but it probably is not the most efficient setup.) Another very simple forge consists of a single soft fire brick which has been hollowed out and a propane torch for heat. This set up will allow you to work small items in 1A" square or round steel. Or it can be as complicated as the Sandia Forge (plans are available from ABANA for $20.00) which pre-heats the air used for combustion.

I have not built one myself, so I am only going to steer you in the direction to get the information you need to build a gas forge. You need to do your homework. Read up on building the forge. Talk to other blacksmiths who have done this. I know that there are a number of BGCM members who have done this. Ask around.

There is a great deal of material on the internet. There are a number of sites devoted to building gas forges and most of the email list/bulletin boards have a lot of discussion devoted to this topic. A good starting place is Ron Reil's web page at http://www.reiH.net/Forgel.html Ron has an FAQ (frequently asked questions) and a list of links and from there you can surf your way across a number of different locations. Here is another web page to get you started: http://www.geocities.com/zoellerforge/ Larry Zoeller has done a lot of R&D on propane burners. Also, you could simply "google" on +"propane forge" +blacksmith I tried this combination and at the time that I was writing this article, I came up with 380 references.

Just recently a new book was published specifically addressing building propane forges for blacksmithing. (See the book review elsewhere in this newsletter.) The book is "Gas Burners for Forges, Furnace & Kilns" written by Michael Porter and published by Jack Andrews (of "Edge of the Anvil" fame) and Skipjack Press. If you have not done work like this before, I strong recommend reading this book. Porter provides a lot of good basic information, especially the parts on safety and working with propane.

It is important to remember that the homemade gas forge is an evolving creation. I have been following the various discussions on the internet for a long time and the guys who are into this are doing a lot of R&D in terms of developing better burners and more efficient forges. Porter's book is a snap shot of the state of the art as of about 2002-2003. Even since then there have been some refinements. And I am sure that there will be more.

-- RebStaup - 25 Jan 2008