"Hey honey, let's build a forge/foundry!"

[Syberia]

...is not something most men ever expect to hear their wives say. I was recently the proud recipient of such a request after she watched a few of those smithing shows on YouTube and found out how easy both actually are to build. So this weekend, we're going to pick up a few parts and try to throw together the beginnings of a melting furnace with the end goal of being able to make our own cast iron cookware (in whatever shape/design we want). Also belt buckles, odds and ends, etc.

We have the ability to pick up used metal 55 gallon barrels for $6, so that will make the shell of the furnace. A few inches of cement will be added to take up space, followed by 3-4" of kaowool, and a layer of refractory cement, leaving a hollow area in the middle the size of a 5 gallon bucket as the melting chamber. The lid will be cut off of what remains of the barrel, lined with kaowool (and covered with refractory cement? Is this necessary?) and used to cover the furnace with a hole cut out out for the exhaust.



The burner will be made out of black iron pipe fittings, roughly following this (

) design off of YouTube. It appears to work quite well. We already have natural gas for a BBQ in the spot where we plan to do our forging/casting, so that's a no brainer. Instead of a hair dryer, I'll be using a small shop vac (the hose fits perfectly on the end of a 3/4" steel pipe; we've used this setup as a "blower" for our firepit before) in combination with a variable speed control and a gate valve to regulate the air flow. Gas will be supplied through a 3/8" quick connect BBQ hose. The only question I really have here relates to the size of the mixing chamber (the tee fitting on the diagram). The YouTube burner appears to be made entirely out of 25mm (1 inch) pipe. Is there any benefit going to 1.5" or is 1" sufficient? 1" fittings and ******* are much cheaper, for what it's worth.



Anything else we should know?

 

[tractordude]

I am going to build one like this.........some day.

 

[jimgood]

Sounds like a fun project and it's cool to see that your wife is involved.

 

[BD1]

This maybe a helpful site , http://www.iforgeiron.com/

 

[Guster]

Two ways to look at Kaowool:
One... its an ablative and you replace it as it is damaged or used up.
Two... you treat it with some coatings to make it safer, last longer and be more efficient as a refractory lining by increasing its infra red reflectivity meaning more heat is being applied to your crucible.
Kaowool breaks up over time and the fibers are not all the good for your lungs so the idea behind a coating or treatment makes it safer to use. Some prefer to use alternatives but have lower temperature limits if I recall.

 

[bczygan]

First thread I've subscribed to in a long time.

Bill

 

[Syberia]

Two ways to look at Kaowool:
One... its an ablative and you replace it as it is damaged or used up.
Two... you treat it with some coatings to make it safer, last longer and be more efficient as a refractory lining by increasing its infra red reflectivity meaning more heat is being applied to your crucible.
Kaowool breaks up over time and the fibers are not all the good for your lungs so the idea behind a coating or treatment makes it safer to use. Some prefer to use alternatives but have lower temperature limits if I recall.

Let me get some clarification - in the designs I've seen, the Kaowool was encapsulated in refractory cement to give the forge/furnace interior some rigidity. Are you saying that's not the way to go, as it wears out over time?

 

[Guster]

Applying refractory to Kaowool is definitely the preferred way to go for the reasons I mentioned. However many people have done without either out of cost or due to not planning to use it frequently.

Some even do away with Kaowool entirely, preferring to use high temp ceramics and overlapping shaped firebricks based on commercial design and use. This works out slightly more expensive but highly durable.

 

[LXCam]

First thread I've subscribed to in a long time.

Bill

Ya, count me in too.

Besides, the OP's almost my neighbor (I live in Woodcrest). If I kiss his *** enough about what a great job he' s doing maybe he'll invite me over for a BBQ.............I'll bring the cans.

 

[Showkey]

Built a propane forge a few years back. Built the burner from plumbing pipe and fitting. It was a much simpler design and I found the plans on the Internet. For the forge a blower was not needed with this burner design..

One caution that was made on the burner site........the blue light created at the burner is ultra violet wear eye protection.

A variation of this burner design:

https://www.abana.org/ronreil/burner.gif

https://www.abana.org/ronreil/design1.shtml

http://www.anvilfire.com/article.php?bodyName=/FAQs/gas_forges.htm

http://www.zoellerforge.com/sidearm.html

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Bob Warner]

Check out this page and the rest of the site also.

http://ronreil.abana.org/Furnace.shtml

 

[Syberia]

Ya, count me in too.

Besides, the OP's almost my neighbor (I live in Woodcrest). If I kiss his *** enough about what a great job he' s doing maybe he'll invite me over for a BBQ.............I'll bring the cans.

Not just a BBQ, an outdoor entertainment area complete with movie screen and (when it's done) hot tub:

http://s925.photobucket.com/user/doubleedgedwombat/library/Front Yard?sort=3&page=1

There's some pics of the build, as long as we're kissing *** I mean!

I was planning on posting a thread about it when it's done, but that's going to be a while.


I've found most of the links submitted here through my googling; natural gas burner requires a blower due to the lower pressure but it's cheaper to run and no running out of gas at the wrong moment (just like BBQing!)

 

[bsaint]

Funny this thread started, this is the furnace I built over the winter. Thats my company car, fire supression, and company wheel barrow in the background.

I've been practicing casting parts for machines I build so I can transfer from weldments to castings. Im building a larger one shortly now that I have the devil's a**hole for my burner tube. It sounds like an F15 jet turbine when I run it. I can melt a well stocked #10 crucible in 15 minutes.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I'd check out http://backyardmetalcasting.com/ they seems to now both the "high tech" and "low tech" ways to get things hot. I used to hang out there for info on waste oil burners for heating.

 

[jask]

We are all a bunch of closet pyromaniacs! I also have been planning a furnace build for a while to do some bronze and aluminium casting. There is a lot to learn and the common advice I read is to start with some low temp casting to develop experience. Cast iron furnaces run much hotter and require better fuel and furnace atmosphere management, but this is easy enough to learn and there are some great resources out there.
My favorite site is the Alloy Avenue metalcasting forum, lots of well documented furnaces and casting sessions, as well as helpful members who have experience and enjoy sharing information.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I needed a big "blow torch" last week and whipped one up out of a 55 gallon barrel, fuel with pine wood and used motor oil. I want to build a small forge myself. I can see a lot of uses for one from time to time.

 

[Guster]

[/URL][/IMG]

Is that built in a milk/cream can? Nice repurpose!

Here is a nice little article about coated vs. uncoated kaowool.
http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor/jd_kaowool/top_index.htm

There is also a bit of hidden advice in that article about how soft and brittle some refractories are when heated. The idea is to have minimum space around the crucible for efficiency but to leave enough space for crucible tongs or other tools to clear the inside else you end up damaging it all the time. This is probably another pro for using bricks and ceramics.

 

[HMCFab9]

For any Facebook people, Blacksmithing for beginners is a good page with lots of good info, a comprehensive "files" section & good moderators that are always helpful.

 

[MillerMav]

First thread I have subscribed to in a looooong time! I am also researching a forge build. Going to collect parts through the winter and have ready in the spring to start taking my crack at "smithing". Currently working on my railroad track anvil!

 

[Syberia]

Slowly making progress... cut up the barrel and poured the outer layer of cement





(yeah, I know it's not exactly centered)

I have most of the parts for the burner so I think I'll be putting that together today.

 

[RonRock]

I'd check out http://backyardmetalcasting.com/ they seems to now both the "high tech" and "low tech" ways to get things hot. I used to hang out there for info on waste oil burners for heating.

I just found this thread as I was looking for thoughts I have vaguely similar to the waste oil burners.

I'm thinking about building a furnace to use for some small sand casting projects. Mostly just something fun to do. Probably stick to lead, aluminum, maybe some brass. No plans to do any iron.

So I have a a Hotsy hot water pressure washer with a bad coil. It's been sitting around long enough that I am ready to "re configure" it. The coil is too expensive to replace. So if I pull the coil, I will have a nice round outer shell with a burner on the bottom. The Hotsy has the same Beckett type heat gun that they use in waste oil furnaces, so that's what got me thinking.

I'll use diesel fuel as my fuel since the Hotsy is already set up. Looks like it should be a pretty simple conversion. One big question with this though is will the burner get hot enough to work very well? Anybody know an answer to that? I'd guess that if the Becket burners could be used then they have already been done. But I'm just starting and have not found one yet.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

There's interesting plans for a forge made out of an empty propane tank that you might use on your grill. You displace the propane with water first (critical step so you don't kill yourself) then cut the propane tank with an oxy acetylene torch, or plasma cutter, or angle grinder (carefully). Then you line with concrete. This is really cool stuff. Wonder how much an ingot of pure aluminum retails for on the market? Probably not much I guess.

 

[gol4]

An Ingot of pure aluminum runs me about $5-$15. I use broken rims. Price depends on who is working the yard and how bad the rim looks. I have also gotten some free ones as well.

 

[jumbojak]

I can't remember the name of the book off the top of my head but a gentleman by the name of Michael Porter has an excellent one covering burner design which is something of a passion of his. He's a really nice guy too, though a recent stroke has put him partially out of commission, and he seems like the sort of fellow who is always ready to answer questions or just talk. The man can talk about burners and refractories.

Burners and refractories are a deep subject that can get very contentious. Personally, unless I didn't have another vessel for the furnace body I would ditch the cement. Cement really can't handle the heat and the rough surface could damage the kaowool - which ain't cheap - during insulation. Try a propane or freon bottle to start with. That will give you a smaller chamber to work with but crucible costs will be much more reasonable. You are planning on buying purpose built crucibles aren't you?

Resist the urge to build one furnace/forge to do every kind of work. My first forge was an attempt at doing exactly that and I haven't fired that one up in over a year. It's so big that fuel consumption is ENORMOUS and not a justifiable expense except in very rare circumstances. Also, safety safety safety, especially when casting. Large quantities of molten metal can get you in a world of hurt very quickly.

 

[blazemaster83]

lol shes a keeper.

 

[Syberia]

Finally have some progress:

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[larry4406]

Bumping this thread.

You ever get this finished?

 

[larry4406]

Bumping this thread.

You ever get this finished?

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I just found this thread as I was looking for thoughts I have vaguely similar to the waste oil burners.

I'm thinking about building a furnace to use for some small sand casting projects. Mostly just something fun to do. Probably stick to lead, aluminum, maybe some brass. No plans to do any iron.

So I have a a Hotsy hot water pressure washer with a bad coil. It's been sitting around long enough that I am ready to "re configure" it. The coil is too expensive to replace. So if I pull the coil, I will have a nice round outer shell with a burner on the bottom. The Hotsy has the same Beckett type heat gun that they use in waste oil furnaces, so that's what got me thinking.

I'll use diesel fuel as my fuel since the Hotsy is already set up. Looks like it should be a pretty simple conversion. One big question with this though is will the burner get hot enough to work very well? Anybody know an answer to that? I'd guess that if the Becket burners could be used then they have already been done. But I'm just starting and have not found one yet.

Old post I know. But I'm not sure of the BTU output. But it seems that WMO has a higher BTU output than Diesel fuel.