[TheForge] Gas forge Question

[Jerry Frost]

I've been saying the same thing for a number of years now. The shell only 
has to be strong enough to support the hardware and work. Chicken wire or 
hardware cloth isn't a good choice for a different reason. The shell needs 
to contain ceramic wool blanket like Insulwool and Kaowool to prevent fibers 
from getting into the air causing a silicosis hazard.

That said I like SS stove pipe as a shell provided you have the equipment 
and skills to work it. Welding 26 ga. SS can be a trick but a little 
practice is all it takes. It's also easy to make odd diameter shells with by 
snapping different dia. sections together. SS is also a poor conductor and 
helps conserve heat.

While using what you have available is what blacksmithing is all about there 
comes a point of diminishing returns. I have no heartburn over cutting 
propane tanks; drain, flush and have at it, no problem. Still, I'm a 15 min 
round trip from the building supply and stove pipe, steel and SS. In the 
time it'd take to remove the fittings, flush the tank and cut openings, etc. 
I'd have a forge finished and running with stove pipe.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.


From: "Kevin D" <flyinpig at go-concepts.com>


>
> I'd like to point out that we often like to overbuild stuff, forges being 
> no
> exception.  But I've noticed that if the forge is adequately insulated the
> shell  only needs to have sufficient structure to hold it together.  I've
> seen (and been guilty of) gas forges with a heavy outer shell that acted 
> as
> a heat sink and  prolonged the time it took to come up to heat.  I think
> that if chicken wire could offer enough form it'd be the best to hold the
> insullation, then the problem might be mounting the burners and such.
> Probably the best bet would be a stainless sheet tube like a heat duct.
>
> I'd thought of using an old beer keg, but it's heavier steel and too
> valuable as a quench tank.
>
> Kevin D.
>