A few years ago we built a vertical forge for welding Damascus billets. It worked great and the borax ran out the bottom and didn't eat the wool blanket insulation. The problem was you could only forge about 12 inches and then you would have to do it in stages by sticking the billet through the forge. That meant only working about half of the billet at a time in the press. I am planning on building a rolling mill and have to have the billet hot from one end to the other. So I made a small modification to the forge. I cut a hole in the back of it and added a 6 in diameter pipe and stuck another burner on it. So I still have the high heat of the vertical forge and when I want to stretch out long pieces just fire up the other burner and now it will handle up to about 24 inches. I have a considerably smaller orifice in the second burner which should save on propane cost.
Maybe it should be called "FrankenForge". Very innovative. I am gearing up to make myself a vertical forge for heat treating. Gotta save for some tools.
Looks terrific. Where did you get the burners? I'm looking at building a proper forge this winter, but the burner will be the tough part. If you put them together yourself, did you get plans from somewhere? I want to be able to do some real forging and possibly some damascus in the future. There's only so much I can accomplish with a grinder.
Eric I designed and make these burners I use then in all my forges and salt pots. Here is what Raymond Richard a bladesmith/forger in Oregon had to say about them. Hey Cal, I just got back with a new regulator and gage. Got the burner hooked up and my first impressions are without having it in a forge that it’s better than the ***** and most likely better than all his burners. I've got it set at 2 pounds pressure or less and I'm thinking it will be just fine for the type forging I do with the small forges I use. I'm going to change cloths and go give it a test run. I'll let you know what I think after I give it a trial run but I'm thinking I may even be more impressed after I use it. Ray Cal, I did some forging yesterday with the new burner. As far as I'm concerned it’s the best venturi design burner I have ever used. Hard for me to tell exactly how much gas pressure I was running it at but I don't think it was more than 1 1/2 pounds. A local bladesmith was over and he thought it was burning a little rich. He thought I should try a smaller orifice. I went to get the number 60-drill bit I had and found out it was a 57 like you used. Ray
So how's the evenness of the heat on this. With the small tube and the burner pointed in that direction do you get a hot spot if you were to stick the tip of the knife in there? I am really rethinking my forge right now and am looking for good ideas.
I really don't get a hot spot for a couple of reasons. I took and put a real small orifice in the second burner and I only leave it in there long enough to get it hot so the steel can be stretched in the press. I use the big verical part for welding and only turn on the small horizontal section after the billet is beyond about 12 inches long.
Oh.. ok.. so you're not heat treating in this then? Did you by chance build your own press? I'm thinking I might head that route too.
Here is my press that we built. I am just making a newer larger power unit for it with a 5hp motor and plan on running a rolling mill with it as well. I heat treat in salt. Here are some pictures.
6 inch bore, 3 inch rod and about 10 inch stroke. My only regret was makeing the stroke 10 inches. I had a longer tube and cut it off. When you want to make something like a feather pattern you need a long stroke to get the splitter die in and still have enough room to put the steel billet in verically.
Yes my 8" cylinder is only 11-12" stroke. Might have wished it was longer as well. Al got a 10" cylinder in yesterday that we are going to make a 18" ram out of. I will have to build a new frame for this as the frame I just built is for a 8" cylinder and the 10" won't fit. Now just need to find a 2 stage pump with about 3000psi and lots of volume. Jim
It should be designed with a regeneration circuit on it. I hope you got 3 phase power to run a big pump. 5hp 230v is about the limit for single phase.
