Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been wanting to build a gas forge for awhile to do some smithy work inside during the winter without having to fire up the coal forge outside I made up a pretty good burner and gathered some fire bricks but for the life of me can't decide on a size or shape for the forge itself if anyone has built one I would love feed back on what you like dislike and wish you would have done I think I want it open both ends taller than wider and to have an adjustable tool rest on one side but can't decide how to lay it all out any thoughts ?

Nice burners! They look to have a very clean output.

Thanks Dave I work on and repair ag and orchard sprayers the valves are turbo mist orchard sprayer nozzles with ceramic swirl plates they spin the spray into a cone and come in different sizes they were perfect for the job I just tried different size tips till it burned nicely

Only experienced with induction and resistance element ones, but have always found square and rectangle shaped ones the easiest over cylindrical. So much easier to just replace sections of fire brick with flat walls, especially if you wind up having a decent amount of borax or boric acid in there. Easiest one I've used had openings with doors that opened and locked in the up position on one side and both ends. It was about 18" tall, 12" wide, and 36" long on the inside. when we had smaller things in there we just loaded up some more fire-brick to decrease the length and shut-off some of the burners to save power.

Good point never gave it a thought i can always make it larger and insert bricks for small stuff the size is dependent on the top I have a piece of refractory c cast from a tile factory it can be easily cut for the burner and withstands about 5000 it's 9x24

I'm am getting into blacksmithing as we speak. On YouTube, Alec Steele has good videos, though he can be a little annoying. He has videos on building a forge, and info on refractory and burners. Also, pintrest has lots of good photos.

Best, Mick.

I made 3 similar burners for my forge setup, but have them on separate lines, and a valve on each one. Used the same kind of brick, and made a forge on a platform that has 2 chambers, one is about 32" long, and about 4" x 5". I can insert the burners at 3 different points along it from the top for heating long bars, can go all the way through if I want, or push a brick block down it and just use one or two burners for a shorter chamber. The other one is about 10" wide and 5" high, and about 10" deep for wider pieces, I can plug 2 burners into it.
Resist the temptation to build a forge bigger than you need, it can really start sucking down propane and become a costly venture. I was playing wit damascus the other winter, and could burn 10 gallons in a 5-6 hr session. FUN AS H*LL!!!!
Try building something you can change shape and size with, and burner arrangement.

I started cutting some 1/4 x 2 angle to make up the frame work peices the burner chamber I think I'm going with is 4 x 7 x 18 open both ends with a 6 inch steel lip both sides on one end I'm adding an adjustable tool rest about 12 inches out in the past I generally make lantern posts spit sets decorative gate hinges railing trims almost all of it from 1/2 square and round stock or 1 inch flat bar anything bigger I can fire up the old hand crank Enterprise and kill some skeeters as for the propane burner I've used it in the vise open air some and it doesn't use gas it enjoys gas

Just thought I would throw some pics up of what I ended up cobbling together pretty happy so far I need to re jet the burners to calm them down a bit but otherwise it works ok instead of making the chamber adjustable I decided to allow the burner to move up and down to put the hot spot of the flame were needed made a door for the front and have a removable block for the rear the tool rest also slides out for future options thanks for all the input and interest

That looks hot!