Wayne Coe

For a coal forge go to a farm tractor repair place and see if they have any old stump jumpers. That is the part of a rotary mower (Bush Hog) that holds the blades. Cut out the crossmember and bolt three 3/4" floor flanges one at 12:00, one at 166 degrees from that (about 4:00) and one at 166 degrees from that or from 12:00 on the other side (about 7:00 or 8:00) 3 equally spaced legs. Cut a hole in the center to accept a fire box. Salt Fork Blacksmiths in Oklahoma and SOFA in Ohio sell cast iron fire boxes, and David Custer of Firey Furnace on Face Book sells welded fire boxes. You can also do a Google search for Fire Box Blacksmith and get lots of suggestions. If you need help locating any of these sources e-mail me. I don't think that you are going to be very happy with what you have started with. It is way to deep and not a good shape. If you will put your location in your profile it might help others help you. Wayne

Or just go out back and dig up some clay from your yard. That is what the old time smiths did. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

I like my sushi well done.

Check out the motors and VFDs on www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. I looked into the cheaper VFDs when I first started. I planned to put it in a box, with filters. I quickly found it best and cheaper to just buy the right VFD to begin with. You really need a NEMA 4X enclosure. The KB VFDs have a potentiometer built in. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Check out the Build a Gas Forge attachment and the Ribbon Burner attachments on the Forge Supplies page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

I have to disagree with that . Better save money for stuff you will need than have a bunch of unused tools and empty pockets Not if running to the store for that part when the trip is 30 miles!

Josh, I don't know how many times I have told someone something close to that about building a forge.

Alan, McMaster Carr has a thermocouple with a sectioned ceramic shield that I think you can make any length you need. With these if the end burns out you just cut back to clean metal, twist the ends back together and TIG it. The reading actually comes from the very tip. I believe that the metal shields are Inconel not just stainless steel.

Check out the Build a Gas Forge and other attachments on the Forge Supplies page of my web site. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

I don't understand. What would you do in a kiln that you could not do in a properly built gas forge? When you say kiln do you mean a heat treat oven? With a properly constructed forge and a Pyrometer you can do most anything you need to do with metal. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

A good belt grinder for $300.00? That does not exist! Check out the DVDs page and Grinders page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. Depending on your scrap pile, if you are willing to settle for a single speed grinder and if you can find a good used motor you MIGHT be able to do that, then in a few month you are going to want to upgrade to a variable speed grinder and respend money for another motor and a VFD. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne.

Does the VFD have a NEMA 4X enclosure? From Timgum's thread above, and he seems to know what he is talking about, you need to put the drive in another room, enclose it in an enclosure (keep in mind that the drive has a fan to help cool the drive. This will draw the metal grindings into the drive and quickly short out the drive. If it is not to late I would try to return the drive for a credithate to be so negative about your purchase and hope that you get every thing worked out. Let me know if I an help you

Or you could just use refrigerator magnets. I would like to see the burners more off to the side with the flame going across the top of the forge but that would entail rebuilding the entire forge at this time. The fire brick is a heat sink. I would remove it at cast the floor with Kast-0-Lite castable refractory the full width of the floor, from where it starts curving on each side. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Those are Frosty T Burners. They are a good burner the black pipe looks about right, I think that Frosty suggests a 9" pipe. I prefer for the burners to come in at a tangent so that the flame comes in across the tip and swirls around inside the forge for a more even heat and less hot spot. Two 3/4" burners is a lot for a 20# Propane tank forge. Your picture does not show enough of the forge to determine what is inside and if anything (floor or feet) prevent rotating the forge to get the flame coming in at a tangent. At this early stage in your forge build you could always cut the mounting tubes off and relocating them to a tangent. Check out the Build a Gas Forge attachment on the Forge Supplies page of www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. Let me know if I can help you. I prefer contact by e-mail.