That's a really good little forge. I might have a go at making one myself. I will take your advice about supporting others in their respective trades/vocations. I always enjoy your videos. Cheers mate, from an Aussie boilermaker/welder.
Oh my word. Thank you. There is important information in your head that is making it out to the world. I am just one of the beneficiaries. I am retired and want to dabble in some baby blacksmithing projects. Small to you, but big for me. Thanks again for the help. 🙂
I always learn so much when I watch your videos. I really respect your ability to recognize your limitations and know when to trust someone else over yourself. There is a lot of wisdom in that! Thank you for sharing your work!
I thoroughly enjoy your presentations. I am just beginning to dabble in blacksmithing [at 74 years old] and between you and Scott [Essential Craftsman] (who recommended you to me) I am able to remain active and have fun at being creative. Much obliged. 🤠
I have a mechanical engineering buddy who cringes everytime i build my own stuff 😂 i finally collaborated on a burner build and wowzas that burner puts out heat! I was curious about brick forges and will pass this video to my buddy who has one! Thanks for info good sir
Hey John that is a great little forge. Thank you very much for including our 1/2” Shorty Burner!!! Great concept and super informative I have received quite a few email because of your videos and have been hearing great your videos are. Love what you are doing for the blacksmithing community. I’m honored you are using our burners!!!! I can’t Thank you enough!! I will be sharing this as much as I can!!!
Great video! Think I’m going to try and copy this forge. I’ve looked at a ton of DIY’s on forges and this one is the most “doable”. Thanks for the help!
I have to tell you John. that is a great two part video on how to build the Forge. Nobody covers that much information and takes you through step-by-step. great job. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
OMG!!!!!!!! I have watched a lot of how to make a forge vids on you tube and ended up buying a two burner unit for about $450 and works great. But this is the best DIY I have seen. great job. either use it after the new forge is in use or sell it. it may last 15 mins before someone would buy it. this is a outstanding forge you made.
What a cracking little forge for your smaller peices John, I did giggle when you sounded like Darth Vader with your respirator on, as always mate a well explained and demonstrated videos that will definitely inspire people to ‘ get out to their shop n make something’ 👍🏴
Great little forge, would be good for a knife maker ! You're very right on the buying things at times instead of making them. I've always been able to fabricate just about anything I wanted to but there are times when it makes sense to let the experts do it ! 😊 Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Success my friend. Great little heater for sure. As you say it will be used a lot for soooo many things. Your closing remarks are great bud. Take care and see you soon fella !
First.👻 I am going to make this. When I was a kid my dad was a Special Effects guy. He made all kinds of vehicles for shows, one day I asked him “Why don’t you just make yourself a truck?” He said “Because, while I could, it’s never going to be as good as the guys that make them everyday”
Hay John i still love all your videos and i love the small forge i have the 9kg gas bottle size forge and it works well but yours looks so kool and you can do longer peaces in yours so love it mate and love to see more
That should turn out to be a nice, serviceable little forge, John. I've thought about building a fire brick forge, especially since obtaining quality coal is really getting difficult. I love the base you made. That's the one feature I really like.
I have a mini forge made from just one soft firebrick with holes scraped/drilled. It gets to welding temps, but it is so small. I do a lot of twisting in it, because I built a frame that it slides down with the bar held in place. So, I can twist with the bar still in the forge. You may want to build something like that.
Thank you Sir for your video. I'm young & learning, I have a question if it's ok, Can I use clay three holed bricks to forge metals or is it a bad idea ????
It is better looking than my round Tabasco forge by the Chille Forge people. My guess is that the Tabasco is bigger. I got mine when they had removable end caps so that I could replace the kaolin wool in the future. I slather ITC 100 both on the inside and the entrance flanges often to keep things from eroding so quick. The Tabasco is too big for pinpoint heats for which the coal forge is better. I also prefer a coal/coke forge for forge welding. I am guessing that your forge will require less maintenance which is fantastic. I am wondering if you will ever find a need to partially block the end(s) to keep more heat in, such as on cold days.
When I built mine like that (insulated with kaowool), there were no shhet metal sold cheap in Brazil, so I had to weld flat stock bars together to form the shell lolol
Nice, I noticed John the burner was spluttering a bit when you lit it, maybe a bit of kaowool is in the way, when mine is cool i put my hand in and put a finger up in the bottom of the burner to see if anything is in the way of the burner. Love it mate.
Seven. A very nice and quite durable little forge John. Please fill us in on what kind of adjustments you decided to make and why. I am still fiddling with my new forge trying to figure out what is best. There are enough variables to make it a guessing game.
It is about the same size as my Devil Forge (I think mine is 4"x4"). Really nice for small stuff, and I don't run it for hours. But mine is only K-Wool all around with a hard fire brick for a floor. I like the brick shelf in front. You can just have another brick there for a door. Really easy and very functional! I'll build one like it, only somewhat bigger. One little idea: If you put some of that fibre board under the shelf bricks, you get a step down into the forge. That makes a little recessed area with your center brick as a bottom. There you can then have a layer of extruded clay pebbles. They are nice because they allow the flame to reach under the parts in the forge.
Also the pebbles take at least some of the borax drip, if you should ever use any in there. BTW: Does the little burner get the forge to a welding heat? I understand that at your altitude you need to run a force air feed on your other forge's burners?
Your careful videos and clear explanations are and inspiration and a rare find these days. However, I live in an area where a coal forge might incite the neighbors to violence. (Well, maybe just loud complaints. ) Consequently, I'm considering a small gas forge somewhat like this. I'm only a 74 year old hobbyist and have no commercial aspirations. Since I have natural gas and not propane at my house, could I simply tote in refillable propane tanks like used on my camper? Would I spend too much time refilling them?
You can use refillable tanks, but with a high volume forge they tend to ice up unless you go with the 10lb size. You can use natural gas with a blower, but I don't have the specs on what it takes to get everything just right
Is the insulating value or the max temp of the Kaowool better than the board type? It appears the board type is easier to work with. I realize you were working with what was at hand.
I think they are similar enough in heat properties to be interchangeable. Although there are different grades and temperature ratings. I think it comes down to which suits the forge design the best.
Its not a bad forge, but it is a little small for my day to day work so it's never set up when I might otherwise use it. As a result I just use the big forge for pretty much everything.
John- This is a very practical and cost effective small forge design. To increase its efficiency, would you consider coating the interior with HYB-UV or ITC-100 as mentioned/described by Rex Price on his hybridburners.com/products webpage? Thanks for posting this video series.
John I just modified my forge made it larger, and my burner sputters sometimes even when It gets hotter. I have heard there is some calculation to work out the forge area per burner, do you know what it is and if it's true and relevant.??
Please don't shout. I used fire brick because it does not have the health issues that ceramics have. Soft fire brick is more efficient and will preform better than the hard brick would.
the soft brick is a better insulator and will be more efficient. If durability becomes I problem, then hard brick might be in order, but it will greatly add to the time it takes to come up to heat.
I don't understand why people don't just use the best aspects of all forges , forced air , kaowool , round forge , just seems like you could build the best possible forge that one could make that's also easier to reline and bring to welding temps , this would be the ultimate forge build !!!!!
After nearly 30 years of using gas forges I can assure you that there is no such thing as the ultimate gas forge. Forced air requires electricity, which not everybody has. kaowool is fragile and easily damaged, requires more frequent relining and has health risks round forges have the least useful interior space and don't hold the volume of work for production runs relining a forge is time lost and to do a proper job with coating kaowool it takes several days If you ever build the ultimate forge I would love for yu to sen one out, it would be a god product to do a video review of.
@@BlackBearForge lol i just got burned lmao : / .... ok maybe i shouldve done a tad bit more research before I went flapping my gums on the interwebs , I digress what would you consider the all around most utilitarian type of forge Mr. John ...if you don't mind me asking ... like on a desert island with only one forge to choose from lol
Solid fuel is the most versatile, but coal and coke are getting harder to come by and less acceptable if you have neighbors. For a gas forge, I have yet to find the perfect all round forge, they are always to small or to big for everything or they don't allow for odd shaped work pieces. I currently have three gas forges and plan to add one or two more to provide more options. But if I could only have one, right now it would be my oval Chili forge. Once I get around t building a ribbon burner, I might change my mind.
@@BlackBearForge ahh the infamous ribbon burner , sounds good and I burn solid fuel myself and this is where i came to ask in first place so I don't waste to much time on a gas forge , also I see oval instead of round , possibly with forced air and ribbon burner sounds like getting closer , thanks for response and love to see your take on a ribbon burning forge I'm sure it will be awesome !!!!!
The tack welds would be strong enough, but ugly. I chose to weld the full seams partly for a cleaner look, partly to pull the bow out of the scrap sheet metal I was using and finally to help prevent warpage as the shell heats up during use. The shell warping after a few years of use has caused several forges to start having issues.
You can buy it at most brick suppliers or places that deal with ceramic kilns. In Pueblo we also have Refractories West or you can find them online. But to actually answer your question I bought a bunch of fire brick and Kaowool at an auction many years ago.
John this is really nice. Do you have an idea of what kind of $'s of material you put into making it? Not counting the burner, just curious what it cost to put it together? Have you ever heard of a company called Devil Forge? Anyone have any comments on there small units?
Not counting the burner it was all made from materials on hand. Some of which I have had stored for 20 + years. So I good estimate would be hard to come up with. I have heard of Devil forge, bit I have never seen their products in use.
That's a really good little forge. I might have a go at making one myself. I will take your advice about supporting others in their respective trades/vocations. I always enjoy your videos. Cheers mate, from an Aussie boilermaker/welder.
Oh my word. Thank you. There is important information in your head that is making it out to the world. I am just one of the beneficiaries. I am retired and want to dabble in some baby blacksmithing projects. Small to you, but big for me. Thanks again for the help. 🙂
I always learn so much when I watch your videos. I really respect your ability to recognize your limitations and know when to trust someone else over yourself. There is a lot of wisdom in that! Thank you for sharing your work!
For small shows this is perfect
Your good safety examples may help someone stay healthy. Thank you
I thoroughly enjoy your presentations. I am just beginning to dabble in blacksmithing [at 74 years old] and between you and Scott [Essential Craftsman] (who recommended you to me) I am able to remain active and have fun at being creative. Much obliged. 🤠
Enjoy the journey, it can be a bit adictive
....thank YOU very much !!! YOU are a sooo interessting Master !!! kind regards from Switzerland !!
I have a mechanical engineering buddy who cringes everytime i build my own stuff 😂 i finally collaborated on a burner build and wowzas that burner puts out heat! I was curious about brick forges and will pass this video to my buddy who has one! Thanks for info good sir
Great little forge nice job.
Hey John that is a great little forge. Thank you very much for including our 1/2” Shorty Burner!!! Great concept and super informative I have received quite a few email because of your videos and have been hearing great your videos are. Love what you are doing for the blacksmithing community. I’m honored you are using our burners!!!! I can’t Thank you enough!! I will be sharing this as much as I can!!!
I am glad you approve. probably not the most efficient forge, but it should be trouble free.
Great looking little forge John! Anyone would be proud to have that forge in their shop :-)
good job
Great video! Think I’m going to try and copy this forge. I’ve looked at a ton of DIY’s on forges and this one is the most “doable”. Thanks for the help!
The hard brick doesn't get hot very fast and will never reach welding temps. But it is a useable little forge.
This is the most Rock solid forge build I've seen so far.
I have to tell you John. that is a great two part video on how to build the Forge. Nobody covers that much information and takes you through step-by-step. great job. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
I'm glad it was helpful.
Thank you John that is one really nice forge and you did an amazing job building it .
Nice job
Especially covering safety and research.
OMG!!!!!!!! I have watched a lot of how to make a forge vids on you tube and ended up buying a two burner unit for about $450 and works great. But this is the best DIY I have seen. great job. either use it after the new forge is in use or sell it. it may last 15 mins before someone would buy it. this is a outstanding forge you made.
I have found that there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to gas forges. You may want both.
Great little forge
What a cracking little forge for your smaller peices John, I did giggle when you sounded like Darth Vader with your respirator on, as always mate a well explained and demonstrated videos that will definitely inspire people to ‘ get out to their shop n make something’ 👍🏴
Great little forge, would be good for a knife maker !
You're very right on the buying things at times instead of making them.
I've always been able to fabricate just about anything I wanted to but there are times when it makes sense to let the experts do it ! 😊
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
I always figure that after they have made a hundred or so of something, that they have the bugs pretty well worked out
@@BlackBearForge brick forge is how jm starting. 😀 bought a burner off of Amazon and it seems to work great so far.
Hey ,a Brother of the Fire service , I like you even more now !
This is something I definitely want for hardware. Little bolts and things that might get lost in the coke forge.
Have made small Cole forge have got new gas one but will make one like yours as I think the small one will be good for me thanks .
Awesome little forge. Good job John.
Thanks John enjoyed this project, it will be a nice addition to your shop.
Nice forge! Good work
That came great! And you are right, time is money!
Success my friend. Great little heater for sure. As you say it will be used a lot for soooo many things. Your closing remarks are great bud. Take care and see you soon fella !
Thanks again for another good video with perfect clarity on responsibility.
Oh, you want to light it....lol🤣😂, love your sense of humour.
I would be proud to have the old burned out forge in my shop. Seeing I don't have one. Warren Sansoucie
I could ship it.
That's my first project I can't afford the ones on Amazon. Thank you! I love your videos!
Love the simplicity
First.👻 I am going to make this. When I was a kid my dad was a Special Effects guy. He made all kinds of vehicles for shows, one day I asked him “Why don’t you just make yourself a truck?” He said “Because, while I could, it’s never going to be as good as the guys that make them everyday”
@Jakob Randy bad bot
Great job, John!
Dave
Great little forge, John!! Keep doing what you are doing.
Hay John i still love all your videos and i love the small forge i have the 9kg gas bottle size forge and it works well but yours looks so kool and you can do longer peaces in yours so love it mate and love to see more
That should turn out to be a nice, serviceable little forge, John. I've thought about building a fire brick forge, especially since obtaining quality coal is really getting difficult. I love the base you made. That's the one feature I really like.
The base make for a larger overall forge. But i think it will be worth it to have a nice level support on the ends.
That's an awesome forge I want to make one slightly bigger
I have a mini forge made from just one soft firebrick with holes scraped/drilled. It gets to welding temps, but it is so small. I do a lot of twisting in it, because I built a frame that it slides down with the bar held in place. So, I can twist with the bar still in the forge. You may want to build something like that.
Its an interesting idea
Thank you Sir for your video.
I'm young & learning, I have a question if it's ok, Can I use clay three holed bricks to forge metals or is it a bad idea ????
Perfect for the hobbyist,,, like myself, TY
It is better looking than my round Tabasco forge by the Chille Forge people. My guess is that the Tabasco is bigger. I got mine when they had removable end caps so that I could replace the kaolin wool in the future. I slather ITC 100 both on the inside and the entrance flanges often to keep things from eroding so quick. The Tabasco is too big for pinpoint heats for which the coal forge is better. I also prefer a coal/coke forge for forge welding. I am guessing that your forge will require less maintenance which is fantastic. I am wondering if you will ever find a need to partially block the end(s) to keep more heat in, such as on cold days.
I think I am going to make one of these.
Thanks
1000th like! Keep the videos coming! They're amazing!!
That would be an awesome knife making Forge I'd like to see you make a railroad spike Twisted knife in it
Great looking forge! It would be nice to have plans for building it. That's if you don't mind making plans for the forge.
I probably won't make plans. This was a make it to suit the materials I had on hand. The only thing I purchased was the burner.
When I built mine like that (insulated with kaowool), there were no shhet metal sold cheap in Brazil, so I had to weld flat stock bars together to form the shell lolol
Nice, I noticed John the burner was spluttering a bit when you lit it, maybe a bit of kaowool is in the way, when mine is cool i put my hand in and put a finger up in the bottom of the burner to see if anything is in the way of the burner. Love it mate.
They tend to smooth out at heat. But its worth checking
Cheers John, yeah they do that a bit at the start, mine does too.
Seven. A very nice and quite durable little forge John. Please fill us in on what kind of adjustments you decided to make and why. I am still fiddling with my new forge trying to figure out what is best. There are enough variables to make it a guessing game.
It is a bit of a guessing game.
It is about the same size as my Devil Forge (I think mine is 4"x4"). Really nice for small stuff, and I don't run it for hours. But mine is only K-Wool all around with a hard fire brick for a floor. I like the brick shelf in front. You can just have another brick there for a door. Really easy and very functional! I'll build one like it, only somewhat bigger. One little idea: If you put some of that fibre board under the shelf bricks, you get a step down into the forge. That makes a little recessed area with your center brick as a bottom. There you can then have a layer of extruded clay pebbles. They are nice because they allow the flame to reach under the parts in the forge.
Interesting idea. I would need to build up the rim that holds the brick. Or I could go to a split brick for the forge floor.
Also the pebbles take at least some of the borax drip, if you should ever use any in there. BTW: Does the little burner get the forge to a welding heat? I understand that at your altitude you need to run a force air feed on your other forge's burners?
Are you referring to hydroponics clay pebbles?
I think so, the outside usually is brown and the inside grey.
Your careful videos and clear explanations are and inspiration and a rare find these days. However, I live in an area where a coal forge might incite the neighbors to violence. (Well, maybe just loud complaints. ) Consequently, I'm considering a small gas forge somewhat like this. I'm only a 74 year old hobbyist and have no commercial aspirations. Since I have natural gas and not propane at my house, could I simply tote in refillable propane tanks like used on my camper? Would I spend too much time refilling them?
You can use refillable tanks, but with a high volume forge they tend to ice up unless you go with the 10lb size. You can use natural gas with a blower, but I don't have the specs on what it takes to get everything just right
Badass
Which material do you used for isolation???
Is the insulating value or the max temp of the Kaowool better than the board type? It appears the board type is easier to work with. I realize you were working with what was at hand.
I think they are similar enough in heat properties to be interchangeable. Although there are different grades and temperature ratings. I think it comes down to which suits the forge design the best.
Upped your comedy game, eh? |^D Going to give "This old Tony" a run for his money soon? ;^/
I had not seen him. Thats some great stuff
Hi John, I dont remember seeing this forge in any videos. Do you still use it? What do you think about it today?
Thanks
Its not a bad forge, but it is a little small for my day to day work so it's never set up when I might otherwise use it. As a result I just use the big forge for pretty much everything.
Ha ha you got me John!
Do you know roughly how long a small propane tank (one usually seen on a grill) will last on a one burner system?
There are so many variables that its hard to say for sure. The biggest problem is that they can't keep up with high demand.
@@BlackBearForge Understood, thank you for the reply! Trying to determine cost/benefit and it's not going well haha.
Can we see you using that forge a bit in the shop mate????
It does show up from time to time. But since I do production work out of the larger fore, its usually the one set up and ready to work.
John- This is a very practical and cost effective small forge design. To increase its efficiency, would you consider coating the interior with HYB-UV or ITC-100 as mentioned/described by Rex Price on his hybridburners.com/products webpage? Thanks for posting this video series.
I might, but I'm not sure if it will need it. Plus that then makes for a layer that is easily damaged and will need repairs.
John I just modified my forge made it larger, and my burner sputters sometimes even when It gets hotter. I have heard there is some calculation to work out the forge area per burner, do you know what it is and if it's true and relevant.??
I'm afraid i am not the best person to ask. I use forges, but don't know much about the design requirements for gas forges.
That's ok mate, when I find out can I post it here, others might be interested too.?
SILLY QUESTION BROTHER, WHY USE THE SOFT FIRE BRICK ON A FORGE SO SMALL, JUST NOT NEEDED, THANX, ALWAYS INTERESTING
Please don't shout. I used fire brick because it does not have the health issues that ceramics have. Soft fire brick is more efficient and will preform better than the hard brick would.
so 4 years later, do u stil use it? and how do u like it
It still has practical uses, but I rarely bring it out of storage to use it. I would like to have it set up where I can use it for smaller projects
@@BlackBearForge wel u can now in ur new shed 😁
real quick. Why soft fire brick wouldn't it be better to do hard fire brick all the way around?
the soft brick is a better insulator and will be more efficient. If durability becomes I problem, then hard brick might be in order, but it will greatly add to the time it takes to come up to heat.
What's the length of the bricks that u have used
9" I think
I don't understand why people don't just use the best aspects of all forges , forced air , kaowool , round forge , just seems like you could build the best possible forge that one could make that's also easier to reline and bring to welding temps , this would be the ultimate forge build !!!!!
After nearly 30 years of using gas forges I can assure you that there is no such thing as the ultimate gas forge.
Forced air requires electricity, which not everybody has.
kaowool is fragile and easily damaged, requires more frequent relining and has health risks
round forges have the least useful interior space and don't hold the volume of work for production runs
relining a forge is time lost and to do a proper job with coating kaowool it takes several days
If you ever build the ultimate forge I would love for yu to sen one out, it would be a god product to do a video review of.
@@BlackBearForge lol i just got burned lmao : / .... ok maybe i shouldve done a tad bit more research before I went flapping my gums on the interwebs , I digress what would you consider the all around most utilitarian type of forge Mr. John ...if you don't mind me asking ... like on a desert island with only one forge to choose from lol
Solid fuel is the most versatile, but coal and coke are getting harder to come by and less acceptable if you have neighbors. For a gas forge, I have yet to find the perfect all round forge, they are always to small or to big for everything or they don't allow for odd shaped work pieces. I currently have three gas forges and plan to add one or two more to provide more options. But if I could only have one, right now it would be my oval Chili forge. Once I get around t building a ribbon burner, I might change my mind.
@@BlackBearForge ahh the infamous ribbon burner , sounds good and I burn solid fuel myself and this is where i came to ask in first place so I don't waste to much time on a gas forge , also I see oval instead of round , possibly with forced air and ribbon burner sounds like getting closer , thanks for response and love to see your take on a ribbon burning forge I'm sure it will be awesome !!!!!
Why do you weld it all over? It would be better with 1" welds, 3-4" apart! Less welding, less distortion and more than strong enough! regards, Matthew
The tack welds would be strong enough, but ugly. I chose to weld the full seams partly for a cleaner look, partly to pull the bow out of the scrap sheet metal I was using and finally to help prevent warpage as the shell heats up during use. The shell warping after a few years of use has caused several forges to start having issues.
Why is the burner placed where it is?
convenience.
Where did you purchase the fire brick
You can buy it at most brick suppliers or places that deal with ceramic kilns. In Pueblo we also have Refractories West or you can find them online. But to actually answer your question I bought a bunch of fire brick and Kaowool at an auction many years ago.
@@BlackBearForge can I use the $1.20 fire brick From home Depot the 9" long by 4" 1/2 wide by 2 1/2 thick???
@@BlackBearForge sorry to bother you buddy
How did you cut the sheet metal?
Cutoff disc
How do you like this little forge
John this is really nice. Do you have an idea of what kind of $'s of material you put into making it? Not counting the burner, just curious what it cost to put it together? Have you ever heard of a company called Devil Forge? Anyone have any comments on there small units?
Not counting the burner it was all made from materials on hand. Some of which I have had stored for 20 + years. So I good estimate would be hard to come up with. I have heard of Devil forge, bit I have never seen their products in use.
10:44 LOL :,-D
fire is never bad :) im jokeing
3:40. Git a bigger hammer!