Any one here have the big Chily forge?
The guys at Anvil Fire didn’t think the big blue hammer would be big enough to draw a 3” round stock, and after bark texturing 3”with it yesterday it was clear enough that it would have no way been big enough to draw with, however, I;m not sure the forge is up to speed either. I have a 4 burner Johnson forge and it gets the steel only to a red glow…good enough to texture with…
I see some of you folks getting a white hot heat….I’m wondering if it’s me and the air fuel mixture..or if it’s the wrong forge style/design for this type of work.[
attachment=4031]
_______________
duck
Duck,
Matt and I both bought the two burner Chile Forge (can't remember which type chili pepper). I haven't tried mine on anything that big, but I don't see why it would not heat up the stock you have, and the pass through feature would allow you work on long stock. Just buy several of them and couple them together: that would add new meaning to Hotlanta!!! Guess if you'd get your butt down here you could try mine out. Of course, if you talked really nice to One-Eyed Eddie, and promised him a dog bickie, he might bring my Chile Forge up and help you out: you'd have to get a one-eyed safety goggle for him though.
My Bull 75 is supposed to work up to 1", and I do notice that when I try and squish big stuff, there is a point at which it just hits and nothing else happens to the metal. I'm surprised that your 115# Big Blue was having trouble with the texture die; my guess is that the problem lies more with the forge not getting the metal hot enough. Have you tried any of the forge lube that some folks are hawking? It is supposed to help do miraculous things with dies, etc. Might be worth a try. You might want to go over to Forgemagic.com and explain you project: there are some guys on that site that hammer really big stuff on a routine basis; just don't ask about Grits.
Dave, hotter today than yesterday on the Edge of America, which is very close to the Edge of Insanity
I’m sorry to confuse the issue here---the blue hammer does fine with the bark texture die on 3” it’s just not big enough (the hammer) to draw that size material----hence there go the grinder and segment approach.
Dave does the two burner get big stuff white hot? Maybe the hammer would draw the bigger stuff if the forge was sized right? and got it white hot
[Dumb]ck
duck Wrote:Dave does the two burner get big stuff white hot? Maybe the hammer would draw the bigger stuff if the forge was sized right? and got it white hot
[Dumb]ck
White hot? Geez! It gets to 2600 degrees. You need more than that?
Duck,
I have used the same type of Johnson forge that you are using and really haven't seen any steel get too hot.
The one I use was running off of natural gas though, which doesn't burn as hot as propane.
The Johnson is great for odd size work pieces, but is not very a hot or efficient forge design.
The two burner Habanero Forge can put out tremendous amount of heat, if needed. The you can run the forge up to 30psi, but very few peple need to work above 10psi. Your 3" would present an excellent challenge for this forge. If you get the Habanero and it doesn't do the job, just send it back. It's that easy.
Call or email me if you have any questions
David
I use a homemade forge with one burner and I have forged 2 1/2" material down to whatever I want quite frequently. On large stuff I don't like letting it get down to red to forge, if it isn't flat on the anvil at a red heat it can bounce you pretty good. Forging large stuff isn't hard to do just heavy.
Hi Duck,
I'd say you've got a problem with your Johnson forge. I've done a LOT of work with one of those (about 10 years experience with the 133 and a lil with 122)and they should get you a LOT hotter than a "red glow". Wonder if the newer "Blue" ones are set up different, I'm used to the older "green" ones. I must admit I think that those type Johnson forges are ridiculously inefficient, they are great for heating up the shop in the winter
Not to mention I think that they are WAY over priced. I doubt I'd buy one unless it was used and at a GOOD price. IMO, that design has it place........ they are great to heat up things that are to large to fit in smaller forges (i.e. large sheet metal, BIG scrolls that take more than one heat to get all the way around the fixture, etc) and if your in a production shop with many smiths forging at the same time.
But that being said......never had a problem getting the metal hot enough to forge.
and fwiw, I'd say you'd want at least a 250-300 lb hammer to forge that 3" stock, comfortably.
two cents,
Duck,
If I were you, and having trouble forging the 3", I'd still use the segment approach, and taper the size you can with the hammer and resort to the grinder only on stuff too big to forge. Have you called Big Blue to get their opinion on how to forge this? Not wanting to sound like a smart ass, but you do know that you generally taper by forging to a sq. x-section and then taper down, then round back up. If you look over on the photo site at Forgemagic.com, Ralph Sproul has a taper die for pipe that might give you some ideas for consistent tapers on your tree. Good luck. One-eyed Eddie is going to be disappointed if you don't grind at least some of those things: he really enjoyed seeing the fireworks in the pre-dawn sky!!!
Dave
ornametalsmith Wrote:Hi Duck,
I'd say you've got a problem with your Johnson forge. I've done a LOT of work with one of those (about 10 years experience with the 133 and a lil with 122)and they should get you a LOT hotter than a "red glow". Wonder if the newer "Blue" ones are set up different, I'm used to the older "green" ones. I must admit I think that those type Johnson forges are ridiculously inefficient, they are great for heating up the shop in the winter Not to mention I think that they are WAY over priced. I doubt I'd buy one unless it was used and at a GOOD price. IMO, that design has it place........ they are great to heat up things that are to large to fit in smaller forges (i.e. large sheet metal, BIG scrolls that take more than one heat to get all the way around the fixture, etc) and if your in a production shop with many smiths forging at the same time.
But that being said......never had a problem getting the metal hot enough to forge.
and fwiw, I'd say you'd want at least a 250-300 lb hammer to forge that 3" stock, comfortably.
two cents,
I'd say you've got a problem with your Johnson forge. I've done a LOT of work with one of those (about 10 years experience with the 133 and a lil with 122)and they should get you a LOT hotter than a "red glow".
That’s what I thought, it may be that the air/gas mix is incorrect, and also the stock is too long to fit down into the forge—so it straddles the top with the hood and some extra fire brick stacked up along the sides to create a better enclosure—so it might be that the work is too far away from the fire? anywayzz…I don’t know much about forging but common sense tells me this is not the correct style/design forge for this long thick metal, and if you look at Stretches logo deal next to his post you can see white hot metal---and that looks like ya could mush it with a pair of pliers.
I think what I need is one of the Chile 2 burners but I’ve already lost my ass on this job---------maybe I could take out one of those “Sub Prime Loans” and get some decent stuff.
Duck
oh yeah..I'm everyones buddy in the winter with this forge----but with the temps we're having now-----
Duck I've tapered 4" square bar on my big blue, it was slw to start with because it really doesn't have enough stroke for that material but it did a great job, I'd say if your having problems your forge is not getting the material hot enough, Not to down play Chili forges forges, but I have a Six burner N/C forge and I do a lot of heavy forging and it's never let me down. And again let me say Chili foge has one of the best forges around, I remember when he was building the prototypes they were even some of the best out there and still are.