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As a follow up to the new workbench, I also needed a new mobile stand for my Gas Forge. I have a ForgeMaster Blacksmith model forge which weighs just under 90lbs. The propane cylinder weighs about 100 lbs, and the stand also needed to accomodate things like a quench bucket, hammers, etc. So the design called for a rolling stand that would not collapse under hundreds of pounds of weight.I turned to 2" x 2" x 1/16" tubing for the frame and used 1/8" sheet for the shelf surfaces. You can view the pictures here:http://pozadzides.com/john/forge-stand/ And here is a PDF of the AutoCAD file I created prior to construction:http://www.pozadzides.com/john/forge...orge-stand.pdf Materials for the cart ran me about $100 plus about $20 for the locking wheels. I also had it powder coated "hammered black" at a cost of about $110 including powder, labor and oven time.The tubing was cut on a DeWalt chopsaw, the shelves were actually cut by hand using a straight edge and a plasma torch, and the entire assembly was completed with a MIG welder.If there are any questions or comments feel free to post them and I'll try to respond soon. In a couple of days I'll try to get around to posting a few other little projects as well.Take care,JohnIt went from this... to this...
Reply:Pretty cool. If I may ask, what do you use the forge for?
Reply:I am an Artist Blacksmith and Bladesmith, so I use the forge for those purposes... I've actually documented some of the schooling I did at the American Bladesmith School on hand forging and heat treating of blades, complete with videos. If you have any interest you can check it out here: http://pozadzides.com/bladesmithing/Take care,John
Reply:John, that was a great write up! Loads of information, and you can tell that your excited about the subject. I don't that I would have the patience to go through all that and have the blade break!
Reply:True! It was awfully painful to have to break a blade that you just spent all that time forging, grinding and heat treating. But at the same time it was also awesome! ;-) And it was a fantastic learning experience. I will tell you that I learned as much from breaking a few blades and examining what happened as I learned from all that other stuff. It stresses the importance of a good heat treat, and demonstrates the true strength of a forged blade vs an off the shelf model.John |
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