Forge:

This is my forge. Like many other working forges, it's sort of a "Frankenforge". I cut the two-burner manifold from my Mankel forge, drilled the jets out and fitted everything with one-inch blackpipe. The bigger pipe and jetting allows the use of natural gas at residential pressure which is much more convenient for me than propane. The forge takes a little longer to attain welding heat at start up, but after that the difference is inconsequential.

The other notable change is that there is no ceramic fiber used in this forge. It's all cast refractory cement top and bottom, and firebricks along the side. Ceramic fiber is good-performing material, but its health risks are not entirely understood so I try to avoid it. Also, ceramic fiber offers no thermal mass to speak of. Heat must be maintained by burning fuel. With many pounds of refractory cement being well soaked and glowing, I can run the fuel/air mixture lower which makes for a gentler atmosphere inside the forge. I have found this preferable to the blast-furnace like atmosphere required to maintain heat in most small forges that primarily use ceramic fiber for refractory. One notable drawback to a forge made of firebrick and cast refractory, however, is that it's very heavy.

As you can see, I can set up my forge in a number of ways for specific jobs depending upon the arrangement of firebrick along the sides. The telescoping rails support longer work while in the forge. It's an idea I picked up from the Johnson industrial forge products.