I've learned not to put the air below the fire, it usually doesn't work that well, the sides work really good for me. use charcoal. yes, i said charcoal. cheap but effective. make a pile of like 5in tall, 10 in wide and so on, and that should get plenty hot enough for copper. Put tyhe charcoal on, then suffocate it in lighter fluid. then put some on the end of a stick, light the stick, and touch it to the fire, it's a mini bomb, but it gets it going. then turn the blower on about 30seconds to 1 minute after that, if inside, make sure that all doors and windows are open...for ventilation. if that doesn't work, well it doesnt, but it should that's what i use, and i've left a piece of steel in it to long and i melted it in half....hehe.