PJ234

Thanks guys! triw, it was a piece of coil spring (Jeep?) about 7 inches long or so. I understand that it might be 5160 or just about anything else.

I've not used one personally, but lot's of folks seem to like the Bernzomatic JTH-7 (~$30) torch for coffee can/fire brick scale forges. I took a lesson from Tai Goo in Tucson a while back, and he was using a coffee can forge with a Harbor Freight weedburner torch (~$20), and he seemed pleased with its performance and fuel economy.

A couple of ideas I've wondered about inspired by some of the junk piles around the house: -muffler: seems like the size and shape is good, and many already have end caps with holes that might be suitable as doors -soda 'keg': Fountain drinks used to be dispensed from these 5 gallon stainless containers that are now used by homebrewers for kegging beer, you may recall seeing them in gas stations, restaurants, etc. years ago before they switched to cardboard boxes with plastic liners. They look to be a nice size, shape, etc. for a forge

Thanks guys, I'll post progress pics when I have time to work on it more. It definitely is fun and I look forward to doing a few more.

I recently finished a novice blacksmithing class offered by the local Blacksmithing Association, and had a chance to hammer out my first blade from a piece of coil spring. Here it is fresh from forging, before any filing or grinding with all of its warts and flaws still intact. It was great fun, and getting involved with these associations is not only a great way to come up the learning curve quickly, but also to get connected with other people that have similar interests and that can help with the things all of us beginners have problems with and don't know how to solve on our own.

I'm still a newbie, but the first night of a class I recently took gave me an experience similar to the one you described above, and it turned out that the regulator had been installed backwards in that case. We just swapped it out for a different one and went to work, so I don't know if this causes any permanent damage to regulator and/or gauge. Good luck!

Could the regulator be installed backwards? If not, maybe close the tank, back off the regulator, and vent the forge to release the pressure in the lines and start over again.