flyyoufool

The burner tube is 3/4", and i believe the mig tip is .35. I would have to go look at the box. It was whatever was suggested for 3/4' burner. I pretty much look in as many places as possible. I live in an area where it seems the stores find out what i need and make sure they don't carry it. Napa had to order a needle valve from Alabama.. The Ward reducing tee.. The one I have now came from New York. Or they have what I need and I could buy it, but they have large minimum orders. I suppose you know all about having to ship in everything you need.. Anyway.. I try to find the places that have the most things I need in one place to try to save on shipping. As of right now hightemptools.com has the most of what I need. I have planned 2 inches kaowool covered in kastolite with ITC-100, but my plans are subject to change.. I wanted to build one that would last. and that seemed to me to be the best way to do it. Thanks for the advice. jonathan

modest improvement.. I went with the kitty litter and paint can. Mainly because it cost about 3 dollars instead of about 200 for my planned kaowool and kastolite lining. I didn't really get to put it to the test.. It still gets hot so it's good enough for now. I made an idler, and found my forge shell.

I thought about it.. I know the rest of the blade isn't hardened. I'm gonna build a better forge before I test it like that. That way, if something is wrong, I know it is my fault and not my equipment.

Forged from 5/8"x1/4" flat steel bar I found in a scrap pile. I have no clue about the composition. I just started hitting it with the hammer, saw where it was going, and started reading and watching videos. My approximation of a habaki is made of a piece of AC tubing I found in said scrap pile. I had the little piece soldered in, but i ground it too far and split it. So I filled it in with the tig instead. My approximation of the saya and tsuka are made of part of a pallet leftover from a chest I built. I also made these chisels when I found out how difficult it is to accurately carve out wood with a knife. I had it all clayed up before I realized that my forge wouldn't keep enough of the length hot enough to actually harden the whole blade. After a few attempts between the forge and O/A I decided to just try to harden the tip. I got as much of the tip as hot as i could get it and water quenched. I cleaned it up and heated it til it turned blue. Im not 100 percent sure it hardened. It felt harder when i ran a file across it, but I haven't tried a different way to tell. I think someone said something about soaking in vinegar.. After too much time filing and sanding and sanding and sanding in an attempt to remove the scrapes caused by irresponsible filing, I decided to go with angle grinder with a tiger paw. So here we are. I'm moving on to the next one because I want to focus more on forging, I want to re-heat treat it, and I used up all of my sandpaper...

A few adjustments. I changed the reducing tee, got a regulator adjustable to 30psi, and added the bricks. It is getting my stuff to a bright orange color. Fortunately, for me anyway, a guy i work with left our pressure washer on over the weekend. It has a upright burner column that i think is gonna be a perfect shell. I found the rest in several piles of junk that I have access to. One man's trash huh? Anyway, it is better than the vise i was using. A couple of questions; My regulator has no port for a gauge, Will it work if i pipe one in behind the reg? Is it still possible to get a stainless flare like zoeller had?

Thanks. I couldn't get a good flame without a choke. I tried the bushing, but it wasn't enough. The nipple was sitting nearby, so on it went. The flame looked how i thought it should, so i left it. It will be replaced along with that bushing, and several other things. It is definitely a work in progress.

I'm working on a forge. I built a burner and set it up to try it. I thought it worked fairly well. I plan to build something better to put my burner in, and i have a few changes in mind for the burner. I just figured I'd put it up and see if anyone has anything to say.