A few years ago, I came on here and got some wonderful advice about anvils and books to get my husband for Christmas. Well, he has reached the point that he wants a forge that doesn't use coal, so he's looking at a propane fueled one. I would love to either get him a gas forge or the equipment to build one for Father's Day, but again I have no clue what I am looking for. So here's what I know about what he does:
He makes knives, trinkets ect... from railroad spikes, rebar, I "think" he's used lawnmower blades (so it would have to get hot enough to work those metals)
At the moment, he doesn't make anything real big, but who knows in the future
I also "think" he will be using this outdoors (probably storing it inside, but using it out), but he works on this stuff more in the winter because we live in the south and it's just too hot to do much blacksmithing in the summer here.
Any advice, tips, tricks or any of that would be extremely appreciated. Also, at one time, he was looking for something (sorry, I don't remember what it was) to make a fitting to build one and couldn't find it at the home improvement store, if he decides to build one, where would be a good place to get the supplies? We live in Alabama and there are several home improvement type stores close to us, but I'm not sure about anything else, so I might have to buy online.
P.S.--I am going to see if he wants to look on here at some of the plans to build one-- he said he might want to make one himself, but hasn't had time to research it much, and from my looking around here, it looks like maybe he could find out all he needs to know in these forums.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!