John in Oly, WA

Well, in the burners we use in forges, there's generally some kind of flared nozzle at the end. The flare slows the flame down and helps keep it attached to the end of the mixing tube. In your burner (or the person who's video you're working from) it looks like you don't exactly want the flame at the end of the mixing tube, so if you were to put a constriction (a ring that constricted the diameter and then did a gradual flaring) inside the mixing tube that would act somewhat like a nozzle flare, you could get the flame to attach there.

And that begs the question - "What's cooking Drew?" or "What's gonna be cooking?" Seafood stew in a big pot? Stir fry in a wok?

And speaking of high-alumina kiln shelf, have you tried calling a local pottery supply? That's where I get my K26 firebrick. Also, you might start a new thread in the Gas Forges section of this site with pictures of your forge and people could help you sort out how to get the best performance out of your forge.

With the size of your mixing tube (shroud), your orifice is essentially in open air. Try smaller diameter mixing tubes, even down to 1" to 1-1/2" diameter, and see what happens to your flame. And avoid galvanized anything near the heated parts of the burner assembly. You can get nasty (toxic) zinc fumes if the galvanized coating starts to vaporize. And don't expect your flame to necessarily stay attached to the burner's orifice, but it does need to stay attached to something. Might be the end of the mixing tube, or if you put a constrictor inside your mixing tube, it might be that.

Well, there you go! Looks like you've found your support group. Now there'll be no stopping the addiction.

True, you do have to buy quantity. Maybe Frosty's suggestion then - buy it by the roll and tape your own together. Or move the motor mount 9" up and open to the availability of 2 x 72 belts.

Yes. Better a support group than a rehabilitation center. This kind of an addiction needs support more than a cure! LOL Any blacksmith clubs in your area?

Not an accurate time at full power. Every time I've used it, I'm always ramping the temp up. But I can set it at full power, fire it up and find out. Would be good to know. I'll do that tonight and let you know.

Nice looking knife Zachary, but be careful! That pattern-welding stuff can be very addicting.

Nice knife Bryson! Nice leather work too. I'm going to have to learn how to do that soon. I second Bryson's encouragement Cavpilot. I have a forge press, but for the few pattern welded billets I've done, I always start out with the hammer on the anvil to get the layers to stick. Once they're all welded together well, you're good to go however you proceed from there.

Nice looking paring/utility knife. Probably one of the most useful knife styles around.

Can't go wrong with that deal. Just did a search for belts and found zirconia 80 grit 2x90 belts for $6.73 a piece. That's not a bad price. If you find the selection of 2x90 belts to be limited, just modify the grinder by raising the motor mount 9" and you've got a 2x72.

How bad you want/need it. What uses you have for it. Whether you have a line on another motor somewhere for free or a reasonable price you could swap in. I was just thinking the Baldor motor running is worth a good chunk of that $150.

Ya got an old power cord lying around? Take it and three wire nuts, connect it to the cut off grinder cord and plug it in, see if it runs. The grinder may have been hardwired into the shop circuitry and they just cut it rather than disconnect it.

That's an interesting find. I can see a lot of uses for something like that and I like the vacuum connector at the bottom. If the motor works, I'd say it's worth $150. If it doesn't, well then it would depend on a bunch of personal factors.

I grew up calling them Crescent wrenches too. I like the "shifty lizards" Aus. And they look like they can still function for their original purpose. Can't help but picture someone under their car working on it, with a bunch of "shifty lizards", and other tools turned into animals, all around.

It sounds like you're in a good range. I wouldn't think it would matter 120v or 240v. As long as you have the wattage for the surface area, you should be good. The voltage just means you're using more or less amps to get that wattage - but I'm no electrician or engineer, so I could be completely wrong. Of course, I'm not being much help to find a solution either. Do you have any more room in your service panel for a 240v breaker? Not hard to wire another 240v circuit. Then you could try it at 240v if your PID and element are built for it. Or just swap plugs for the different tools and use the existing 240v circuit. You're probably not welding when you're heat treating, so both don't need to be plugged in at the same time. Need some more knowledgeable people chiming in. I'm not being much help.

And if you have the patience to save up your nickels and dimes, there's the Cadillac of 2x72 belt grinders - the TW-90 by Travis Wuertz. But as Buzzkill mentioned, whatever you find, make it at least 2 hp so it doesn't bog down.

That seems a bit slow to heat up. What's your element wattage and your interior surface area? When I built my heat treating oven I went with info I'd found on building a pottery kiln that recommended 3.9w/surface square inch. I haven't timed mine for heating up, but at full power it's much faster than that.

The first letter designates who made it. In your case, that would be Charles Zulty of the Columbus Forge and Iron Company.

Oh, those miatakes are jest glatingly hiseous! LOL Just jesting! Looks like a beautiful pattern and finish from here. Keep up the good work!

Too cool! Magazine pages suitable for framing!

Slate? Tile? Fibre Cement Slate? Cembrit Plank?

That's a beautiful lamp Gools. If I were you, I'd get on the phone and talk to your grampa about everything you can think of to ask him about blacksmithing. You could learn a lot, and I think he'd love to share his knowledge and experience with someone who's genuinely interested in learning, especially his own grandson.

I love to learn new things. On my list is to learn to successfully cast brass and bronze for knife hardware using the lost wax (or in this case "lost 3d printer resin") method. I'm in the middle of that. I have a few casts - one with wax was successful, two with 3d printer castable resin not successful. I'm thinking part of the problem is I have the wrong investment; another part is not having the brass melt at a high enough temperature. More attempts this weekend. I've spent the last 3 months learning to get a successful 3D print with the castable resin, so now on to the casting part of that process. Another thing then to learn is leatherworking, so I can make knife sheaths. And continue my forging, pattern welding, grinding, heat treating, forge building, burner tuning, metallurgy education. And on a completely unrelated subject, it's the time of the season to continue learning the craft of canning and pickling.