smilyjoe

I know a guy who hit an Elk. It came through his pickup's windshield and the antlers broke off in his chest. He drove himself to the hospital and lived.

I see them a lot up here. Wolves, mountain lion, cariboo... I've heard stories of Grizzly here too

Look what I saw on the way to work this morning!

I often use the word c**p in front of my children. I'd rather have them say that word than watch some of the filth they get to see just driving down the street in Denver.

In context, I do NOT want someone to say: "Go look it up. It's on this site somewhere." I PREFERE people to say: "Go look it up. Search "blah blah blah" or "blah blah blah." Also, check out www.INFORMATIONONBURNERS.COM or something." Please, Glen. I know you are a moderator. Don't take stuff out of context. It's rude. Also, I am intending to insult some people here. I've looked up a few of the people who have commented on some of my posts, as well as some of the "big commentaries" I've seen on the forums. 9 times out of 10, they really don't know any more than the guys on YouTube - even if they have written a book. Writing a book isn't the end-all on being an expert. Also, I edited my post to make sure it's not going to hurt anybody's feelings or anything.

I'm sorry if I offend anybody. This is how I ordinarily talk. I wont say anything here that I wouldn't say at church. Crap isn't a bad word. Its considered slang, like say'n ain't or 'merica.

Which curse words did I use? As far as I see, there isnt any. I put a little character in my writing, no matter what I write. This is called Style, and its a key element in the English language. Im building my own burners because I'm cheap. And, its fun. And, nobody can seem to give me a straight answer on the best way to build one, so I figured I'd do it myself.

Started working on my forge's twin burners this week. So far, everything is turning out great. I have not tested this design yet, but plan to do so soon. I started off by taking a close look at my TurboTorch tips that I use at work (Acetylene gas). Here's a picture of the TurboTorch tip (A11). I too extra notes on the brass section of the torch tip, where the gas begins to mix with air. The gas flows from the regulator into a small chamber, with a very tiny hole machined in it. This little hole sits just before the air intake, which is proportional to the overall diameter of the tip size. I know this because other air intake holes on smaller and larger TurboTorch tips that I have increase and decrease based on tip size (A5 vs A11 for example). Here's a picture of the air-intake holes. Here's a somewhat poor picture of the little hole inside the tip I'm talking about. Anyways, I started considering how I could make this into a larger burner with propane gas for my forge. After learning a bit about forge burners form various sources (mostly the black hole of the Internet where I lost most of my soul), I took a trip to the hardware store (Ferguson Plumbing Supply where I do most of my day-to-day business for work). I purchased a few 1/4 brass fittings, including a 1/4 to 3/8 90. I took the small 1/4 brass cap which I purchased (hex) and drilled a 1/16th hole dead center in the cap. I took a 12" black nipple (also purchased from Ferguson) and cut off the threads. I then proceeded to drill a lot (like, swiss cheese-lot) into the top of the nipple about 3" down. I tapped some set-screws into the side of the gas pipe to hold my reducing 90 (still to be determined if this is the best way to center the fuel hole in the burner). I slid a small piece of stainless steel pipe (one which fit nearly perfectly over the 3/4 gas nipple) up the pipe and used a screw to set it in place (to control air flow for tuning). This covered some of the holes that I drilled earlier on. Finally, I choose to use a small piece of stainless steel pipe which was flared out at the bottom of my burner. I connected it to the 3/4 gas nipple via a set screw as well. The 1/16 hole in the hex cap as seen through the mostly-completed burner. The first burner, and the soon-to-be burner. I need to test the first one before I make the second. Ok. Tell me what you think. People - I'm not looking for drama. The last few posts I've made here have been met with some ornery little kid crap. If you don't like the way I write, move on people. There's at least a few thousand personalities on this forum. You won't get along with everybody. Moving on, away from the drama, I would like some honest opinions. I've never built a forge or burner before. ________________________________________________________ That's it. Let me know how I'm doing. Be joyful. Be friendly. Live life to it's fullest, and have no regrets. I forgot to take a close up picture of the little holes I drilled in the 3/4" nipple. They are as evenly spaced as I could get them with no drill press (soon I'll have one of those too). Again, I modeled the air-intake after the holes on the turbo torch. This post has been heavily edited by Claytonzeimet. Quotes below were made before the edits.

Frosty may be referencing the old-fashioned "Spark Test." I don't know where this chart came from, but I've seen it here and there, so figured I'd give it a share. Nobody from this site probably created it since there are so few random charts and guides here.

Considering that I only discovered this forum last weekend, and joined as recently as Monday at 7:52 PM... I haven't read much in the iForge gas section. I'll be honest with you - I'm not asking to sift through people arguing with each other on what they think is right. Here is my problem - I don't understand the gas vortex thing. Nobody has taken a picture anywhere on this form that I have found, I don't have thousands of hours to read other people's comments. So, I'm asking if someone might be willing to entertain the idea of helping me make a decision on where I should put my gas burners, and explain why they think that? It's like... a decent question for the gas forge section... right? Oh, and as I've stated above. I'm using firebrick flooring for the floor. If I had the materials to do more, I would. I'm working with what I have. From other projects, I somehow magically have a small stack of firebrick sitting in my work room. I don't have kiln. I have firebrick. So, in light of what I have, this is the basis for this decision. I'm building my forge for a purpose, Frosty. I appreciate that you think there is something wrong with it, and that something (i.e. opening) needs to be corrected. It won't be corrected. It's part of my design. Here's my quote for the night, in response to your comment on questions... "The only poor question is a question never asked."

How bout this. How bout I build what I want to build, and you guys can criticize it later. Sound fair? This is one of the reasons I don't usually like to participate on forums and such. I just get to frustrated with the one or two know-it-alls in the crowd who can't fathom a person who can think outside of their opinion.

I've officially started building my first gas forge. Honestly, I've never done something like this. Most of what I know about smithing comes from the black hole known as the Internet. So, I'm reaching out. I'm starting a thread to get input from the community as I run into problems. Here's what I got so far: It's a propane tank with a big hole cut into the top. I made the hole approximately 8" in diameter. I did this to make it easier to insulate the thing, and light it up later on. Notice, I've sanded all the paint and little rust down to bare metal. I plan to use high heat primer and paint on it later on. Please note - the 8" hole is not the forge opening. I plan to mount a hinge somewhere on the top of the forge, and connect a 8" saw blade to it. The saw blade will have a single layer of 1" Kaowool, and 1/4" of Satanite on it. The center of the saw blade will have a 3.5" hole in the center to allow forge gasses to vent out proportionately. The inside of the forge will be lined with 2" of kaowool, and 1/4" to 1/2" of Satanite (whatever feels right when I'm putting it on). I'll also have a sacrificial firebrick floor which will be replaced when needed. I haven't finished building my burners yet, but they are coming. They will be two 300,000 BTU 3/4" propane jet burners with machined orifices (not torch tips). My math says that this thing should be able to get to forge welding heat with little to no problem. I'll also have a small door in the back (hinged on/ stainless) which will only open when an object is passed through it. Questions I have for the community: I'm still not sure where the burner placement should be. Should I go directly on top? I understand some people put the burners at 15 degrees off dead center to provide a swirl of some sort. What is this swirl? Can someone take a photo of it for me so I can better understand what I'm actually trying to accomplish? How do I attach the burners to the forge? I don't have a welder. I'm thinking some short black pipe nipples and corresponding nuts? Just not sure. I'm sure I'm going to come up with lots of more questions in the future. I'll ask on this thread as stuff comes up. Thanks for the help!

To correct you, chemically speaking, burned propane turns to: CO - Carbon Monoxide CO2 - Carbon Dioxide NO - Nitric Oxide NO2 - Nitrogen Dioxide SO2 - Sulfer Dioxide Propane does not stop being propane simply because it's heated up. The molecules are still there, they just bond with other molecules to form different compounds.

The company I work for is out of Rifle. I do a lot of plumbing/mechanical work over in the Vail valley (all the way up to Eagle), and some work in Aspen when Independence Pass is open. On venting propane gas: Sorry, I'm still new to the smithing language. Propane vents down since it's heavier than air. Co2 vents upwards, since it is lighter than air. Either way I look at it, the forge I'm building has a rather large opening in front which will serve as a sufficient heated air vent. Because I'll be using it outside (not in some tiny room), I think I'll be ok. I've used far worse in enclosed spaces, and feel fine. On melting metals: I know, I know. Propane forges can melt metals. The problem I have is that my forge plans are a little large for the metal melting purposes I have, and I plan to spend some money on fuel while operating it. Because of the cost of fuel, I'll probably make it so I can take one of the burners out of my forge, and stick it in a smaller tool to melt copper, gold, or brass (or, whatever really). It should cost less to heat less space. On building a belt sander/grinder: I'm not sure what the difference is between a belt sander or belt grinder. In fact, as far as I know - a belt sander simply has less power than a belt grinder. This shouldn't be a problem. Since I've added the belt sander to my project list for this year, I've been on the lookout for multi-speed motor, which I can use to switch between wood and metal modes with the push of a button. Yeah, this is going to take some rigging, but I'm a creative guy. I shouldn't have to much trouble. On mistakes being painful: For my day-job, I do plumbing and mechanical. There's not a day that goes by where I'm not crawling up the side of an elevator shaft, hanging off the side of a scaffolding, soldering on the top of an extension ladder, or having near misses with my fingers against a chop saw. Life is just that. Life. Not to be to grim here in my response, but death is a part of life. Live every day to your fullest, trust in God, and make judgements based on sound thinking. Anybody can have a mistake which can lead to a missing finger, a marred arm, or a coffin. We take that risk every day we wake up. For smiths, it's just another part of living fully. The call to create is more powerful than our fear of harm.

I'm mostly going to be using the forge in the parking lot of my apartment complex until I can find a better place to live (hopefully small yard with shed on property). Propane vents down since it's heavier than air, and working outside helps my lungs a bit. The neighbors don't mind the noise as long as I don't do it in the middle of the night. It's still winder up here (probably will get our last snow in early June again). The cold doesn't bother me much. Hot metal cools a little faster, so stuff needs to get thought out ahead of time since every hit needs to count. I plan to do some more projects after the forge is running. A small metal melter for brass, copper, and bronze, as well as eventually a homemade 2x72 belt sander. I'll need the forge to make some stuff for the later projects though. Anyhow, I'm super excited to be here. Been reading a lot, and have found some really good ideas already.