Jmichelsen3

Here is the updated version

Sorry for the poor angle and picture quality, I'm not much of a photographer The first is my coal brake drum forge. The second is my first attempt at a gas forge. I have since upgraded to a cast refractory design, but have to take pictures

When I was 11 I watched one of the instructions at the scout camp I was attending forging flint strikers in his campfire while he waited for his class to show up. I was hooked. In the 21 years since my forge has been everything from a hole in the ground, to the brake drum forge in a bbq, and most recently a cast refractory forced air gas forge and several incarnations in between. My tools have gradually evolved as well, but my love for shaping glowing steel has never dimmed. I'm exited to learn from all the experience that's gathered here and looking forward to sharing any tidbits I've puzzled out on my own

I am far from experianced, but I have been doing this as a hobby since I was a kid and avoided gas forges until recently. This was mainly because I was intimidated by the cost buying a burner and didn't have the right parts redily available to make one myself. About a year ago someone gave me a large, and mostly full, propane tank. I decided, due to neighbors complaining about the coal smoke coming from my backyard, to once again look into building a gas forge and happened onto plans for a forced air burner. Long story short, I think I spent 40$ for the regulater, some pipe and fittings and 4 fire bricks that I pretty much wired together. I was able to forge weld the first time I heated her up, which I had pretty much given up as a lost cause with my coal setup. I have since improved/rebuilt my forge (I actually managed to melt my firebricks) but I'm still using the same burner. I'm sure there are plenty of things to recommend venturi type burners, I have used an off the shelf forge with venturi burners and it was great. in my opinion, however, if your a beginner, a die hard do-it-yourselfer, or simply strapped for cash as I was, the forced air burner is the way to go.