GradyS

Agreed be easier to see on a lighter background.

I picked up blacksmithing around October last year, this is my first knife. I don’t have much just an anvil, hammer, files, and an angle grinder. Made out of a piece of coil spring with threaded rod welded onto the tang to attach the pommel. Handle made from an old hickory handle. Seemed to harden very well. Scared to destruction test it too much because I have a lot of time in the thing at this point. Critique would be welcome. Thanks for your time.

The pipe coming out of the blower is 1.5” and then reduces down to 1” at the 90 where the fuel is being injected all the way into the forge. As mentioned I’m going to figure a system to regulate the blower. If I can scrounge up a gate valve I’ll use it, but most likely will be a simple piece of sliding sheet metal. I know as timgunn1962 said it won’t be perfect but it’ll be cheap. I’m already about $200 into it for everything after buying 20lbs of Kast O Lite 30, 1/4 pint of itc100, blower, and a few miscellaneous things. I really appreciate everyone’s input. Thank you.

Thanks for the info! I got the blower rerouted to below the forge body and it seems to be mixing the oxygen and fuel better now. I am going to fabricate some king of manually sliding gate to regulate the airflow down at the blower in the next few days. I imagine in between that and the needle valve I will have the ability to really fine tune everything.

Thanks for the advice.

Hello everyone new member and getting into blacksmithing. My first forge was made out of an old propane tank and a naturally aspirated burner. It worked alright being lined with 2” of ceramic insulation sealed with Metrikote. The Metrikote didn’t seem to last very long and deteriorated quickly though unfortunately. The internal dimensions were far too large for what I was working with as well and it used a large amount of propane. This has led me to creating a version 2.0 learning from my first experience. Looking for any input/opinions on my new design. The burner is utilizing a small Dayton 75-ish cfm blower that seems to work excellent. Briefly tested inside the forge while I await an order of ITC-100 and Kast O Lite 30 before really trying it out. The forced air burner seems significantly more efficient on fuel requiring only 2-3 psi with the needle valve barely open while the naturally aspirated would require 5-10 and I was having problems with the flame running up the burner tube. Disregard the dot tube fitting for the propane supple it is temporary for testing. Should I consider adding a gate valve to regulate the blower? Should I perhaps reposition the blower to be below the forge itself? Ive done a ton of research but am at a point where I would like some personalized input on what I’ve been able to come up with given my limited budget using just what I’ve had on hand. Thanks everyone! V1.0 V2.0