Cmariani

Setting the pipes into the brick solved it, thanks for the advice and all replies!!! I know this size is a fuel hog, when I first started out my end goal was to work up to longer and longer blades, even into the short sword area and I don't have the means or space for a pile of forges. I'll definitely block the unused lines though. Thank you all for the help, everything's been running great!!

Hi All, I may have done a stupid. I'm about to sound super dumb so please bear with me. I'm pretty new to smithing and I've barely had enough experience to get my feet wet. I've done just enough practice blades and simple forge welds to wear down the forge lining a bit, accidentally melt what I think was aluminum all over the bottom, and burn through a LOT of gas. I have the Majestic 3-burner, and some poking around online showed several accounts of relining this forge with thicker/different lining to improve efficiency. After some how-to videos, I got some ceramic fiber blanket and Greentherm 26 soft firebricks and had a hey-day with a hacksaw. I replicated the shape and size of hole really well from the original lining with a hole saw, and everything fit in pretty neatly and firing it back up, everything seemed to work great. However, after awhile, the top metal starting glowing at the base of the gas tubes (first pic). I looked at the flames and they're a bit uneven, even after cleaning out the gas feeders. The pic (middle) is kind of hard to see, but the middle flame is strongest and most consistent but seems really high, the front is nearly see-through red/orange, not blue. I've tried different sizes holes, different thicknesses of top material, combination of brick and blanket, and stepping the holes to create a venturi, and the story is always the same. The flames are always uneven somehow and the top metal always glows, starting the the same (back) burner. The bottom layer is almost the same, 1 brick and on top of the blanket, and the blanket stays cool to touch for a long time. I can see the fuel hole from the inside of the forge starting to glow first, so I'm pretty sure the fuel is igniting too soon, but I don't know what to do about it. The brick is about 2" thick and rated at 2600°. Is that enough? At this point, I'm open to any and all suggestions. Do I need different lining material? Is the brick too thick? Clearly I didn't worry enough about the exact math of pressure and flow and such beforehand. How big of a deal is it? Sorry for the volume of questions. TIA.