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I Forge Iron

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  1. I'm pretty sure the burner was inspired by John Emmerling's article in Hammer's Blow (2006). His burner uses 26 crayon holes, pretty similar to my 24 at 5/16". Attached is the best I could do with the larger blower, gate valve not open very far. I do have some light blue core to the flame, not very even across the holes. The idea behind the holes having a larger bit at the end came from induced burners, where the step diameter change at the end of the tube helps keep the flame from climbing back up the tube. My thought is that there are too many holes, or they have too large a diameter for the blower and gas flow. Thanks for the mention of CO, I am definitely aware of the dangers.
  2. This is the ribbon burner I found on the back of a shelf when cleaning up (mentioned in another post). It must have sat there for 10 years. I have this very nice blower that I got at the transfer station for $5. It puts out *way* too much air, even almost completely closed off. Instead I tried a square fan. This fan isn't actually from a computer; 3" sq. 115VAC, 15W, it pushes more air than most computer fans. The propane regulator says it's at 1 psi, but that's the first mark on the gauge. I adjusted the needle valve to limit the propane flow; the fan is unobstructed, if you don't count my crude coupler. I think this is the first time I've even seen a ribbon burner working. Some feedback will help a lot. The flames are a lot lazier than in a Reil burner, which is what I usually use. The holes are 5/16" through the firebrick, with the last 1/2" drilled out to 1/2" diameter. The noisiest part of the setup is the regulator at the propane tank, just a bit of hissing. Thanks, Steve
  3. Frosty, I think it's worse than fighting the blower. Just getting the cubic feet of gas through connections at that low pressure looks pretty limiting. I found a 3/8" stainless flexible hose online that will only do 114k BTU/hour at 11" WC. That's pretty limiting for a gas forge. Friday the propane guy is going to come out to look at what would be involved in changing the shop from 11" WC to 10 psi propane. Then I will be able to get into much more trouble. Steve
  4. I would have to change a not cheap regulator to raise the pressure, so I'm trying to see what I can do with 11". Good ideas, let's see what happens.
  5. I'm finding all kinds of stuff in the shop, now that I have time to look. Yesterday I opened a box of 12 Thermal Ceramics IFB. Note that the box does not say Morgan, just TC. Looks like the merger was in 2010. The bricks have 28 stenciled on them, so I suspect 2800F. No labels or identifying numbers on the box. I did see your posts on the K-26 bricks, will keep them in mind when I use these up. Did you get anywhere making an IR coating? I happen to have a bag of zirconia. I remember reading a lot of posts on the idea but didn't find conclusions. I think your idea about the focus is good. At forge temps, most of the heat transfer is radiative from what I've read. The forge plan changed somewhat tonight when on the back of a shelf I found a blown ribbon burner that has never seen significant heat. It's made from a hard firebrick, so I'm not sure how long it will last. 24 holes, 5/16 dia that steps to 1/2" for the last 1/2". I should be able to cobble that to the old forge--it's all there, I just need to make cut outs for the burner and coat the exposed wool with refractory. I can also seal up the edges with some additional wool and refractory. The wool used to have maybe 1/16" of Satanite over it, falling to bits now. I understand the part about wool fibers being even worse to breath after they've been at heat. When I work on refractories, I do it outside, with a mask and I shower / wash clothes immediately after. Wind at my back if there is any. So the new forge plan is to experiment with the existing ribbon burner / revived forge body and see how it works.
  6. I think you two are right. The only time I'd worry is if the forge was unattended--that's easy to fix. If I leave the room, turn off the forge first. It should reheat pretty quickly.
  7. Details (even extraneous) are much appreciated, that's why I asked here. I have the base from a forge I made years ago. The top was intended to unbolt and be raised up on firebrick as needed; the sides didn't seal well, leaked the hot stuff. The base has legs and end shelves (firebrick doors), might as well use it. The body will be a bit more than half a cylinder; I like to go past half on the cylinder to gain some height without a lot of loss in width. 13" diameter, 16" long. A friend has a roller, I've already got the 16 gauge. I'm still thinking on the size, if I really want it that large. Two layers of 1" 2600F wool, spray with rigidizer and dry. Kasto-lite 30 over the wool. I like 1/4-3/8" to keep the thermal mass down. All stuff I have on hand, which is nice. I lay a floor of insulating brick and then put 1/2" or so of Kasto-lite over the top. I haven't done any welding for a long time; if I did, I'd get some kiln shelf to protect the floor. My forging slowed down a lot 10 years ago, when we moved into a 90% complete house. I made large strap hinges for the saloon doors on the shop and barn, then many other tasks took over. I was laid off in 2015--more time, right? except hard to focus on anything except finding work. I found work 2018 in Seattle for 2 years, Massachusetts for 1 year and as of April, I'm retired! I am greatly enjoying being retired. Steve
  8. Thanks Frosty. Been a long time since corresponding with you on TheForge. BTU/hour I should have said. I wanted something larger; I've had trouble fitting scrolls into a forge based on a 5 gallon bucket shell. Steve
  9. I'm going to build a ribbon burner forge. A solenoid shutoff on the gas flow in case of power loss sounds like a great idea. How large do the inlet/outlet ports need to be for gas flow rate? I've got 11" WC propane (plenty of flow rate). Right now, the forge is 700 cubic inches, so maybe 300k BTU? The solenoid valves I've been looking at are north of $100, which I was not expecting. Advice will be greatly appreciated. Steve
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