Coffee can up and running??

[Mylore]

Finally got a small coffee can forge up and running, now my thing is i don't know if it is "running" right. Seemed only to heat the metal if i put it directly under the flame. Using a bernzomatic torch to run it. Could get the metal to the color in the pick, but took a while to do it. TIps/Advice (besides build a bigger one, now in the plans)?

[RandyScott]

I don't have experience with a coffee can forge but I did run a two bricker for 4 years using a Bernz-O-Matic JTH-7 burner (now out of production). First, is the back of the coffee can open or closed? If open, that is a tremendous heat loss. Next, it appears your ceramic wool has not been overcoated with rigidizer/refractory mortar/ITC-100/etc. I lined my 2 bricker with a skim coat of Satanite followed by ITC-100 and it was almost hot enough to weld. There is so little thermal mass inside the 1 & 2 brickers and coffee can forges that a large piece of metal will suck the heat right out and will take a few minutes to get back up to heat again. In the early days, I would heat 1/2" mild steel rod and practice pointing, rounding and squaring the rod and it takes a while to get it up to heat. The 'kicker' to really get the forge hot was the ITC-100. Yes, it is expensive, but it really helps add a couple hundred degrees of heat. Additionally, I noticed you appear to running on a little bottle of gas. Those little bottles tend to lose pressure quickly if the outside air temp drops. I purchased a Coleman appliance connector that permitted me to connect my JTH-7 hose to my 20# propane bottle. It appears you use soft firebrick to partially enclosed the front opening. I suggest an opening only large enough to be able to get your work piece in and out of the forge. That will also help hold the heat in the forge. I use cheap Harbor Freight long handled needle nosed pliers as my 'fire tongs'. Just move the work piece out to the mouth where it can be grabbed by your working tong. And one more thing, I do have a rear opening in my 2 bricker that is about an inch square. I made a little plug that I could remove as needed when a long piece needed to be inserted out the back. This helped in reducing heat loss. And last.. check the torch burner.. sometimes the teeny little gas orifice becomes obstructed by gunk/grit/etc., or is defective. Hope this helps...

[maddog]

Thats cool! I am fixing to build a mini forge with a 1/2" atmospheric burner. My design will use at least 2" of wool.

I advise you to close up the front. Thats a big window and you are losing a lot of radiant heat. Once things get up to orange hot, radiative transfer dominates. Probably just setting the firebrick so that there is no direct line of sight into the forge chamber will help noticeably.

The temp inside a forge is a balance between the rate at which heat is being added and the rate at which it leaks out. It's like trying to keep a leaky bucket topped up.

[Frosty]

I'd say Randy hit it on the nose. There's just too much volume for a small burner to heat and a coat of ITC-100 not only makes it more efficient it encapsulates the ceramic fibers so it isn't a breathing hazard.

You can also put another layer of ceramic wool in it even if it doesn't go all the way around, it'll reduce the volume and increase the internal temp.

Frosty the Lucky.

[evfreek]

I have had bad luck with coffee can forges. I think that the problem with them is too little torch for the volume. If you look at successful hand held torch forges, they look more like one or two soft firebricks which are hollowed out.

Recently, I was experimenting with forge welding with oxy-propane. I failed. I asked a fellow demonstrating with a torch at a blacksmith meeting for advice, and he told me that he failed with oxy-acetylene Of course, his torch welding was excellent, but this was *forge* welding. I made a little hollowed firebrick forge with a propane torch, and had no trouble forge welding small pieces. Of course, every time I twitched and touched the hot firebrick with the fluxed piece, it would blacken and recede something awful :angry:

[Mylore]

Thanks for the feed back and tips guys!

Just to answer some of the comments: the back of the can is still sealed and lined with the blanket. I know I have one of those Coleman adapter hoses around, I am going to try and find it so I can use my BBQ tank.

I purchased enough blanket to actually make 2 forges in case the fist one went horribly wrong ( you should see some of my home reno attempts), I am going to put the extra layer in with it. Once that is in I will nock/drill a hole thru the soft brick to give me a smaller opening and let me seal the can better. as for the ITC-100, that might have to wait still because of is price and the budget is limited for the next little while.

Hopefully I get the chance to use it again and let you all know how it goes before the weather turns to much here.

[Ross_FL]

I would also look into the ITC. I did quite a bit of research when I build my forge and found that the ITC is supposed to reflect nearly all of the IR back into the forge for max heat and also increased efficiency.