Just wondering who, if anybody, out there uses an open air burner?  And what designs?

 

I know you can just use an oxy-acetylene torch, or oxy-propane torch, but, refilling oxygen bottles costs money.  If you could get an atmospheric burner to heat up metal to forging temp, that could be a handy unit - for when you need to heat up just a section of something, or heat up something that wouldn't fit in a forge say, you would definitely be cutting down on oxygen bottle useage.  So, what's the word - anybody doing it relatively successfully?

 

I just got a forge going with Frosty T burners - I think maybe a 1" version of one of these guys, tuned correctly, might do a good job.  Anyone done that?  Thanks,

 

Spruce

Some armourers do something like that for heating small sections of odd shapes, but you lose something like 90% of the efficiency of an enclosed forge. But at least the whole workpiece does not get soft or covered in fire scale.

 

Do a search on "Thak Ironworks" or "Eric Thing" or "Armour Archive" for some ideas. (Sorry, no direct links.)