RustyLaidlaw Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 (edited) Howdy! Just started building a gas forge cause it was about time I switched over. I currently reside in Lower Mainland British Columbia, in Canada, and coal is proving very difficult to locate. I called up a local coal company and they basically said (very paraphrased) "We hate small local business passionately, and we'll only give you coal if you make a minimum order of literally 50,000 tons". The lady I talked to cited safety concerns as the reason why I couldn't just drive on up to the mine and load a pickup truck. All in all it's been a pretty crappy reception to the coal industry here, and I was stuck purchasing 50lb bags for $65 each from the local farrier supply! I've done some research and decided to go with a propane forge for now. I liked the idea of the sidearm style, but my local plumbing supply didn't have the gear for a 3/4 inch burner so I figured "Hey! Why not step this thing up to a 1 inch"? I like how it works! I welded up my forge body this week, and I'm gonna make it a two-burner. Outside Dimensions: 12" wide x10" high x18" long Inside Dimensions: 8x6x16 roughly. I've lined it with a local refractory blanked called "Fiberfax" which is used in pottery kilns and should be good up to around 3000F or so. No word on what flux will do to it, but I'm gunna put a firebrick bottom in that bad boy anyway. I've attached a shot of the burner in action! Hopefully this works, I'm not 100% on posting videos. I have it on my photobucket too, hopefully one of these things works! My two 1" sidearm burners will be evenly spaced at around 6" center to center, and 6" from each end (18" divided by three, right?) Oh! Edited because I forgot to mention the burner flares! I pressed them from stainless steel tubing on my hydraulic press over a mandrel machined from an old spline shaft. The taper is 1-in-12 and it kicks butt! Does this all sound good? I fired it up with one burner and it looked hot enough to flash fire an elk in probably around 15 seconds. Lots of dragon's breath, I think maybe I need to choke that baby down a bit, but I won't know till I pipe in the the other burner. Thanks guys! - Rusty IMG_3229.MOV Edited September 29, 2013 by RustyLaidlaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Rusty: The burn looks pretty good, just a tad on the rich side but close enough. Two 1" burners in 770 cu/in is about 2x as much burner as it needs, lean those puppies up just a little and it'll be melting the fibrefax liner, probably do it now. A 1" burner puts out 2x the BTUs as a 3/4" burner. Your spacing is good but you really need to use 3/4" burners or you'll be burning up forges, even keeping them turned way down they're just too much club for the hole. And yes, any borax based flux will go through Fibrefax like hot water through cotton candy. Washing the interior with a kiln wash like ITC-100 will really help but it'll still erode the liner, fire brick included. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyLaidlaw Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Thanks Frosty! You always have awesome advice! I tried it today with just one burner and got some 1" square to forging temp in no time. I'm not convinced it'll get to welding heat, or am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyLaidlaw Posted October 6, 2013 Author Share Posted October 6, 2013 Update! Needs one more firebrick in the bottom (local supply didn't have enough) and a back door made, but here she is on two burners! And a video! (If it works) http://s1238.photobucket.com/user/RustyLaidlaw/media/Picture098_zps5d6d8011.mp4.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.