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Pros and Cons of different shaped forges.


S.Wright

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Sorry if this has been asked before. I have been using a Reil style burner in a plain old fire brick. I used the build from zoeller forge to give a better idea of what I did. Anyway I cannot seem to get it to welding temp and have been using this build well enough for about 9 months for mono steel work. Now I am trying to decide on a new build. So my question is are there any pros or cons for one style from another i.e. square, round, half round. I am going to be using frostys t burner as well in the new build. I am mainly focusing on blades and tooling. Thanks for any information. 

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If you indeed built your forge out of "plain old fire brick" then you did not follow Larry's directions very well. The directions on the Zoeller web page indicate you should use 2600 degree rated, light weight insulating fire brick, not common hard refractory fire brick.  Had you used what was suggested, you would have a better chance of reaching welding heat. You might want to simply rebuild your existing forge, but using the correct type of fire brick.

All that said, and I believe it is all correct, you could also have a problem with your burner.  The Reil burner design has been morphed and altered and in any configuration  has many places where you can go wrong, resulting in an inefficient burner.  A picture of your existing forge and burner would be very helpful in diagnosing all of your problems.

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I will post a pic and possibly a video if I can later. I'm happy with what I have been able to achieve with this. And more burn is not up to date it is 1 1/2 x 3/4 with a wire hole instead of a mig tip tapped in. This being said I'm not looking to trouble shoot anything with it. I want to build a new more efficent forge that is also larger. Enough for a short seax and the like. Thanks again.

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Use a two gallon non-refillable Freon or helium cylinder; two 1" layers of ceramic fiber insulation; rigidize them run a thin finish coat of re refractory over them; Add the MIG tip changes to the Riel burner, or build a "T" burner, and enjoy a third more forge heat for half the fuel bill. Or, you can always do what you please instead (after all; it's not my kid).

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31 minutes ago, S.Wright said:

Would an empty propane tank work as well as a freon tank?

The issue isn't what the shell is made of, but rather its interior shape and volume. People have successfully made gas forges with nothing more than some wire to hold the ceramic wool in place while the rigidizer and refractory are curing. A solid outside will, however, protect a forge from the inevitable bumps and bangs of moving stock and tools around the workshop.

Thus, one advantage of a propane cylinder is its durability. However, a disadvantage is the possibility of the explosive ignition of residual propane when cutting open the tank. There are a number of threads on IFI about how to safely cut a tank open; please read them carefully before proceeding.

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Will a propane cylinder work? Of course it well! Do you need that much forge? Probably not. You will pay and pay for fuel gas; the question is do you want to pay less or more for that fuel? Do you like hot work? Probably you do. How hot do you want that work to get, though? Twice the forge means twice the heat in your shop. So, what do you think; do you have real need of that larger forge?

My first forge used a five gallon propane bottle. I built it slick, and put a very slick burner in it; I could rock hard in that forge for about eight hours on a five gallon cylinder of propane run through a 3/4" Mikey burner. Ron Reil had already built his little mini-forge, which I thought was too small. I now make 3/8" Mikey burners that could run his mini-forge for a whole weekend, with change left over for Monday morning. My propane cylinder forge is built and used all over the world. But Ron was more right than I was!!!!

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