Charles R. Stevens Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 If nothing else get an adjustable turkey fryer regulator from a home store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binesman Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 Nope no regulator atm. 20lb tank hooked directly to a weed burner stuck in the side of a pot. Yep it is ghetto but works. Since it works ill waste the money to get a regulator. Because in a month or so i intend to purchase a majestic forge. Just needed something in the mean time to make sure its something my son wanted to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 I thought you were using a soldering torch at least the pic LOOKS like a soldering torch which will work if mounted properly. A weed burner on the other hand is designed to light weeds on fire NOT heat things. Sure you can use them to thaw frozen parts but they are entirely inappropriate as a forge burner. Even if they could bring the forge to decent working temperature the atmosphere would be severely oxidizing. A weed burner without the needle valve or a regulator is a serious fuel hog. They're intended to make a BIG flame to light a large area on fire, not a hot flame. Even if you turn the fire down they don't get very hot. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Jerry, you should see the fabrication shops building bridge components, they use them to manipulate the large "I" beams. It's pretty cool to watch them straiten or curve 40" beams with just a weed burner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Oh yeah but they're not bringing anything to forging temp. If you know what you're doing you can straighten or twist structural members with a couple hundred degrees f. water won't boil on the beam. I worked for a company that builds tanks: water, oil, fuel, etc. and we curved Wide flange to fit the tank for for cradles and stands with weed burners. The old hands could make smooth even curves without helpers, I made bacon shapes and laughter when I tried. I'm thinking that was '73-75, I'd never even seen a weed burner till I moved here, You don't need anything special to light weeds on fire in S. California. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 In the shipyards, we used water cooled torches for straightening deck and haul plate through shrinkage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Yep, to many peaple out their that think they know everything. They need to see the Magic a modicume of talent and a life time of experiance can work with just the simplest of tools. Many a new tool or proces was not better than the one it replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binesman Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 2 hours ago, Frosty said: I thought you were using a soldering torch at least the pic LOOKS like a soldering torch which will work if mounted properly. A weed burner on the other hand is designed to light weeds on fire NOT heat things. Sure you can use them to thaw frozen parts but they are entirely inappropriate as a forge burner. Even if they could bring the forge to decent working temperature the atmosphere would be severely oxidizing. A weed burner without the needle valve or a regulator is a serious fuel hog. They're intended to make a BIG flame to light a large area on fire, not a hot flame. Even if you turn the fire down they don't get very hot. Frosty The Lucky. No it is a weed burner that I had lying around. However it seems to be getting hot enough. We used half inch rebar for the tongs and half inch bar stock for the knife. It got the metal to a nice glowing Orange yellow. That is forging temperature isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Weed burners tend to be quite oxidizing; was there a lot of scale when your were forging with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binesman Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 I dontknow enough to say if it was a lot or not. There was scale yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 High orange is in the range of forging temps for mild steel. Rebar can be a problem but it can be a problem anytime to anybody. It went through a LOT of fuel for one session of high orange heat. However if you're replacing it with a commercially made forge shortly then there's no issue with this one. Tell the boy Frosty says he made a pretty nice looking knife and expects some spectacular work when he gets good at it. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binesman Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 Thank you Frosty and yes the end result it will be to replace us with a commercial Forge. However I want my son to spend a month or two working on this one so that I can be sure it's not a "fad" for him. It also allows me the time to put the money up to purchase him the forge. However from spending this much on fuel it could be a problem putting the money aside to buy him a forge. So I think I will make one of your famous tea burners for what I have. My question is this currently the hole diameter for the burner is two and a half inches if I colar it and use screws to hold the tea burner in place is that okay or do I need to seal up that two and a half inch diameter to the diameter of the tea burner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 May I ask why you don't build one? For $150 you can build a two 1/2" "T" burner forge with a discarded helium/freon tank and materials from Wayne and even have enugh leftovers to rebuild the soup can forge right. I don't know how much your looking to spend, but my proforge was $600 ten years ago. Add to that the fact that one has to reline your forge periodicity ($250 for my pro forge) it looks like another father/son project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binesman Posted August 22, 2017 Author Share Posted August 22, 2017 who is this wayne you speak of? And to answer your question...well I don't know. I guess it makes a lot more sense to just build a better forge, and hook up a proper burner to the one I have. Then my son and I can both play at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Wayne Coe, he is member who has a nice side gig sorceing non industrial sizes of refractory materials for gas forge builds. After reading mikes gas forges 101 and gas burners 101. You should have a good handle on what you want and can do, and the options. Then we (buy we I mean IFI members who are experienced in building gass forges can help you threw the final design and fabrication Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Well said Charles. However you decide to go and whatever you decide to use we're here and will help best we can. When we point out problems with your setup we're not taking shots at you or trying to show off. Our motive is simple we want as many people addicted to blacksmithing as possible and if we can get your son addicted as young as he is now he'll become a world class bladesmith. I am NOT a bladesmith but I sure love looking at pictures of the blades folk here make. My motives are purely selfish you see, I LOVE looking at the pics. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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