So I was reading about air curtain wood burners, and had to wonder if anyone had tried anything of the like as regards forges? 

I would imagine they'd be fuel hogs, but it'd be interesting to tinker with whether or not the technology is scalable small enough to make a forge. It's supposed to minimize smoke and particulates, and since the goal is a quick burn, they're going for heat.

I'm thinking for forging using urban sourced scrap lumber:  pallets, etc. I just wonder if you'd be able to keep up with its demands. 

Then there's the blower noise issue...

Thoughts?

 

 

Air curtains in wood stoves simply keep soot off the glass of see through doors. Wood fired forges use a deep fuel pile or “magazine” so that wood aged to the top is pyrolized into usable coals at the bottom. It’s a bit of a pain getting stock back in as you tend to tear up the fire and fuel wants to spill out. 

Not a wood stove. Think commercial forestry curtain burners. Air is blown across the top of the fuel at a slight downward angle, hitting a wall opposite the burner, causing a swirl effect through the fuel, increasing burn rate. 

There are a  number of smaller scale versions, multiple burn zone and wood gas stoves and furnaces. We have a Jotul multiple burn zone wood heater about 12' behind me as I type. The air curtain is intended to keep the window from condensing byproducts from the fire so they'll burn completely and is directed downwards across the window.

The large scale waste burners are simply designed to burn waste vegetation: safely, quickly and completely with as little smoke as possible. A large part of the safely is dissipating heat quickly so no part gets hot enough to easily start fires outside the bin. I've done a small version with a salvaged section of 24" culvert and an electric leaf blower. It made slash go away in minutes but didn't develop coals, they burned too fast.

If you can pull it off you might be able to make wood gas and use it like any other flammable gas in a gas fired forge. My only question for this technique would be what you're going to do with the charcoal. Or are you going to generate enough heat in the retort to make carbon gas to burn and how you'd control the carbon content of steel in the forge. 

Some folk believe they've discovered something new a couple years ago but folks have been running gasoline engines on wood smoke since they were invented. The development of high volume refinement of crude oil into gasoline killed wood smoke engines till WWII rationing and briefly then. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Very low octane rating for wood burner vehicles IIRC; just like you could run a model T on "well head gas" basically a condensate found in some oil/gas wells and as a by-product often sold to local at a very cheap price way back when.  I remember my grandfather telling me that his Father used to gas up his Model T with it (and Grandpa is in his 90's---and his Father was a noted skinflint...)