Im a total newbie to forging so here is the first dumb question, I have ran the search multiple ways, but Im not getting answers, probably asking the wrong questions. I have been doing reading for a few days here and am wondering about using a beckett burner and diesel fuel on a forge.  they have changeable jets and the fan is already in place and can be set up to hold a temperature .  I have a hot water washer that has a 2.5 per hour diesel nozzle in it and it gets with the program. or is there something with the fuel that ruins the steel to much or something? I guess the oxygen level in the forge  could not be adjusted very easily.  I dont want to mess with waste oil because of the contamination hassles. but I always have a few hundred gallons of diesel around and propane is a bit of a pain. is there something Im totally missing? I saw there is a one of them on youtube but all it was was the build and not if it worked. Im wanting to build a forge big enough to put  cable tool drilling  bit in to do an old-time demonstration of bit dressing the hard way. 

As far as I know there should be no problem with the fuel contaminating the steel, provided it's clean fuel and you're getting good combustion.  The main byproducts of the burning of any hydrocarbon fuel are carbon dioxide and water vapor.  Carbon monoxide will form as well, and that's more of a concern if you're running a fuel rich mixture.

Having never tried a Beckett burner to heat a forge I don't know if it can reasonably be adapted to that purpose or not.  Diesel fuel can easily burn at high enough temps when mixed with the right amount of air to forge though.  For me propane is less hassle than free used oil in the long run.  Diesel is cleaner, but still has some of the drawbacks of used oil, and if it's not free that would kill the idea for me.  If you already have a Beckett burner and cheap/free diesel it might be worth a shot.

You should have no problem forging with a beckett burner, as long as you have good diesel fuel, as far as I understand the main reason that very few people do this is the sheer price of diesel fuel, but if this isn’t a concern then this should work well for you. And as far as oxidation goes you shouldn’t have any more problems than with a coal forge.

 

Here is a link to a thread that may or may not help :-)

https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/21694-oil-burner-forge/