Re lighting a propane forge: A long time ago, after some singed hair and other exciting incidents with "extinguished" matches and bits of paper, I started lighting my gas forge with a little Bernzomatic propane torch - you know, the one like your old grandpa had when you were a kid. Spark light the torch, turn on the air, turn on the gas, light the forge - no more burned fur...priceless.

i agree!

along that line...what do you guys think of these burners?

Hybridburners.com Products

$185 for the 1" forge burner nozzle doesnt seem like alot compared to the $2000 i've been quoted for an imported, off-the-shelf gas forge...

Have you looked a chili forges? I have seen them work and have seen them used for pattern welding as well as mosic (sp) welding. Check tham out. He also sells burners etc.

You would want the screw ends FAR from the area that will heat and scale. Notice how the commonly used stainless steel flares are just slipped over the burner tube?

On my aspirated burners I just have some plain pipe that screws onto the "bell" that's on the cool end. It's cheap and easy to replace and I don't have to do it very often---though I don't weld with that forge. Welding generally makes you realize that a forge is a consumable and will need regular maintenance or get pretty ugly...

Rather than a "flare" I use a pipe thread protector I get from the local plumbing supplier free. I get a little more mileage out of them by dipping them hot in kaolin slip to slow oxidization.

The SS flares don't last so long running hot and kaolin doesn't stick to them well at all.

Frosty

Re lighting a propane forge: A long time ago, after some singed hair and other exciting incidents with "extinguished" matches and bits of paper, I started lighting my gas forge with a little Bernzomatic propane torch - you know, the one like your old grandpa had when you were a kid. Spark light the torch, turn on the air, turn on the gas, light the forge - no more burned fur...priceless.

yeah i bought one of those torches a while ago...worth its weight in GOLD...for all your pyromaniac needs...

You would want the screw ends FAR from the area that will heat and scale. Notice how the commonly used stainless steel flares are just slipped over the burner tube?

On my aspirated burners I just have some plain pipe that screws onto the "bell" that's on the cool end. It's cheap and easy to replace and I don't have to do it very often---though I don't weld with that forge. Welding generally makes you realize that a forge is a consumable and will need regular maintenance or get pretty ugly...

i dont quite get what you mean...could you post a pic?

would it be better to weld a box onto the side into which i can recess the screw ends of the pipes so that the nozzles can be longer and the threaded sections further from the heat?

Drop tong welds are no problem in gas forges? I just have never seen one done with gas. They are different from the weld knife makers are usually doing which is a faggot weld in which clean surfaces are placed together and fluxed around. Knife makers are also using high carbon steel, usually, which melts about 400 degrees lower than mild steel. I am asking if you have done a weld in which two pieces are taken from the forge, put together on the anvil and welded. If so, I would like to know what the forge you used was like and how you set up the steel. I do those welds all the time in my coal forge so I am familiar with the process, but there are many variations that make a difference.

My burners have tubes about a foot long that go from the bell of the aspirator into the forge. When they burn/scale off I can unscrew them from the never been to scaling heat end and replace.

If I had mounted an adaptor right at the end that's in the forge so I would only have to replace say 3-4" of the tube then it would have scaled to all get out and probably *NOT* unscrew when needing to replace the tips

No I can't post a pic.

Drop the tongs weld. Two pieces are brought out of the forge with their ends at welding heat. On the anvil the ends are laid one over the other and tapped together with a hammer.

Because it has time to cool, the work has to come out of the forge as hot as the steel can stand so that it will still weld on the anvil. In general, propane forges have trouble reaching high welding heat partly because they dont mix very well. Its hard to burn propane completely. To get to high welding heat, it is often necessary to have an excess of oxygen which makes the weld harder. One trick is to put a pile of refractory rubble on the floor of the forge. Often this noticeably increases performance.

My burners have tubes about a foot long that go from the bell of the aspirator into the forge. When they burn/scale off I can unscrew them from the never been to scaling heat end and replace.

If I had mounted an adaptor right at the end that's in the forge so I would only have to replace say 3-4" of the tube then it would have scaled to all get out and probably *NOT* unscrew when needing to replace the tips

No I can't post a pic.

i see, from the pics you posted earlier it looked as though you had welded the burner tubes into the holes in the side of the forge body (the modified gas cylinder). do you just cut the weld when you need to replace the tubes? or are they just sitting snugly in the holes rather than being welded?

Ahhh I have only posted a handfull of pictures on the web in the last 10 years, You must be thinking of someone else.

However, on my forges the shell has holes to pass the burner tubes and slightly larger pieces of pipe have been welded around those holds to slip the burner through and help hold it in place. Mine have a set screw but I generally don't use it as I have it close to the burner and the burners are quite stable without it.

yeah sorry i was thinking of someone else my bad
yeah i've noticed this setscrew design alot of late and do think it'll be the one i go with. seems neat and not too fiddly when it comes time to swap over the nozzles.

i've gotta say i think i am in love with this forge: Dick's Workshop - The Forge

Charles J Hughes
C&C Ironworks:

I have used several types of gas (propane) forges in the past few years. Forges that were home made single burners, three burner forges from N C Forge, forges that were atmospheric design, burners of all number, type and design placed in all different directions searching for the seemingly illusive flame curl.

I was willing to try any type of forge that would be dependable and get HOT enough, quickly, to forge weld and not cause me the "down time" I had been spending fixing and tuning the forges I already owned.

Almost a year ago now I happened into Hoffman"s Forge Hoffmans Forge -.

This was not the first time I had been there but this day I would actually have an opportunity to try one of Jymm Hoffman"s gas forges.
Let me tell you I thought to myself " this is surely an UGLY looking forge
." When Jymm described how it was made and how well it worked I said "Can't be....... Too simple........ I was being sold a bill of goods here."

Well I tried it. I worked with it for several days doing some forging there at Hoffman's Forge.

Now there is one in my shop. Lined and put in service last year (March as I recall) and it is still in use without a need for relining or burner adjustment or burner change since.

Now some (as I did) think. "Too simple......,can't possibly work."
Contact Jymm and ask the response he got from an engineer in New York State who's jaw dropped when he witnessed one of these forges in action.

If heating and smashing the end of a piece of 1 1/2" plumbing pipe (actually forged to a gauged sized opening) then connecting it to additional pieces of pipe, adding a ball valve and placing an electric blower into the open end of pipe, then welding it into holes cut in the side of a twenty pound propane tank seems simple. IT IS.
Parts rather cheap in comparison to the forges I had been trying to get to work. I might add.

In a previous listing on this thread someone mentioned a burner for over $150.00. I can buy a lot of 1 1/2" pipe for $150.00.
By the way anyone looking for some used gas forges? I have a few for sale....................... Any takers?
Included a pic of that "ugly forge" I am using.
Now I understand the phrase "It is so ugly it's beautiful."
Chuck Hughes
C&C Ironworks - Home

Chuck, Iv swiched my setup to a hoffman forge as well, and they are amazing!
So fast, so hot, and so simple,
If anyone was in the market for a gas forge, I would snach one of these up.

I went to the site but did not see anything about gas forges.

I went to the site but did not see anything about gas forges.
__________________
Reb

Jymm dosen't have his forges listed on his web site. Email him or give him a call.
Guaranteed you will get a response. He loves talking about his forges or anything blacksmith related.

What did one run a year ago?

$495.00 is the price he qouted me.
If I remember I paid over $700.00 for the one I bought from N C Forge w/ no blower. If that makes any difference.
Chuck

My gas forges won't weld reliably but my coal forge will so that's why I keep it around. If my propane forges welded every time, I wouldn't need coal at all - except maybe if I were working on something large that would not fit in the gas forge. Depending on what type work you are doing, this may not be an issue. Gas may not be such an advantage where coal or charcoal are readily available, but a lot of the country does not have readily available solid fuels.

from what iv read if you add about 5 lb oxy to a naturally aspirated burner and cut off the external air supply that should make it weld nicely. But I haven't done this myself iv just read it online.

iv seen burners for as low as 25 or 35 unassembled but unfortunately I cant remember where it way that I saw them or i'd have a few

I have read that if you use oxygen instead of natural asperation you can get to welding temp quickly. Thats what i'm going to do. I even found an old oxygen generator.