The pictures are a bit out of order the first two should be at the end. I used a 5 gal. portable air tank, and a burner from Cal. I'm waiting for the first coat of I.T.C.100 dry and I'm going to put one more coat and it will be ready to go. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated
Awesome man! I just finished at dual burner version of the exact same thing! I tried it out for the first time last night and good Lord I said "I am Shiva." Then I thought...Cal would be proud. Let there be fire! I am posting the How To on my blog: http://dcknives.blogspot.ca/p/gas-forge.html Dan
Hey Dan Dual burner very cool I was thinking of a dual burner setup but I wanted to use Cal's burner for my first forge and he only had the one I got left.I think if I need more heat latter I'll build my own burners and a dual burner forge body like yours I really like your set up.
Hi Kevin, I think the single burner will be just fine in that size. Based on the interior volume, guessing yours is similar to mine, at just under 400 cubic inches; a well designed 3/4" burner will get the job done. I placed some hard firebrick in the bottom. This reduces the volume a little and gives me some additional protection. The hard firebrick is meant to be disposable. Cal's been making burners for a while and I'd expect it's powerful and efficient. When researching, I found a some pictures of one of his burners from back in 2010 (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?103607-New-burner). Did you create an opening in the rear of the forge? I was thinking about longer items going in. Maybe one day make a sword. Dan
Hey Dan The interior space is 350 cubic inches .I used the soft fire brick 1" thick on the floor and I'm putting 2 coats of ITC-100 on the wool and the brick. I think if I need more heat I could make a fire brick door plug. No I didn't make opening. At this time making a sword dose not interest me If I ever change my mind opening it up would be no problem. I see in the pictures in your link that burner has a mig tip mine has alan drive grub screw with a hole from a #57 drill bit=.043 and another grub screw #56 drill bit=.046 nice easily changeable From what I've read and seen Cal's burners are powerful and can get very hot at 2 to 3 psi. Kevin
It's a great build and will be super-useful. I hope it works well for you. Time to start making some steel glow! Dan
Kevin it looks good ! Might be a little rich, You just want a bit of yellow flame right at the door exit. That is why forges are so much more efficient with a little bit of controlled air introduced in the venturi tube.
Mine's running a bit rich too. I am considering adding a few psi of compressed air to the intake whether it be by compressor or blower. Alternately, could I not reduce the orifice size slightly an increase the air to fuel ratio? Thanks, Dan
Hey Cal Aside from compressed air what other way can we adjust the air fuel mixture would moving the tube holding the jet further in or further out make a difference or a smaller jet . My jets look like a grub screw with a hole drilled in it. Do you remember what size screws they are and what drill # bit would you suggest ? When the picture was taken it was only running for about 5 min. at 2 psi. and the ball valve at 1/2 way open 45 degrees.
your single will be more than adequate on that size tank , I found with mine a simple forced air set up will increase your temps considerably.....with less gas consumption , its a win win , dual burner on your tank would be overkill , nice job ! forge on !!
You can reduce output by closing the valves. Two burners gives more even heat distribution. Win win. I agree that one of Cal's burners is good for the cubic inches. If even heat is the aim then distribution of the heat sources makes sense.
Well I had some time to run the forge for a longer duration and check out some temperatures. It took 3.25 minutes at 2 psi ball valve 1/2 way open to reach 1550 F and the same 2psi ball valve all the way open 7 minutes 2000 F This forge build far exceeded all my expectation
Kevin that is hot enough to forge any knife. Just imagine if you added a bit of air and a little more propane you could melt steel. Glad the burner and everything worked out at 2 PSI of propane the 20 lb bottle will last forever. Anyone that has ever used those burners always comments that their propane consumption goes way down compared to their old burner.
That's looking great man! Did you cook it before painting it high-heat black? (I lit a fire inside mine and burned the paint off for a few hours.) Dan
Hi Guy, Unfortunately, I don't think there's much the admin can do about the images not showing. The original poster used a Photobucket account and this forum links to those images. If the Photobucket account was to be closed, the images will stop showing up here. I documented my forge build on my blog. I can try to answer questions here and if you need any help, please let me know. Dan
