Reddit reviews Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns
We found 8 Reddit comments about Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
My wedding cost a lot more than $400. :D
If you HAVE welding equipment or could borrow it, it would greatly expand your forge possibilities.
For building the forge, there's TONS of instructions on the internet, though a lot of them are REALLY small OR for the coal ones, fairly hard to use in practice. I like the forge you build in the book Gas Burners For Forges, Furnaces & Kilns.
That looks to me like a Michael Porter "Mikey" Burner (a la https://www.amazon.ca/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203). Is it?
How do you find it's performance? Do you have experience with other burner types, and how would you compare it?
Flame looks great in the photos.
1: you can make burners fairly cheaply and easily. Just search "how to make a forge burner" on youtube and you'll find plenty of vids.
2: if you're going to build a gas forge, it depends on the size of the billet/stock you'll be using the most. If you're going for knives, tongs, hand tools, etc. Then I dont imagine you'd be using stock larger than 1". If you plan on making things like axes, hammers, decorative pieces, or (if you feel like going this route when making them) swords that you'd draw out from a chunk of steel, the max size of stock/billet I feel you'd use is 4ish". If you plan on making long pieces, you can just leave both sides open so it's more of a tunnel rather than an open box. The number of burners is more quality of life rather than necessity. More burners equals more heat and more heat means faster heating. Do you /need/ multiple burners? Probably not. The only time multiple burners are necessary is when you need to heat a large length (such as heat treating a sword or bending a length of metal) one thing to keep in mind is the internal size of the forge. If you make a forge with a 10"×10" chamber (this is hyperbole, while I know they exist--atleast 10" tall chambers--I highly doubt you will ever make anything requiring that) and only one burner, that single burner has will try to heat up that entire chamber (because that's how heat works) and you'll wind up using fuel a heck of a lot faster. Using 2 or more burners will distribute heat in more than one place, thus lowering the fuel usage close to less than half of the single burner. So, when I say that it heavily depends on what you're going to be making, I mean it. To give you some rough internal dimensions, I'd say something like 5"-6" tall, 5"-6" wide and 9" long.
I suggest reading this book before you make one, though. It tells you all the do's and don'ts as well as the whys and why nots.
https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203
To put it simply, though, one burner is more than sufficient.
3: I suggest the latter option to the former. The fiberglass lining is simply to prolong the life of whatever refractory material is below it (not to mention it's easier to replace) I'd stray away from firebrick if possible, as it wears much more quickly than other alternatives. I reccomend using a high alumina kiln shelf.
https://www.sheffield-pottery.com/High-Alumina-Cone-11-Kiln-Shelves-s/317.htm
You can simply cut it to match the size you need. (Also, you should read the instructions on the page)
4: well, if saving money is the goal, you can go as cheaply as putting a sledgehammer head in some cement. There are so many forums and pages that talk about what can be used as a cheap but efficient anvil that I dont even really need to link one to you. All you have to do is google "anvil alternatives" and you'll get all the information you need.
I'll summarize what you'd read though; broken forklift tines, rr track, drop steel from a machinist/steel supplier, a block of steel, a stump with a rail track tie plate fastened to it, but dear lord dont use cast iron anvils.
If you don't really mind $300, then that is honestly the anvil you should buy. In fact, if it's even an option, i'd reccomend that to anything else.
5: preffered metal cutting tools are a hot cut hardy hole tool, chisels and punches.
6: for necessity items, I highly reccomend a 4"x72" belt sander (you can find how to make those in excess on youtube), files, a ///post/// vice, and decent files meant for removing metal. Also, not much of a necessity, but I like sharpening my knives on a full spectrum of whetstones (full spectrum meaning I'd start at around 320 grit and end at 10,000 grit) but that's expensive in itself. I also suggest getting a bench grinder with a buffing wheel, some black and green metal polish that you can pick up from harbor freight, and a leather strop.
That's all I can think of in regards to main points but if you want detail on anything related to blacksmithing or have any more questions, I recommend going to sites like iforgeiron and blacksmithforums.com
Read Ron Reil's pages on gas forges. Read a copy of Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns by Michael Porter. Browse the old threads on http://www.iforgeiron.com/ and http://knifedogs.com/. It's not difficult to get a burner working with a few hours reading and a couple trips to a good plumbing supply house (or ordered from Grainger, etc.).
Good work on the burner so far. You will need to flare the end to establish the correct burn, but so far so good. After having built a few forges I would suggest that you start by building a firebrick forge like this one here, it's orders of magnitude easier to get firebricks and build them like Lego into what you want. Grinding away at a propane tank to make a forge is honestly a pain in the ass. Also you might want to check out this book for future projects. Running two burners is a really good way to burn through propane. Take the time to build a really good adjustable burner and you will find that you only need to run one burner for the majority of the projects you work on if it's burning really well. Spend the money to insulate and coat your forge and you will save a considerable amount of time and energy (literal energy too) in the end.
I have this book and it's REALLY good.
https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481605664&sr=1-1&keywords=propane+burners+for+furnaces
This book has a pretty foolproof set of guidelines to build one, as well as a standard propane tank forge:
Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns
The dimensions are pretty critical.
http://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203
I highly recommend this book.