How hot does propane burn in a reducing atmosphere?

Also, get a BBQ grill cover to drop over the cooled down forge when taking a break or overnight on weekends. My equipment was outside 24/7/365 for years and everything had a BBQ cover over it. There are still a lot of things on the forging deck with covers over them - Forges, Big Buffers, Anvils, etc.
Until this new shop, I have never had a forge inside. The NC Whisper Lowboy has run flawlessly for well over 20 years with nothing over it but the tent and then the smithy roof. In the beginning I put a cover over it, but stopped after a while and it holds up fine. I repainted it last year for the first time with Rustoleum Hi-temp BBQ grill paint.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Also, get a BBQ grill cover to drop over the cooled down forge when taking a break or overnight on weekends.
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Thanks, and that's a good idea. I put locking casters on the forge and we're rolling the forge inside the garage (after unhooking it to the propane tank) when it's cool enough to handle.
I'm thinking about doing that for my gas powered arc welder/generator that has metal casters on it for (rolling on smooth concrete) and chaining it to the fence to prevent theft so that we don't have to move that in and out every day.
 
I recently advised Ken H to put 8" or 10" wheels from HF on the carts. They will roll easily across grass and in/out of garages. They are about $6 a wheel. You can even get then with a swivel mount. A piece of 3/4" rod and some washers/cotter pins and you are rolling along (pun intended).
 
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At Stacy's recommendation I used the HF tires, I think these are the tires I used on the forge cart at $5 each
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-inch-pneumatic-tire-30900.html
I had this HF cart with only the wife's stuff on it so used it $40:
https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-...6-inch-x-30-inch-steel-service-cart-5107.html
I put some 5" swivel wheels on front since I had them laying around.
Forge-Wheel.jpg


On concrete the cart really rolls easy, and on grass it still rolls just fine. Great move and am very happy with it. I move it inside when not using, roll outside when I wish to use.
 
Good morning all. I thought I'd give an update for those interested.
weo said:
As I was cleaning up the billet I did, I think I'm seeing incomplete welds at spots
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I found out yesterday that the billet was solidly welded in the middle and was able to forge out 2 blacksmith knives. I started with 6 pieces, 2 pieces of 0.125" 1080's sandwiched on each sides by 2 pieces of 0.070" 15N20. It seems like the outer piece of 15N20 didn't weld completely and I lost a bit of it to scale during the forging. I'm thinking this was due to the combination of the dies sucking the heat out of the thin outside layer and having a relatively low heat. This gave me a thought that I tried yesterday and thought I'd bounce off y'all.

I made up another billet of 15 layers of 15N20/1080 and tacked a 1/8" piece of mild on each side of the new billet to act as insulation between the hot billet and cold press dies. I didn't grind off the mill scale or clean off the outside of the outer layers of 15N20 so that this wouldn't weld to the billet.

While I got another solid billet, I'm wondering if this (using mild steel as an envelope to keep the heat in the billet) is a good insurance policy or a waste of time, because with the other adjustments I made to the forge atmosphere, my forge was running between 2040-2060 F during the welding process. Or will the higher welding temps prevent the outer layers from cooling off too quickly?
 
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