Not sure which one of these propane burners is best.

K

KyKaMo

Joined
Mar 31, 2012
Messages
23
Hey,

I'm making a 50gal drum HT forge. I originally was going to make a regular 3/4" T-rex burner out of plumbing parts. However, my uncle has an old "tiger torch" that he's willing to give me hose, regulator and all. Im tempted to use it since it would save me from buying my own hoses and regulator, but im worried that this burner is too inefficient and will just eat propane far faster than a T-rex burner at 7-8psi. I believe this is the burner hes offering, https://www.acklandsgrainger.com/AGIPortalWeb/WebSource/ProductDisplay/globalProductDetailDisplay.do?item_code=TGR445

In your guys opinion, which would you go for?

Thanks
 
KyKaMo said:
I wanna HT some swords. And bladsmth can you tell me why just so i know?
Click to expand...

im not sure if you have made knives before or not so please excuse what i say if you already know

basically if you plan on making sword you need to look at the steel you plan to use, if you plan on making the swords out of anything other then really 1084 then your heat treating process becomes quiet complex..... what i mean is with 1084 you simply get it upto non magnetic (heat the steal till the point you touch a magnet and it dosnt attract) then heat a bit more and quench in oil, with other steels you need to heat the steel and keep it at a constant temperature for a period of time, this is something that the forge your suggesting wont be able to do



this process requires precise heat treating machines, now if your planning on making the swords just for show ie to hand on a wall, i wouldnt even bother with heat treating, if you planning on using them for say medieval re-enactment or something like that then they would require proper heat treating if theres actual blade to blade contact.

also with your 50 galon drum your going to find that because of such a large internal space that getting the blade to heat without alot of heat being dispurted is going to be a long process and you will be burning through a propane bottle every time you heat treat a blade. If anything you would want say something that is the length of the drum but maybe a 12" diameter or even smaller with multiple points for flame to hit the steel.

to also note that you need a way to temper the steel once heat treated, so your also going to need an oven large enough to temper the steel for a period of time, most use the home kitchen oven set to around the 400 mark and let it nicely bake in there for batches of 1-2 hours.

all in all its going to end up cost quiet a bit to make with limited results and heat treating ability your best bet is to make a few swords, and send them off in a bunch ie make 3-4 blades/swords at once and send it to be professionally heat treated, that way you can use your favourite or most suited steel and you know your swords will come back correctly done.
 
Thanks for your concern, but the drum forge has been used very successfully and i am using 10xx steel.

I just want to understand the downfalls of that "tiger burner." I will just stick with the T-rex burner.
 
A drum forge has been successfully used....as well as a small pile of charcoal and a hand fan. It is all in the skills of the smith. That is part of what knifemaker01 was getting at.

It is sort of, "If you have to ask the difference, you aren't ready to build it." The short answer is - That burner isn't meant to be installed in a forge. It is a hand held weed burner.

Build or buy a venturi or blown burner. On a drum forge, I would go blown.

There is no need for a very wide chamber just to heat up a 2" wide by 3/8" thick bar of steel. If you were making a damascus billet forge for 6" tall by 12" long stacks of 2" wide steel, it might make sense to use a 55 gallon drum.

Personally, I would suggest you get a length of 12-14" pipe and use it as the forge shell. Make it as long as needed. My sword forge is 12" wide by 40" long and has a venturi burner manifold with five burner ports.
 
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