Propane Burners

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frostyforge

Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
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Does anyone have good plans to make or an affordable place to buy a propane burner that can get up to forge welding temperatures. I made a forge with refractory cement and insolating fire brick and want to get to forge welding temperatures to make Damascus steel, but with my current set up I can't seem to quite get it.
 
Atlas Knife Co has a pretty affordable 100k btu burner that works like a champ. Whether or not that's good enough to hit forge weld heat has a lot to do with the size forge you built/insulation/etc. If you have a large forge you may need multiple burners (or a smaller forge). My Atlas forge that has that burner in it can theoretically hit the temps, but I've not personally tried yet.
 
It's hard to beat an Atlas forge or burner.
If you look at the previous posts about the atlas forge and burners they use, it's easy to see that they take a lot of pride in their forges and the research and development that it took to get them where they're at. I've owned two so far, a mini and a larger prototype and I love them both.

I really appreciate a maker that puts so much into the things they develop while keeping their prices so low that you would be hard pressed to build one for any cheaper.

Another thing,
Charles answered several emails I had when I had questions about my new forge. They weren't answered a week later, they were answered within an hour, at night. Very rarely have I seen customer service like that.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I don't always answer right away, sometimes its the next day. Anyway, HEre's a compilation video I took 2 weeks ago of me forge welding a 5-layer san-mai in an Atlas Mini w/ 30k burner.
 
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Thanks for the help. The forge I made has refractory cement slabs on the top and bottom with insulating brick on the sides. I got a plan for a DIY burner and I did get it to forge welding temps once but barely there.
 
What type of "refractory cement" did you use. Most of the refractory out there is not suited for the kind of forges we use. And even the good stuff has to be used right in a forge that's designed for it. Easiest way to get to forge wending temps is a small forge and refractory wool. Or the correct type of fire bricks. The older I get the more I like forges that are duty specific. Burt foster has a nice tiny forge welding forge that is used just for that task
 
If the "slab" is a cast refractory, it has to have an insulating blanket of refractory wool wrapped around it. Fire brick can be used as a stand alone forge lining if it is the right type. Not all fire bricks are the same. There are the light weight and soft "insulating bricks", and the heavier and hard "refractory lining bricks". Generally speaking, any home built forge will have a wool blanket involved. In most, the wool is placed inside some sort of metal shell and then coated with a thin layer of refractory cement. This protects the wool from the flame and adds thermal mass to the forge lining ... which makes for a more even heating of the interior.
 
Not sure what you are asking about. Post some drawings or photos of what you have so we might better help you.

There are dozens of forge build threads in this forum that you can find with the custom search engine. They are most all ones with a K-wool type blanket insulation and about 1/2"-3/8" of refractory coating inside to make the chamber. The outer shell can be anything, but is usually pipe. Round is the best chamber shape, but ones with rounded corners work well if the design is good. Burner position and direction is also very important. A tangential and angled burner will spread the flame throughout the chamber.

All that said, a rectangular chamber and proper burner arrangement will still weld. My Whisper Lowboy three burner venturi will weld steel.
 
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