what do yall fuel your forges with?

legato1

legato1

Joined
Sep 8, 2006
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im using charcoal and the blow function of a shopvac, is there a better way for me to do it with out spending alot of money?
 
thanks, il give propane a try after i raise alittle bit of money. anything will proly work better than my current setup
 
thanks, il give propane a try after i raise alittle bit of money. anything will proly work better than my current setup
 
propane most definitely. I have had mine over 3000F. That's when the thermocouple melted. I don't run it that high just had to see how hot I could get it.
 
Plutonium!:eek::D:D




Propane
I haven't figured out the ins and outs of making a propane forge yet.
 
A C Richards said:
propane most definitely. I have had mine over 3000F. That's when the thermocouple melted. I don't run it that high just had to see how hot I could get it.
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Yup! Now you know.:D

I have some experience in this area myself.:confused::eek::D

Fred
 
Depends on how big and how much steel you have laying around. You should be able to build one for around $100.

I built a waste oil forge so all my fuel is free. Pretty much like a propane forge but a little cheaper in building because no need for regulators and stuff.
 
Will Leavitt said:
Depends on how big and how much steel you have laying around. You should be able to build one for around $100.

I built a waste oil forge so all my fuel is free. Pretty much like a propane forge but a little cheaper in building because no need for regulators and stuff.
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So how does it work and what temps can you get from it???

Sounds interesting
 
how does the waste oil forge work? are they pretty simple in design. getting ahold of steel is not a problem for me i have no problem spending a day at the junk yard lookin for the right pieces.
 
Hot enough to turn 1084 into slag in the bottom of my forge :( The big problem with a waste oil forge is keeping it DOWN to forging temps, people use these to do home foundry melts.

I'm using a 10" diameter pipe, 10" high with 1" of kaowool and 1/2" of Satanite. The burner is 17" of 1 1/2" black pipe with a blower at one end. The fuel tube is 9" of 1/4" that enters the burner at a 45 degree angle, the fuel tube is cut at a 45 so it's parallel to the bottom of the burner tube. Try to get it close to the end and centered in the burner tube. I use a 1/4" gate valve to control fuel. It's gravity fed so have the bucket or whatever you use to hold fuel higher with no kinks in the hose.

I can burn motor oil or fryer oil in it. I just dump my quench oil into the bucket lol (well used to, got Parks 50 now.)
 
One other thing about using charcoal, learned this from Tai a couple years ago... you can take fist size chunks of hardwood, put them around the top of the charcoal fire and they'll turn into charcoal, just rake them into the fire as they get ready or are needed. It's kinda like coking coal while you're forging. Or you can just toss some large pieces in with the charcoal (I saw a picture of Tai's forge with 8' flames coming off the top of it using a mix of hardwood/charcoal.) Just mixing in some big lumps of hardwood will extend the charcoal and cut down on your fuel costs depending on how much you have to pay for it.
 
my opinion the cost of the forge depends on how bad you want it. i wanted my first reallly really bad, and scavanged and built it for $25, welded in it no prob. sold it 1 1/2 years later with no burner, and the back door was 55% burnt off and it needed relined and i still got $75 for it. if ya want one bad enough, you find a means to scrounge and scanange up what you need to build one.
 
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