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howdy, lately I've been thinking about building a propane forge but before I start I thought i'd better check and make sure I was on the right track. first, is a smaller forge more efficient than a larger forge? common sense would say yes but what do I know lol. originally I was planning to use an old propane tank or a 5 gallon air tank for the forge body but got to thinking they may be larger than I need right now. I have some 8" wide pipe and I think some 6" or 8" wide tubing that might be a better starting option for me. second, not having any experience with burners i'm having a hard time deciding what would be best one to use. atlas forge sells a 100k btu burner with a 30 psi regulator for around 70 bucks which looks like a good option. and I was also thinking about the venturi burner kit from high temp tools. by the time I got that and then a regulator i'd be looking at about $80 to $100. another option I just discovered here on the forum is the turkey fryer burner. looks like I could get a burner and regulator combo on amazon for around $30. any suggestions on what to go with? third, if I did go with the 8" pipe for the forge body would 2" of inswool coated in satanite be a good combo? or is there something better? my main interests right now are 10" to 15" Bowies and fighters and eventually trying my hand at Damascus so i'd like to build a forge that could handle all of that without being overkill. thanks in advance! Zane.

I was out in the backyard shop waiting for my forge to get warmed up, when I started noticing my burner makeing a worrying noise here and there. It sounded like the burner was still pumping out gas and sucking in air, but the roaring sound of the flame would cut out every so often. I've used this burner for a long time and used the same model previously, and both had this in common. Is this something I should be worried about? Both burners are considerably rusty since they're only protected by a tarp that's seen better days, and I'm wondering if that's the cause of the problem. I kept imagining my tank and forge exploding in my face, so I shut down the forge before it was even preheated and haven't gone back out since. I just want to know if I'm dealing with a time bomb.