Search the Community

I am building my first forge. I am using a sand blaster tank that is 12" in diameter and the center section is 18". I have enough inswool coming to put 2" possibly 3". I have rigidizer, kast o lite 30, and Plistix 900F to coat the inswool. 1st question do you use any type of adhesive to hold the inswool in place? I figure cutting it to go around the inside would probably hold it in place but what about the concave parts on the end. I want the forge to be able to heat treat also which leads me to my second question. Can you use a ribbon burner to heat treat? I have read where people have welded with a ribbon burner at 1psi. I will be using 2 forced air burners if I don't go the ribbon burner route. Thank you in advance for any help.

I just finished building a ribbon burner forge, fired it up, and I'm not getting the heat from it I would expect. I can bring it to a bright orange, but it's having a hard time getting past that. I feel like the forge build should allow for forge welding temps as I followed a pretty standard procedure. So, my guess is an issue with the burner/blower, plumbing, etc. At this point I think my blower is a bit too strong, so I need to set up a second baffle after the blower it seems that I need to keep the gate on the front totally shut. Also, as I bring the atmosphere toward neutral (no dragon's breath), I begin to get an intense, low, vibration noise. I'm assuming this is the burner beginning to blow itself out? Because of this it feels like I can't quite bring it to a true neutral flame. So far i've been running it between 2-4 psi propane. I will give a very quick low-down on the forge build otherwise I can answer questions. Also I posted a pretty detailed forge build over at iforgeiron with lots of pics and a video of it running the first time (in the video I didn't quite have the atmosphere correct) , etc. HERE: https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/50761-questions-on-ribbon-burners/ Forge: 20# propane tank shell, 2" rigidized kaowool, 1/2"-ish kast-o-lite 30 over the wool, high alumina kiln shelf floor, everything covered in plistix, insulating firebrick doors. Burner: Followed Emmerling's design, used mizzou to cast with. Blower: https://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/products/forge-fan-fuel/blowers/gas-forge-blower-2.html I can post pictures here, but I already have on the thread linked above, so unless someone asked for a specific photo I will wait for now. Ok, that's a start. Looking for suggestions on tuning this thing up to its full potential, which I believe is attainable. Thanks in advance, Eric