roofers torch forge?

D

DaQo'tah Forge

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Hi this is DaQo'tah

I had a co-worker from work over to watch me do some forgeing. I just use coal I "find" from a place near where I live, so its a smelly smokey mess to forge a blade, and it takes all day.

My friend dropped off a gift he thought I might be able to use to make a better forge with, a roofers torch.

I guess roofers use this thing connected to a small gas tank to heat the hot tar when the lay down roof rolls.

Anyway, has anyone ever tried to make a knife forge from such a torch?

I told my co-worker i would give it a try, but I dont have a clue how to design this into a good forge.

any ideas you guys might have right now would come in handy....


(this type of torch is , a rubber hose connected to about just around 2 or 3 feet of 1/2 inch pipe. at the fire-end of this torch it has this other bigger pipe thats attached, the air for the fire gets sorta sucked between the 1/2 inch pipe and the bigger pipe and then shoots out on fire.)
 
I've used a weed burner that I got from Harbor Freight and they work just fine. Is it the torch that is used up on the roof or the torch/burner that is used for melting the tar? If it the one that is used up on the roof it could very well be a weed burner. The one for the melt I know nothing about but would think it would be more than what you need for forging knives.....
 
weed burner?...never heard of it like that, however, it would burn weeds...LOL

its connected to a gas tank with about 6 foot of rubber hose. then the hose is connected to a pipe about 3 feet long, there is a small valve where the hose and pipe meet.

at the fire end of the torch the 1/2 inch pipe is covered over with a bigger pipe about 6 inches long and about 3 inches in diameter.

You lite the torch by turning on the gas, and holding a match at the end of the bigger pipe. it goes WOOF!, and the torch is burning...

now I have seen two things, first the torch needs lots of air to work right, and 2nd if you hold the end of the torch too close to something the fire kinda dies off...

My concern is that I would make some type of Closed forge, and when I sliped the torch into the forge, the fire would go out.

I am not sure how I would design a forge set-up that would allow me to use this roofer/weed burner? torch....
 
I use a 1" Sievert/Primus torch to heat treat, I made a "cave" out of fire bricks and point the torch flame into an opening at the front but don't put the torch right into the cave. You have adjust how far away the flame is or it blows back and don't get as hot.

The steel goes in a hole in front of the cave below the flame. It gets to bright yellow heat in about ten minutes at maximum. I'm going to rig something up to hold the torch so I have both hands free.
 
DaQo'tah,

Here's mine,

forge.jpg


Got the idea from someone else here. Don't put the thing into the forge. Leave it out by a few inches. The flame is acually generated past the end. Play around you'll find the sweet spot.

Hope that helps,

Steve

(PS This is not an effecient setup. I just use it to heat treat jigs and things.)
 
Steve!

thats the same torch that I got....now I see how to design this,,,,

but the whole point is to be able to heat the steel hot enough to forge. would such a torch as your design shows allow me to heat the steel to a red color?...

I want to be able to anneal the steel.

would 52100 steel get to the Non-magnetic temp?
 
DaQo'tah,

Heat is no problem with those things!! Mine still has the label: 500,000 BTUs and propane achieves something like 5,000 degrees. As you know by now they make alot of noise.

I left a gap in the bricks the size of the end of the torch. The flame hits the bricks on the far side and gets them glowing red.

I'm sorry I can't help you at all with heating/annealing those metals, but I believe the forge design is more of an issue than propane.

Good luck and may the forge be with you:p

Steve
 
okay...I believe that I have enough information to try a few ideas out....

perhaps this might work,perhaps not,,,but it will be fun to try anyway...
 
I just got a weed burner from my gal and I want to use it to build a forge but others have said it is not good?? If I can us it I would like to since she bought it for me. I built a small two coffee can forge that I may be able to retrofit with this burner if it would be worth the time.

Any help would be awesome. If it is better for me to use something else so be it but I see that you use a similar burner. Can it get to weld temps?
 
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