A couple of pieces I've made during the pandemic

[My_Teenage_Self]

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

So a while ago there was an 'incident'... my forge did not come out of it very well, so I had to build a new one. It was kind of overdue, My old forge was much too big, pooly designed, and ultimately, very inefficient. I run it off of a large propane tank, and I could burn through it in less than 10 hours. Combined with the fact that the tank would frost up due to excess flow rate, and the fact that it also took over an hour to get to welding temp, it was time.

The new one is much smaller (teh interior is around 2 litres) and it now has a ribbon burner - much more efficient. I bought a gas injector too - UK made just up the road from me






Nice.

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

I'd better check it works... I need around 1300 degrees C

Weld up a couple of canisters and coat them with white paint - The paint contains titanium dioxide which will prevent the canister welding to the powdered steel.


And add a few stainless steel scouring pads


No pics of teh next bit, but I compress/compact the whole lot down HARD and weld the top on. it goes in teh forge for about 25 mins to fully heat through - the new forge gets hot enough in about 20 mins, and when it comes out the steel is white hot. smashy smashy and fingers crossed...



Result. It's compressed by about 2/3 and appears solid

Time spent prepping everything, getting forge up to temp and removing the canister... about an hour and a half.