[TheForge] Re: reducing fuel costs by improving forge efficiency.

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Dann;
Helmut Hillenkamp built some  interesting forges that had a big flat 
cast refractory bottom and an unattached dome top with the burner built 
in. There were some ground level ports in the dome and one could easily 
lift it off and on the work. The domes were from light pressure tank 
ends lined with K-wool and could be placed wherever heat was desired.....PF

Harland Johnson wrote:

> Terry,
> Last fall, I was looking at the old BBQ Grill with it's twenty pound 
> propane bottle and thinking that would be a great portable / wheeled 
> stand for my Whisper Momma forge. The more I looked at it, I wondered 
> about making a clam shell forge using steel plate to replace the 
> aluminum BBQ- shell.  It is still on my "to do" list.  Sounds like you 
> have already done it.
> Dann
> terry l. ridder writes:
>
>> hello;
>> if you look at ron reil's original 4 burner propane forge my forge is
>> nearly identical. i have two inches of kaowool lining with several coats
>> of itc-100 on the inner most layer. the only item in the forge not
>> coated with itc-100 is the kiln shelf at the bottom. the moveable back
>> wall is made of kaowool board and coated with itc-100.
>> not one to burn my bridges, i will experiement with building a new forge
>> with the design goal of pre-heating the combustion air. it may even be a
>> clamshell design so that i am able to work on more intricate pieces. 
>> i have more than enough kaowool and itc-100 to experiement with.
>> the new forge will have sidearm burners instead of the original reil
>> burner design. 
>> design drawings and a few pictures of the current forge may be found
>> here::
>> http://strauss.blauedonau.com/forge/
>> On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:
>> peter> Terry:
>> peter> The Sandia forge design does that and it goes a long way on a 
>> tank of peter> gas. Good insulation and an IR reflector spray help a 
>> lot too.
>> peter> 
>> terry l. ridder wrote:
>> terrylr> terrylr> hello;
>> terrylr> terrylr> while i have not giving up on the idea of using 
>> coal instead of propane
>> terrylr> further research points to improving the forge and perhaps 
>> the crucible
>> terrylr> furnances efficiency in order to reduce propane cost.
>> terrylr>
>> terrylr> most methods to improve forge efficiency have been discussed 
>> before on
>> terrylr> theforge in the past.
>> terrylr>
>> terrylr> in looking at kiln designs and charcoal retort designs the 
>> most common
>> terrylr> method is to preheat the combustion air. terrylr>
>> terrylr> so for the near term i will experiement with pre-heating the 
>> combustion
>> terrylr> air used by the forge.
>> terrylr>
>> -- 
>> terry l. ridder ><>
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