[TheForge] Propane vs LPG

[ries]

There are gasoline powered cutting torches, they have been around a  
long time. They are loud, fierce, and somewhat dangerous, and mostly  
used in industrial scrapping operations, as they are a bit overkill  
for a home shop.
I sure wouldnt want a gasoline powered forge in my shop- the very  
minimal savings in dollars would be far overshadowed by the increased  
possibility of explosion from the fumes. Gasoline is volatile stuff.

There have been plenty of fuel oil forges in industry. They have a  
certain minimum practical size, as I understand, and are very good at  
getting hot, but not really practical for a small, cheap, low hour  
usage. Grant Sarver used to use fuel oil forges when he ran his  
industrial drill factory, making chipping hammer points for  
jackhammers, but now that he is a one man band, he uses nice small  
manageable propane forges, and his inverter HF electric coil forges.
If the fuel oil was practical for a small shop forge, I would guess  
Grant would use one- he certainly has a lot of experience with them.

I think there is a reason why propane has ended up being the default  
small shop forge- its cheap, easy to build, safe, low maintanence, and  
doesnt put out a lot of smelly smoke.

ries



On Apr 10, 2010, at 8:19 AM, Bruce Freeman wrote:

I just looked up Chemtane.  The MSDS says that Chemtane concentrate is
a mixture of 5-carbon to 7- or 8-carbon hydrocarbons.  So the trick
must be how to include those fuels and still get good vaporization.
No problem if the fuel is warm enough, but otherwise a major problem.
I don't know how they solved that.

Still, this points up that other fuels than propane may be useful for
some blacksmithing purposes.  Come up with a safe way to use gasoline
as your fuel and you will have a very high BTU forge.  Or torch.

If I were going to try this (not likely) I'd use a high-pressure,
low-flow pump with a low-pressure cut-off feature (like an HPLC pump)
to pump the gasoline from an outdoor storage container  through a SS
tube 1/16" OD and maybe 0.010" ID.  Then, for a forge, I'd use a
carburetor-type arrangement to convert liquid to vapor while mixing it
at the proper ratio.  The mix I'd pass through a flame arrester (e.g.,
a long mass of SS wool) and to the burner.  Clearly, this would have
to be forced air.  And the carburetor section might have to be warmed
to promote vaporization.

This should be no more dangerous than the carburetor of a gasoline
engine.  Which is not to say that it would be danger-free!

I don't know enough about torches to suggest a design, but maybe the
mixing could be liquid gas with forced air in a chamber immediately
before the torch outlet, heated by the heat of the torch.



On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 10:53 AM, ries <ries at riesniemi.com> wrote:
>
> A couple of years ago, I switched to Chemtane for my forge.
> It lasts longer, burns hotter, and in general, I like it better than
> garden variety propane.
> My local welding supply company has a big tank of it out back, and I
> end up going there at least once a month or so to fill argon,
> acetylene, oxygen, and mig gas tanks anyway, so its no big deal to
> keep it full.
>
> I believe its a proprietary mix from the Chemtane company.
> http://www.chemtane2.com/products/chemtane-2
>
> I live within 20 miles of 3 oil refineries, and probably a dozen small
> shipyards, (small meaning they build ships up to about 250 feet in
> length) so the local welding supply store is perhaps a bit more
> industrially minded than most. Not all suppliers have this stuff.
>
> But for forges, it kicks butt. Its BTU output per cubic foot is double
> that of acetylene, and a 25% more than propane.
> It costs more, but when your round trip for a refill is, like mine
> close to 45 minutes, less frequency of trips to refill alone saves me
> money.
>
> I havent tried it yet with a torch, for cutting, but they say it is
> excellent for that as well.
>
> Ries Niemi
> Industrial Artist
> http://www.riesniemi.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ
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Ries Niemi
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http://www.riesniemi.com/