"Jim Wilson" wrote in message
ink.net...
Ed Huntress wrote...

What does a coffee-can forge look like? It sounds like something that's
right in my price range. g

I'm sure it would be. (G) It looks pretty much like what you'd toss in
the trash bin after the contents are consumed, but the ends have been
removed.

I thought sure I'd find a picture of one on the net for you, but Google
doesn't seem to stock any. (G) Maybe I'll add a little web page with some
pics and tips. They are so common, I can't believe someone hasn't already
put up a page on one. They're cheap, very easy to make, and surprisingly
handy. Mine gets nearly as much use as my mini propane-tank forge, which
runs a Reil propane burner.

The coffee can forge is cradled in a pair of legs bent from 1/8 x 3/4" or
1" mild steel strip. It's lined with 1" 6# ceramic wool blanket. A 1"
thin slice of soft firebrick provides the floor; it's slightly more
durable than the wool. A ceramic shelf would be better, but I didn't have
any. There's a 5/8" or so hole in the side about midway between the open
ends, around the 10 o'clock position. A swirly propane torch nozzle fits
through the hole. That's pretty much it.

A piece of the wool covers top half of the back opening. The front
opening is usually closed off a bit by the hearth, which is just a fire
brick sitting on its side in front of the opening. The atmosphere in the
is controlled by choking the front and back openings more or less with
scrap firebrick. I generally close off the back a little more than the
front, except when I want to limit the portion of the workpiece that's
brought to temperature.

And then there's the picoforge (TM), made by hollowing out a single
firebrick. (I just made that name up.) It is also powered by a propane
torch. I don't have one of these, but I've seen a couple over the years.

They sound very clever, Jim. If you put up some photos, I'd like to see
them.

You may want to point out one caution here to hobbyists who try the
atmosphere trick. I'm not sure about propane, but this is true for natural
gas: burning it with insufficient air, as in your routine for making a
reducing atmosphere, generates a lot of carbon monoxide in a hurry. In fact,
carbon monoxide is a furnace gas used in industry for just this purpose. But
they burn off the vented gas to keep from killing themselves.

Unless someone is sure that propane doesn't generate CO under these
conditions (which would surprise the heck out of me, but I'm no chemist), it
doesn't sound like something you'd want to do indoors.

Thanks for the info.

Ed Huntress