Thread: forge ideas

I finally tried out my forge today, I made it this weekend with a coffee can and an asparagus can. The lining is a mixture of clay (kitty litter) and sand that was wet and rammed into the space between the two cans. The first time I just heated it up to drive off any remaining moister. The second time I tried I annealed a portion of a file. It took between 6 and 7 minutes to get hot enough that it was not magnetic. I then put the file in a can of lime to cool. I ended up doing both ends of the file. The file came out soft enough that I could hacksaw and file the perimeter to shape. I used the jth7 torch with the yellow bottle for the annealing.

Now my questions,

Is seven minutes to heat up on par with home made micro forges?

Does the yellow map gas bottle burn hotter that a regular propane bottle?

Will the jth7 torch hook up to a big propane bottle?

Charlie