Using a Pipe in a Gas Forge

Mike Martinez

Well-Known Member
Just curious, but have any of you tried a set up like the one pictured below to eliminate hot spots in your HT session? I'm going to use a T-Rex Burner for my set up and am going to try this, but am interested to see if anyone has experience with this.

Schedule 80 pipe used in set up.

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Maybe Fred Rowe will chime in on this. He has one. I think that his has air space between the insolation and the inside pipe.
 
I've seen one that was made for swords, and it worked so well I'm wanting to build one like it. (I'm sure it could be scaled down in size to suit your needs.)

It was a 55-gallon drum laying on its side, with an 8" pipe running through the center. Both ends of the drum were sealed; the only open portions were the center pipe and intake/exhaust ports for the burner.
Insulation lined the drum, with plenty of air space between the insulation and inside pipe just like Wayne mentioned.

I believe the success of the design lies in the placement of the burner. The burner was installed at a tangent; it directed the heat in a swirling vortex around the inside of the drum instead of towards the inner pipe.
 
I know of a number of makers who have/do use that setup, including myself. (I've noticed that many folks who use that type of setup, tend to build a salt tank as the next step in their evolution) One key is to keep the interior pipe to the smallest diameter you can, and still fit your blade(s) inside. (it's beneficial to have the interior pipe "propped up" on each end, so the heat can circulate all the way around it.) Opinions differ somewhat among folks....some allow the blade to heat up with the pipe, and others bring everything up to temp before inserting the blade....but either seems to yield good results.

To piggyback on what Rob mentioned.....I see a couple of potential issues with your setup.... It appears that the is very little air space (room) between the forge lining and the inserted piece of pipe....hard for the heat to circulate around the pipe and be even.
It appears that the burner in coming into the forge, and is pointed directly at the side of the interior pipe....that will give you a serious hot spot. I would suggest repositioning the burner holder/burner so that it is about the center line of the forge body, and give it a slightly upward tilt.....that will produce more of an even heat, and will likely enable the forge to produce higher temps more efficiently.
 
Thank you guys for your help. The set up featured was a suggestion sent to me to help inspire my build. I'll be sure to implement your tips when I put mine together, right now I'm thinking, Freon tank, wool, 8" schedule 40 pipe and 2" schedule 80 pipe.
 
heres the one Lisa uses now..It will gold to within 2* as long as you want it too..Just takes adjustment and baffles over the bell..
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I use the same basic idea.... neat thing is, you can throw a few wood chips in while the blade is coming up to temp and virtually eliminate scaling.
 
I use a pipe in my HT forge, my system is heat forge up to high temp fast.
Takes about 10 mins or more, next put in my pipe and allow pipe to get to high temp.
Next lower PSI to about nothing, just where the forge is barely running and shoot for desired temps. I personally use a Thermocouple.
Next put in knife and let get to temp, then Quench.
I used to not use a pipe and I got serious hot spots. With pipe it really evens out my
temperature.
All depends on forge being used I would assume though. I do think if my burners were at a tangent I would not need a pipe.
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I use a pipe in my HT forge, my system is heat forge up to high temp fast.
Takes about 10 mins or more, next put in my pipe and allow pipe to get to high temp.
Next lower PSI to about nothing, just where the forge is barely running and shoot for desired temps. I personally use a Thermocouple.
Next put in knife and let get to temp, then Quench.
I used to not use a pipe and I got serious hot spots. With pipe it really evens out my
temperature.
All depends on forge being used I would assume though. I do think if my burners were at a tangent I would not need a pipe.
hi6.jpg

hi7.jpg

Inspiring set up Mr. Williams.
 
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