Watched a buddy's forge go from a rusty brake drum to a real gas forge in 6 months

He started out with that old brake drum setup and a hair dryer, took him forever to get anything past cherry red. Then he saved up and bought a real burner and some ceramic wool from a supplier in Akron. Now he's cranking out bottle openers and hooks in like 15 minutes flat, no sweat. Has anyone else seen that kind of leap in quality after switching fuel sources or am I just crazy?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben82722d ago

Wow, from a brake drum and hair dryer to a legit gas forge in just six months? That's a heck of a fast upgrade. I've seen guys stuck on a brake drum for years before they get sick of it and switch. Did he sell off some of his early work to fund the new setup or something?

michaels9522d ago

That six month timeline seems fast but honestly it depends on how often you're actually at the forge. I've seen guys drop serious money on a gas setup then barely touch it for months because they didn't learn the basics first with coal or charcoal. Your buddy probably spent a lot of weekends grinding away with that hair dryer to build up the muscle memory for hammer control and heat management. The gas forge just made the process faster not the skill. I'd be more impressed if he stuck with the brake drum for a year and then upgraded. That's when you really see if someone has the patience to actually learn forging instead of just buying their way past the hard parts.