Morning

[copen]

Jus sayin Hi from a new guy.
A short bit of info about myself.
Been working as a maintenance tech. at a university for the last 27+ years. Spent about 15 years prior working as an auto tech. Man how things have changed. Many different jobs before that. 65 yrs old and thinkin about retiring. Hoping to get more into makin more "stuff" when time permits, maybe for profit, maybe not. Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of an ole phart.
Later, c.

[Jon]

Hi copen - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

You'll fit in well here with that experience.

What's next up on your projects list?

[copen]

Well Jon, there's things I wanna do and things I need to do. I've got a bucket full of used, make that well used, railroad spikes. My "forge" is coal fired, made from a brake drum off a dump truck. Personally, I like the smell of coal fires, just not sure about my neighbors. A little smokey to start. So one of my wanna do's is a gas forge. I have a burner that I made from scrap pipe that uses forced air and propane that works well enough and an old electric kiln that the university replaced. Just a matter of adapting the burner to the kiln. It's lined with heavy firebrick, time will tell if it's enough. Next on the list is a belt grinder.
At this point, it's just a matter of gettin priorities in order. Later,c

[Jon]

Sounds like you're almost there. What's your strategy for adapting the burner to the kiln?

[copen]

Probably a pipe flange fastened to the top of the metal housing.

[Jon]

Keep us posted.