Can't speak to Morocco prices and avalability, but to me the big disadvantage to natural gas is energy density which makes it not that portable. Propane in the bottle is kept as a liquid by pressure and 200 psi will hold it as a liquid up to about 115 degrees F. (safety pop off valves here are set at 315 psi). That liquid has an energy density of about 90,000 BTU/gal. Natural gas can't be liquified by pressure without refrigeration, it can only be compressed and even at 3000 psi has an energy density of about 30,000 BTU/gal. You would need a large, heavy bottle at high pressures for a reasonable amount of transportable energy. For a shop forge with natural gas coming off the pipe line, that's not a problem. Here, propane energy is seven to ten times more expensive than natural gas energy so a stationary forge on natural gas makes sense, for a portable forge it does not. An everyday world example might be transportation, CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles would only have a third or so the range of an equivalent gasoline vehicle, say 100 miles versus 300 miles.That's OK for say city buses with a fixed route to bring them back to the yard for a refill every 75 miles. Makes no sense for a personal vehicle that may be used on vacation and there aren't many CNG stations to be found.
Kylek, That's great, but think of one thing. You made a 4 legged stand that is flat on the ground. What happens when you get to uneven ground? I've been though this. Do a three legged one, and have the ends of the legs higher than the center. Will give you a much more stable stand.
For now I guess I will zip cut and bend the ends. Then reweld it so the centre is off the ground. Didnt think of uneven ground :/ Maybe next weekend and a six pack. Originally I wanted to use a disc but I couldnt track one down, I had a big plate of 3/8" so I fired up the torch and thats what came of it Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
Can always make a new base and just cut the weld on the old one Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
I spent some time making and experimenting with various configurations of frog knives. These are what I have settled on: Regards
As usual my film pictures come out better than digital. More shots of the porpoise fire poker and mantle piece. I did the design in CAD so that it could be cut with a CNC plasma cutter.
Tom, From now on let your wife show off the things you've made. Thank you. As a side note due to how things can be interpreted through the internet; no disrespect intended, congratulations, and how did you pull that off?
Clint, I have no idea how I got so lucky. We just celebrated our 19th anniversary and I'm looking forward to another 50 or however long I've got to live.
