Mad Dave's Five Hour Forge

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longshot

Need to contact Admin...
Mar 16, 2006
174
1
57
Newfoundland, Canada
dave,

how did you clean the tank to get all the propane out? i want to make one but i really dont want to cut into the tank and have a bomb in the shed if you know what i mean.


thanks
dean
 

led

Settler
Aug 24, 2004
544
5
uk
Dave said he removed the valve (which is made much easier by removing the top guard). When I did it, I then filled the bottle up with water to ensure that all the gas was removed. It will still smell 'gassy' even then, but should be perfectly safe. The only thing to be careful about is if the bottle was galvanised. The zinc fumes given off when heated aren't good for you!
 

maddave

Full Member
Jan 2, 2004
4,177
39
Manchester UK
longshot said:
dave,

how did you clean the tank to get all the propane out? i want to make one but i really dont want to cut into the tank and have a bomb in the shed if you know what i mean.


thanks
dean

Hi Dean
It's like I said in the tutorial. Get yourself in a wide open space, put a spanner on the valve and give it a few blows with a mallet to start the thread turning. Then set your tools down and unscrew the rest by hand. There will still be liquid gas even in a seemingly empty bottle so you will get a rush of gas when you get the valve off, hence needing to keep the bottle well away from any source of ignition, fire, cigarettes, light switches, torches etc. Filling the bottle with water just ensures you dispell any residual gas or vapour lingering in th bottle. Tthen just empty it and chop away :D
 

g4ghb

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 21, 2005
4,320
246
54
Wiltshire
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the gas soaks into the metal a tad so the soaking in water is a good precaution!
 

ESpy

Settler
Aug 28, 2003
925
57
53
Hampshire
www.britishblades.com
Missed this the first time round... For longish objects (like blades), I've got a similar forge - albeit side draft - with deep notches cut out of the front & back, so I can build a good bed of fuel over a trench for the beasty.

Remember that in supposedly smelling gas, you aren't smelling the gas but the mercaptin used to give you some way of detecting leaks... The smell of that stuff lingers *long* after the gas is gone.
 

woodmunky

Forager
Oct 3, 2006
140
2
41
Surrey
I used to lug those things around in my first part-time job... didn't realise how many uses they had!

I'm impressed! ... and a bit hungry now too lol
 

Big John

Nomad
Aug 24, 2005
399
0
51
Surrey
Hi all,

I might be able to lay my hands on a couple of old gas bottles (same size as Dave used) from my Scout Group if anyone's interested in making one of these. A couple of conditions:

- Although they are likely to have some gas in, they are fire damaged (could have been a VERY exciting evening!) so not for re-filling.

- You'd have to be able to pick up them from my place in Redhill, Surrey.

If you're interested then let me know ASAP, they were planning on getting rid of them but I think they're still about.
 

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