MR VOLCANO Hero - Portable Propane Forge (Complete Kit - Now with Superwool Xtra) Made in USA (Stainless Steel) Single Burner Professional Artists Hobby Knife Making Tool Making Farrier Blacksmith

As a new blacksmith I wasn't sure what to expect for this budget single burner forge.....but wow!!! So far it's held up incredibly well after an entire season of use. It even gets hot enough to forge weld small stock together!Take your time assembling the refractory cement and follow the directions and you'll have a quality little forge that will last. Just be patient and don't rush that process!I'd chose the single burner after reading a lot of advice online. Primarily so I wouldn't rip through tons of propane while learning to smith. I don't have experience with other propane forges but once the burner is tuned this one does plenty fine for my projects. If youre working outside like i am, you may want to consider some sort of wind break in front of the burner. A stiff breeze blowing through the intake will cause it to sputter a bit. As for propane savings...you'll still be refilling plenty of tanks. I think that's just the nature of propane forges. They're all gas hogs.My only complaint (though the newer version has addressed this) is the burner design was melting my hoses upon shutdown. I went through a few hoses before learning I needed to remove the burner completely within seconds of turning off the forge or the hose would be toast (literally). The new design however seems to have fixed this and I reached out to customer support for a replacement part, thus "uprgrading" my model to the newest version.Mr. Volcano customer support responded nearly immediately and had me hooked up with the upgraded part within minutes. All in all I don't think you can find a better entry level forge on the market! From product quality to customer service, Mr Volcano takes the cake....oh and it's all made here in the USA. You don't find that often on Amazon these days.

Due to R.V. ladder parts not available on my brothers R.V. , We had to try and salvage the old parts that had been bent . The mounting brackets were bent and twisted , so the idea was to try a forge rather than a torch . Understanding that I was not able to assemble forge on a daily basis , entire assembly took Me 3 weekends . The new style insulation blanket , per the instructions , did not need to be covered with refractory , Since the entire kit had refractory and rigidizer , I used it . First was wetting down blanket with the rigidizer , both sides , edges , etc... . Placed blanket in forge , already has hole for burner to come through . Likely was dry in a couple of days at room temp. , but due to work , did not check on it until following weekend . At that time , added first coat of refractory . Somewhat like cement without any sand or aggregate in it , just paint it on . Again , another week at work and added second coat of refractory . After third week of work , Tried it out on a low burn for about 10 minutes , then turned up regulator , without adjusting air input and put first bracket in . Took about 3 minutes and entire bracket was glowing red . At least 1/8" steel , with some even 1/4" , put bracket in vise and was easily able to straighten them back out to original form and function . Was not able to use the including firebrick to set bracket on inside forge . With brick , bracket sat to high inside forge , but without brick inside , it never effected the refractory , i.e. cracking , etc.... . Overall Very pleased with this mini forge . Inside measurements with blanket and refractory , should still be able to get a 4" to 5" wide by same height material or object inside without brick and put heat directly on object . A lot faster and easier to use than a torch .

This is my very first forge, and I've gotta say, this is probably the best start to blacksmithing I could have asked for! Well, outside of getting free equipment, but that's unlikely to happen to most folks.The forge itself is pretty easy to assemble, just takes a couple days of going out to the workshop, completing each step, and letting it sit to dry. At first I had the air choke valve installed upside-down on the fuel jet, so for others' safety, make sure the bolt on your choke is at the UPPER end.Also make sure you use a brand new propane tank, even for your very first fire-ups: I pulled an old one out of my dad's old grill and didn't realize jusy how low it was on fuel. After a few minutes of really low-pressure flames (red dragon's breath instead of the desired blue jet), it sputtered and coughed, and the flames started coming out of the air choke and licking up to the rubber tubing. Kinda scary the first time that happens, so DON'T use a near-empty tank! Keep a hand on the fuel valves until you're comfortable with it.After that ordeal, checking to make sure everything works still (no damage from that little fire show, thank goodness), I got it set up and have started forging! It gets up to temp pretty quickly, and if you put some extra fire bricks at the back to close it off, it REALLY retains heat! You won't be able to work on any particularly large projects, and things like big hooks or bends may be a challenge, but this is a fantastic little forge to get started with. Plus it's pretty small and lightweigt (about a cubic foot when disconnected from the fuel jet), so you can take this thing just about anywhere!

Good product, works as advertised