Forge Customer Comments

This page will grow as I add additional comments I receive from customers about various T-Rex burners they have purchased and are using in their forge for blacksmithing, bladesmithing and similar applications. Due to the large number of customer testimonials we have split them up by application. The customer responses for Foundry or other applications are on the Foundry Customer Comments page. If you have purchased one of my burners and have a comment you would like to see posted here, please .
Thank you.  Rex

Posted below are notes of appreciation received from HybridBurner customers. But in addition to these a number of our customers have supplied their web site addresses which showcase the work done using HybridBurner products.

Another 1" Forge & Foundry burner has made its impression in the world. This is what Nick from the beautiful county of Northumbria, in the northeast of England thinks of 'Hybridburners'. Subject: 1" Burner Test Bloody hell! I was pleased. I (carefully) clamped the burner in a large vice. It was like a Saturn 5 rocket going off.  No wonder NASA use them. I'm sure I've seen these either side of the space shuttle.  When I cranked up the regulator the roar was astounding. My mother heard it even though she was indoors.  I can certainly see why it requires a nozzle formed as part of the interior refractory of the gas forge or furnace, and also why the  burner needs to enter the forge at 45 or 30 degrees. It's elegant simplicity betrays it's almost frightening power. After  I'd finished testing and adjusting it, I'd felt as though I'd just  fired field artillery. The only problem I'm having is finding a suitable propane connector / coupling for the gas nozzle. I'm going to try a welding supplies place. I just thought I let you know what I thought of this amazing burner. Best regards, Nick Daniel Find out how to turn your Chileforge in to a Dragon with acid reflux! Tate Roth wrote: Rex, Luckily I found some time to try her out. Having owned a couple of 0.75" T-Rex burners from you I was expecting a big improvement over the standard burner in my Chileforge Tabasco2 forge. The 1" Forge & Foundry burner delivered in spades! Let me say as a turn key solution, the Chileforge is great; very well designed, well built, and lined with ITC100. Their burner is very good, 1" tube, but built with off the self plumbing parts. It works very well and I was welding in the forge with no problems. But having used your burners in the past, I thought I could do better. First set up of the burner was a breeze. It took a couple of minutes to tune it up in a vise. Mounting was a little tricky, but got it there. With your burner I can hit the same temps as with the standard burner at 3-4 psi lower. I've only run it up to 12 psi in the forge for fear of damaging the shell. With the volume of the forge has, it wouldn't shock me if I could get up to melting temps for iron at 18-20psi. This thing is like a dragon with acid reflux! Your burner has taken a great forge to the next level of performance. Everyone with a Chileforge owes it to themselves to try one of your burners in it. With the tuning the burner is capable of, I will be able to forge with less fuel and with less scale than ever before, and since I'm a sucker for pattern welding, it makes forge welding easier. I can tell you all my high temp burners will be supplied by you in the future. You just can't get the same performance with off the self parts. Thanks for doing what you do, and doing it right. Tate Roth tateroth -at- msn -dot- com BTW, I'll probably pick up a 1/2" one this summer. And FYI, I took the burner up to 12psi just to check it out. I was at welding heat at about 6-7 psi, I figure normal forging will be around 1.5-2 psi. I wasn't kidding when I said 18-20 should melt steel, downside is it will melt the forge too. T8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Forge was built by a company in Finland: ROJO MACHINES FINLAND, Elias Sipari, Business Manager (www.rojomachines.com) ROJO MACHINES in FINLAND Just completes 1000 cubic inch forge using 2, 1" Forge & Foundry burners. It will be used by 4 men for making damascus billets. (Note the blue ball at the top; that is a thermocouple connector head.) More photos coming soon.

Elias Sipari, Business Manager writes:
We delivered the forge that we ordered the 1" Forge & Founder burners for, never have I seen a client with so much happiness gleaming from his eyes. We did extended testing of the forge and burners, well the burners were a given but we had no experience of this type of forge or about fitting your burners to one. We were very pleased with the whole setup, the burners delivered as did the 6" of insulation. There were no cold spots. Specs: Double ended, you can have four people making Damascus billets. The chamber is cylindrical, being 20" long and 8" in diameter = 1000 cubic inches. From 0° to 2400°F in 18 minutes at about 9psi, from 2400° to 2570°F an additional 6 minutes at 14,5 psi. We we're able to keep it at 2500°F for four hours and making Damascus billets at both ends simultaneously with only 6 psi at all times. The chamber was made with Z-blanket, customers request. we insured the integrity of the structure by using ceramic cups and rods to hold the insulation to the roof. we also coated the chamber with ITC-100, that also stiffened the insulation. We made a mold and cast a 0.5 inch thickness "half pipe" from refractory for the bottom, to protect from Borax and other wear & tear.
Best Regards Elias

Many Thanks Elias and to all at ROJO MACHINES in FINLAND, very well done. Thanks again to everyone involved in this project. This showes what can be done with a couple of my burners Respectfully, Rex Price

Dragon Forge in Tennessee

From: "Wayne Coe," Sunbright, Tennessee

ABANA Board Member Wayne Coe sends these photos of his forge complete with dragon. He uses two - 1" burners.. Note the two burner adaptation of the idle/full circuit.

My forge is made from a 40# propane tank.  They are readily available now that the new valves are required.  I like the round shape because you get some swirling of the flame and I think more even and more spread of the heat.  The blower that you can see in the picture is an air curtain that blows upwards just in front of the forge.  This keeps the metal outside of the forge cooler  Without it metal 2 foot outside gets to hot to handle.  It also helps keep the work space a little cooler.  You can see the hinges on the side of the forge.  There are two on the burner side and one on the other side.  The tank is cut in two horizontally.  The hinge pin on the off side can be knocked out and the forge hinged up to give more space.  Also all three pins can be removed and the top raised.  I haven't done either yet but that was the reason.  I welded a 1" piece around on the two halves 1/4 lower than the edge and glued 5/8 ths wood stove gasket to seal it.  Ron Reil has a write up about the forge on his web site.  It is amazing how fast this thing heats up 1 1/2 inch stock.  I am running about 4 # pressure, the least that I can run without it huffing.  Even running it with just the idle circuit on it heats stock to forging heat.

Pet Dragons in Denmark

Note: If you're located in Sacramento, CA and interested in taking an introductory blacksmith class, contact Laura Parker, American River College Art Dept, at " "

Fabulous Burners

The following e-mail came from  at the American River College/Art Dept, Sacramento, CA.

Hi Rex,
I just wanted to drop an email and tell you how wonderful your burners worked for last Saturday's class. It took us a couple minutes to figure out how to make the first one run most efficiently but after that it was just a matter of setting the other two to run like the first. The

"tips" handout you included was invaluable. Otherwise we really would have just been guessing!

For the first time (in this class) I was able to relax and just have fun and help students. They all commented on what an improvement they were.

Thank you for sending them so quickly. It gave me a minute to fine tune them before they had to go into action. Im sure the students will be ordering burners from you too. One has already emailed me for information.

Your the best!!!

Sign me,
One happy, relaxed, smilin' blacksmith
Laura Parker
American River College/Art Dept

The following e-mail came from  in Tallahassee, Florida.

I've been using a variety of burners, from a clumsy blown burner using a hair dryer, through Ron Reil's E-Z burner and lately a couple of sidearm burners. It took a while for me to come to you and buy a pair of T-Rex's for several reasons: I'm a do-it-yourselfer, and I don't like buying store-bought stuff; I wasn't sure I could convince my wife I needed them; and it just chills my Scots blood to lay out a hundred bucks for a burner. But Hot Damn! They're worth every cent. It took me about five minutes to tune them perfectly, and I welded up a chunk of cable for a blade in no time. I'm a believer, and I think I've made believers out of a few of my colleagues here in Florida. Not only do they work like a charm, they're PURTY!

Mike Murphy

Tallahassee, FL

This comment comes from in Sweden, and is reproduced here with his permission.

Rex,

Yesterday the burners arrived. It was easy assembling them and they worked flawlessly from first attempt. I am impressed with the design and workmanship. I can now concentrate on fine tuning my forge design to make the most out of these domesticated dragons.

Thank you for speedy delivery and friendly service.

I whish you many happy customers this new year.

Best

Peter Johnsson, swordsmith

This comment comes from , and is reproduced here with his permission.

Found the coupling @ Home Depot this morning. Had to cut a new 1-1/4 "hole in my forge to put the burner @ 45 degrees. Since this forge is bulletproof, i.e. 3/8 inch thick wall steel pipe, 14 inches in diameter, it took a bit. Cut it with a hole saw to mark the hole then drilled a ring of holes. Heated up the center with the T-Rex, then chiseled out the web between the holes. Migged a piece of 1-1/2" pipe to it. Drilled screw holes for mounting, and I was in business.

The forge is lined with 3 inches of Kaowool, and ITC-100. The T-Rex @ 15 pounds had it up to forge welding temperature in about 6 minutes. Easiest forge weld I've ever done in a gas forge. <grin>

Spent the rest of the day getting the foundry set up. I'll be casting a taper plug from aluminum for making the 1:12 taper in the refractory wall. Right now I use the stainless taper held in place with Kaowool scraps.

Having fun! Thanks.

Michael D. Horgan ,

http://members.aol.com/lughaid/

This comment comes from , with his permission.

Rex,

Well I made the doors and finally slathered the ITC 'mud' over everything. The doors are removable. This shot is with the door open for seeing inside at the yellow heat. It was running 5 psi. The forge is using one T-Rex Burner to heat a chamber interior of  9'' wide x 13-1/2'' deep x 6-1/2'' high.

Use the pictures if you have any need for them.

This comment comes from  , and is reproduced here with his permission.

Rex

How're things with you? Burner business booming? I've been using the two T-Rex's that you sent me, and I absolutely love their performance! I've used them from the lowest choke setting at about 5 psi for doing mokume gane billets, all the way to forge welding temperatures with about 2/3 choke at 10 psi. It's a great burner with a great range!

Unfortunately I have some bad news...

The forge I built is too big! I need to order another burner from you! I know this isn't bad news to you, but it kind of is to me because I have a cold spot in the forge. Luckily, my original forge design included a space for a third burner, just in case! At least I had SOME forsight.

So, I'd like to order another burner, plus the stainless steel nozzle.

If your procedure is the same, me sending you a check when you are getting ready to ship, just let me know when.

Thanks again!!

The following comment comes from , and is self explanatory. Get rid of those noisy blowers.  :-)

Rex,

The burner is great! The only problem I have is that I can't get it to fit into the old fire-pot hole and I'm going to have to enlarge the hole.

If I can't enlarge it because of the density and toughness of the refractory, I will make a different fire-pot.

I had to up the gas pressure to 9 pounds to get it to have a nice burn flame, but, I only am using just a small amount of the 9 pounds to get the right looking flame. I sure appreciate not having the old blower whining in my ear and I feel much safer with this unit. I am going to a hammer-in in Knoxville this weekend and I am taking my unit with me whether I have the fire-pot ready or not, to show it off.

Talk to you later,

Dave

The  following comes from in Montreal. I think he says it all.

Hi Rex,

Josh here in Montreal. Ran yer burner Sat and Sun. Pardon the french, but Holy Shit!! Works Like a Charm!! Fast, efficient, easy to use and no electric blower. Any one I know who may need big heat will be getting my two thumbs up on you machine. Got 4 hrs burn out of a wee 20 lb tank.

Thanks again for the speedy shipping.

Note: Josh sent an additional comment later about the quality of the forge he was using, and it bears on the comment above regarding the fuel consumption. Here is his further comment.

And all that was with a regular firebrick box forge. Just firebrick stacked in a box, lotsa gaps, etc. I'm going to be putting together a proper tube forge, with kaowool and ITC-100. I will keep you up to date, and will eventually try to send some pics. ciao fer now!!

The following e-mail came from as he ordered another new burner.

Hello,

I'd like to order one of your T-Rex burners and 3 stainless steel nozzles for the T-Rex. I've built another forge and I'd like to use your burners which I have on another forge. I don't think that your burners can be beat for ease of use and consistency of heat. I've been very happy with your burners. Thanks for making such a great product. As a matter of fact, I know that at least two of my students have ordered burners from you and they are also having great success with them.

Jiro Masuda

The following e-mail came from as he ordered two new burners.

The two T-rex's I got from you a couple of years ago are doing great. I would like to order a hand rocket and a shorty burner.

Thank's,

Fred

The following e-mail came from  .

Hey Rex-

Got the burner and coating stuff. Forgive the following play on words...The T-Rex burner is  "ferro-cious". (Maybe I want to get onto the customer testimonial page on your sight too much). Seriously though, nice design work.

I had it all the way up to 90 psi. Quick way to heat up my 1800 sf space. Around 8 psi seems right for my forge. It's great to have it totally adjustable, too.

You know, I also do stone work and have been wondering how to turn one of  the 3/8" burners into a stone carving torch (used for achieving a natural spalled surface around cut areas). They are high heat high thrust oxy-propane jets. The most common one is called the Jet-Stik and can be seen at jetstik.com. I'm thinking with a cooling water jacket around the nozzle and an oxygen input enclosure around the intake it migh work. The trick is to have the flame hot enough to have the stone spall off before the heat is absorbed by the base stone which might cause the entire stone to split. So, a good starter question is...do you know the flame temperature and velocity on the 3/8" torch say at 5-10 psi? And, have you ever run it with pure oxygen?

Anyways, Rex, thanks again and Happy New Year.

Chris Nealon

Cuddebackville, NY

The following e-mail came from .

Hi Rex,

The Shorty burner works like a charm in my small firebrick kiln. Since I am using the forge to melt non-ferrous metals, I don't need more than 3-4 PSI. I did run it at about 15 PSI and I thought it would launch the vise I had it clamped to. I have no doubt that I can melt steel if I want to. The question really is "will the forge hold up to the high temps the burner produces at higher PSIs?" The Shorty is one incredible burner...thank you very much!

http://www.metalbone.net/forge/forge.html

Thanks again.

Louis

The following e-mail came from in Norway.

Hi Rex!

Just wanted to let you know that the two T-Rex's I ordered arrived.

I have already started tuning one of them and I am totally impressed so far. I'll let you know in a month or so how they are working on my forge, today I feel like a kid on Christmas Day!

I mounted one of them on my forge this afternoon and fired it up, it worked beyond my expectations! Had it up to welding heat in no time (at 5 - 10 psi). I still have to make some minor adjustments to the mounting brackets on my forge to make them fit a little better. I also had to re cut the threads on the orifice pipes to make them fit Norwegian standards better (no big job).I will definitely use them to make damascus, lots of damascus!!!

Cheers!

Leif Svendsen in Norway

P.S. I have attached an image of the Damascus work I do.

The following e-mail came from in Boise, Idaho.

Boy, do you do beautiful work Rex. This burner (1-1/4" burner) is absolutely beautiful. Your work is as good as it gets Rex. I would not be surprised if NASA contacts you to supply them with burners someday.   :-)  (In fact, some time after this comment was posted, NASA did indeed contact Rex to purchase his burners.)

Thank you VERY much Rex.

Yours,

Ron

The following e-mail came from in San Bernadino, California.

Hi Rex,I just wanted to take a second to thank you for your great burner design. I received my 3/4" T-Rex burner on Saturday, and had it installed and running that night. WOW, what an easy burner to set up. I followed the directions that came with it and everything went perfectly. It's amazing how hot this forge gets even with just the one burner running. I love this burner. Thanks again for the great product. I'll be ordering another one soon.

Fred Frontino

San Bernardino, CA

http://fredlyfx.com

The following e-mail came from .

Dear Rex. Your burner is awesome! I love it! It so much better than what I 've been using and it was more than worth the wait. As some Californians say, "Props to you dude." Thanks alot Rex, it's amazing.
 
Scott Ader

The following e-mail came from .

Rex
The burners arrived and I finished my forge over the weekend. Works great!
12 x 24 steel pipe with insulated doors. Put in the three inches of
inswool, then satantie, ITC100. Hits welding heat in minutes! Forged up a
damascus billet - very little scale. Nice.
Thanks for the great burners!

Basically, I divided the forge into thirds, with burners 8" from each end.
Mounted about 35 degrees from vertical, slightly angled so they don't blow
directly on my work. Seemed logical...
At 8 lbs, it sounds like my old forge did at 25 lbs. It looks like I could
do everything except maybe weld at around 5lbs. I welded the billet at
about 10 lbs but I think 8 would have done it. I also built it with the
idle circuit, which works nice. Still getting to know it, but very happy.

I cut two 1" (should have went 1-1/4'' ) rings off the 12" pipe, torch cut 3/16" steel plate into
circles, welded inside, then ground to a nice fit on my belt grinder. You
can see the seam in the pic. Cut 3" x4" doors into the ends, welded on some
3/4" angle, which I cut 1/2" off one side of, and made sliding steel
doors, coated inside with ITC 100. Hinges are 1" x 1/4" strap, ground to
match the contour of the pipe, drilled, bolted and then tacked to the pipe
with the door in place and then the door. When I could see that everything
fit and worked, welded it. The doors have 1" of the heavy density
insulating board coated with ITC100. I welded a 1/4 x 1" bar in the bottom
of the opening to protect the insul-board. The doors stay up by themselves
when I open them. Be careful where you weld on the hinges or you could
interfere with door operation. I sawed a couple slices off some 2800 degree
bricks and laid them in the bottom. I'm going to put in a sheet of
stainless too. Thanks again for the burners and guidance. Also thanks to
Ron - his site has a wealth of information on building forges. By the way,
with the 3" of wool and ITC, I can comfortably hold my hands against the
shell of the forge at welding heat.

Todd

************

(A Follow-up)

Hey, on Sunday I ran my forge with one burner, drawing out some Damascus.
After I got it up to temp with both burners, I shut the back one down and
kept it yellow with the front one. Here's what came out...

Thanks again.

Todd

*************

(A Follow-up to the Follow-up)

Thanks Rex,

I finished a superb 16" long Damascus Bowie for Ron Reil. It is a 272 layer 1095/15n20 random Damascus pattern, with a beautiful Sambar stag handle. Here's an image of one of my finest blades to come out of the "Fischer-Price" forge.

Todd

  The following e-mail came from regarding the 1" burner.

Rex,

I just wanted to say thanks for the burner. It replaced two original burners in this forge, and so far I am thrilled with the trade. After I pulled out the other burners, I installed one of your 1" Forge & Foundry burners and tested it. Everything fired up great so I re-insulated the forge and got my clay coating dried. Yesterday I officially tried it out.

I could tell right away that it was heating up a lot faster. I threw in a billet that I'd been fighting with previously. It's 7 layers of 1/8" 1085 and 15n20, and before your burner I couldn't get it to weld more than 3 or 4 layers. There were splits and delaminations all the way across the billet. After 10 minutes under your new burner it welded right up, no problem! I also put it in for a couple more heats and drew it out to about 10 inches long. I can't even tell you what a difference this burner makes.

The forge wasn't a brand name, it was made by a guy on Ebay. I have to give him credit it did get hot enough to forge, but even with both burners running at 15lbs or more it wouldn't weld. They were the simple Venturi design described on bladeforums.com, with disc shaped chokes that open up at the end when you twist them. The difference between the other burners and yours is the difference between an 1985 ford pickup and brand new Porsche!

Thanks for a great product, and good luck with your business!

Thanks,

Jeramy Gadberry

(Click icon to e-mail me)