Burned $400 on a gas forge that couldn't hold heat

Picked up a compact gas forge from a well-known online retailer last fall. Looked great in the photos, specs said it could reach welding temp. First real use in my garage in Denver, it took forever to get a 1/2 inch bar even orange. The refractory lining was thin as paper and the burner placement was all wrong. After three weeks of fighting it, I took a heat gun to the shell and found the outside was roasting while the inside stayed cold. That's just wasted propane and time. Sent it back and got a refund minus shipping, but I still lost about $60 in fuel and a whole weekend. Anyone else get burned by those cheap prebuilt forges, or am I the only one who learned this lesson the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_claire1mo ago

Ain’t it wild how the cheap version always ends up costing more in the end? That’s like every tool I’ve ever bought twice, once to learn why it’s junk and once to get the real deal. You basically paid $60 for a lesson in reading fine print.

gavine4129d ago

Read a study once that said cheap tools break 3 times faster. True story.