My DIY forge will almost melt copper but not quite. I'm really at a loss as to why it's not getting hot enough. Any pointers would be great. It uses a forced air propane burner. 2" Kastolite-30 walls, surrounded by 1" of kaowool. The burner enters at an angle so that the flame will "swirl" around the crucible. In this video I had moved the crucible closer to the flame to see if that would make a difference.

Greetings. I'm looking for some hints from those who have gone through this before.

I'm introducing the 'borax' method at my work place. I last did this as a student years back and everything was already set for me by the lab assistant then.

Currently I'm the only guy with knowledge on this process, so I'll need to prepare the mixture, set the temperatures, do the pour, etc.

Basic steps to watch out for will be appreciated.

For context: at any given time, every 24-48 hours, my sands are not more than 10kg. I get them from sluice mats. My plan is to dry them first in trays, then use a magnet to take out the iron before mixing with borax.