Talk:Solar forge

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According to Woodware Designs, the Solar Forge can be used in developing countries. I'm guessing this is just saying it could be used, rather than that it is used. I couldn't find anything by googling. Quote from site:

In developing countries the Solar Forge can be used as a real small industrial tool to forge recycled metal and to do other art and crafts work. It is impossible to make the springs or drive shaft of any car out of bad steel. It is a shame to let such good materials be mixed in with scrap iron. A wide variety of tools and decorations can be made from this good steel. Any items made this way can then be sold with the claim, "forged by the sun," which should give them a good market in developed countries.

--Singkong2005 10:57, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

The biggest issue with solar forging is the unpredictable cloudcover, so if you don't you live in the desert, you can't plan your week in advance, unless the weatherman is 100% accurate. On the moon however, there are no clouds, so NASA could comfortably predict operation schedules for lunar solar forges.

--Sillybilly 17:35, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm not certain this is an accurate statement:

"However, they cannot achieve the higher temperatures that other forges can. They are good for melting materials with low melting points."

I won't cite this in the article, but at http://xenotechresearch.com/solfurn1.htm a Fresnel lens solar furnace is used to turn the surface of a brick into glass. This requires a very high temperature, and while it is a small focal point, to state that solar furnaces could only be used for materials with low melting points is incorrect. Therefor, I have removed those two sentences.130.13.20.65 (talk) 23:07, 22 January 2008 (UTC)