You never know when you might need to cast a part out of aluminum. Having an aluminum casting forge opens up the possibilities for things you can make. I’ve used coal forges for melting down cans and this certainly works, and is fairly simple, but this produces a lot of ash and takes a while to heat up. There are a number of propane burner designs on the internet, but this design is relatively simple and cheap to make. Below is a cutaway of the design by Ron Reil.

Then, using a propane tank for the shell, and an inner cylinder, the walls are filled with refractory cement.

Below is a stirrup made for an old rocking horse. The cast was made using sand compacted around the plastic original.

And some others.

This aluminum casting forge has greatly opened the possibilities of casts that can be made.