Hood on portable forge

[Blaine A]

I just purchased a portable forge a fairly big one made by the Canadian blower manufacturing company. Question is are these forges suppose to have a hood on them for the smoke. I want to install this in shop and if I can waht is the best material tu use to build a hood.

[HWooldridge]

There are several ways to do this...the first hood I had was the traditional overhead one, a little above head height so I wasn't cracking my noggin every time I bent over the forge. It was 4 feet square and plumbed to a 12 inch square flue. Even though it was inside a shop, any little cross breeze (or the ventilation fan), caused smoke to go everywhere and soot up my lungs. One day, I hung a piece of scrap sheet metal from the left side of the forge (I am right handed so don't move that direction to the anvil). This extended across the full width of the hood and down to an inch or so of the forge. I discovered very quickly that this plate would get hot and suck almost all of the smoke up the chimney.

My second permanent shop has a side draft - I believe there are plans for one on this site. It will snag 100% of the smoke once it gets warmed up.

If you plan to continue using it as a portable rig, you can put two half moon pieces of metal on either side of the firepot (think about the top of a 55 gal drum - cut in half). These "wings" will block most mild breezes enough to keep the smoke from chasing you around all day long.

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

Kinda going along with the subject of forge hoods. If I have a hood that is about three foot tall (from firepot to to of hood) would it create enough heat to burn the galvanizing off of the chimney if i used galvanized chimney?? I ask because I am gonna upgrade to a large size pipe (12" instead of the 10" thats on it now and not working so well) when i relocate the forge to the center of the shop. The dilema is that I can get ten foot sections of galvanized from a local manufacturer at wholesale price, or I can pay Menards to special order the black painted stuff , along with there bump up in price. That and the guy at Menards didn't seem to think he could get long sections.
Thanx
-Aaron @ the SCF

[GobblerForge]

Here's one I built. The hood is stainless and the firepot is an old rivetter's forge. I add four feet of pipe and an elbow at the top. I've used it in strong wind and it worked fine.
http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/sh...500/ppuser/225
Gobbler

[HWooldridge]

Originally Posted by the_sandy_creek_forge

Kinda going along with the subject of forge hoods. If I have a hood that is about three foot tall (from firepot to to of hood) would it create enough heat to burn the galvanizing off of the chimney if i used galvanized chimney?? I ask because I am gonna upgrade to a large size pipe (12" instead of the 10" thats on it now and not working so well) when i relocate the forge to the center of the shop. The dilema is that I can get ten foot sections of galvanized from a local manufacturer at wholesale price, or I can pay Menards to special order the black painted stuff , along with there bump up in price. That and the guy at Menards didn't seem to think he could get long sections.
Thanx
-Aaron @ the SCF

My old overhead hood was galvanized and lasted about ten years but was then damaged in an accident so I replaced it with a black iron side draft. However, the current chimney sections are original and now twenty years old (and galvanized). They have never rusted so apparently the galv is not burning away. I also figured that the same draft taking the smoke out would carry away any fumes. I do not get headaches or feel bad otherwise when working so I feel comfortable using it.

[ApprenticeMan]

My hood in my shop is 3/16ths mild steel sheet, when it heats up it heats the whole shop like a big stove hehe!