firepot

[Hofi]

''BRAKE DRUMS'' are a very good and cheap solution !!!!!!!!
very easy to fabricate operates very very good and very verstile in sizes,
deep -shelow, small or big diameter. last very long because the quality of the casting.
I fabricated some of them for my students and offered to many newbies and
they are still heating steel all the last 10-12-13-14-15-16- years and they will go for more !!!!!!!!!!!!!
and if ''1 milion people say something may be ,only may be they are not wrong''
LISTEN''
HOFI

[Donnie]

It amazes me how folks nowadays seem to think that more expensive equipment will automatically make them a better craftsman. I think if you have a source of heat, a hammer and anvil of some sort, the rest has to come from within. By the way, I have been using a brake drum for years, very satisfied with it......reckon I didn't know any better.....ignorance is bliss !

[MooseRidge]

Originally Posted by Sabre

wow mooseridge that would be anoyin to have to replace all the concrete!!!

Like I said, my first forge... all I had access to at the time, but it was cheap, fast, easy, and it worked!

Still have my 2nd forge, getting old now, made with a 16 guage sheet top, half a cultipacker blade (solid side) and wood frame.... Still use it outside for melting lead.....

Inside the shop is a centaur forge firepot, steel table and hood.... it took YEARS to get to that level.... years I spent using the equipment I had.....

good luck...

[KYBOY]

I use a forge made from the bottom of a 55 gallon drum. The bottom is layered with clay/dirt and firebox is made from firebrick. Basically everything was free except for the tuyere. My forge is inside now with a hood I made but here is a pic of it firing outside and a pic of my counter weight ash dump and tuyere.

[simmonds]

Basically, brake drums make horrible forges if fitted with legs and used with no table (the famous INTERNET brake drum forge design), but if you cut a hole in some heavy plate, supported in a sturdy angle iron stand or something similar and drop in the brake drum to use as the fire-pot, you have an EXCELLENT forge. If constructed well, fitted with a nice ash dump and possibly even clinker breaker design and fed with a proper air supply with sufficient volume, this forge will work every bit as well as one with a commercial fire-pot. And with proper scrounging can be made for FREE or very little $$$$. Chris.