It followed me home

[Frosty]

<lonnnnnng sigh> Dodge.

Frosty

[Dale Russell]

Scott , your gettin' S L O W in your old age mate .....

Dale Russell

[ThomasPowers]

I took my forge to an SCA event for 5 days last week out in the middle of nowhere---nice to spend 5 days not hearing a cell phone ringtone!

Anyway a fellow comes up pulling a wagon with 9 1.25" square apx 2' long pieces of steel in it and wanted to know what he could forge out of some of it...upon learning that we would need a bigger forge, anvil, sledge, etc he sold them to me cheap!

[Thomas Dean]

What?!?! The guy couldn't haul them back? Whatever, at least you got some nice steel! Whatcha gonna make from it?

[Frosty]

I notice you didn't tell him he could weld them into an anvil large enough to forge something with them.

Nice score.

Frosty

[Justin Caradoc]

This my first post but I wanted to wtell what followed me home the other day. I stopped by a truck repair place and asked if they had any brake drums they were going to send for scrap so I can make a forge. The guy said sure and took me around back. There were 3 16' brake drums sitting there. I only toook one home though and boy was it heavy. I am going to weld 1/4' plate to the bottom to close up the holes and create the hole for the blower. I am also cutting 6' off the top to shallow out the bowl. The left over ring I am going to turn into punches and chissels. I can't think of anything better to do with 1 1/4' tool steel. BTW this is my first post and this sight is great.

[larrynjr]

Welcome Justin, great score and good plan for brake drums. I have several I've gotten from the bus garage where I work.
Are they tool steel? What are you using to cut them? My Ox/Ace torch didn't seem to like it much, a bit thick it was and wasn't cutting through, just puddling up. Perhap a larger size nozzle would help.

[Justin Caradoc]

a #2 cutting tip for the ox/ace is supposed to cut through 1-2' material. I was using a #1 cutting tip and it cut but had a hard time going through I am picking up the #2 tip and a larger oxy tank to finish the job next friday. The little oxy tank I was using lasted about 15 min and cut 6' I will post pictures next week sometime. I am photo documenting the construction of the forge and going to make a how to web site or blueprint for the brake drum forge. I also got a 115 amp blower from centaur forge that ways 5 lbs that I am going to use on it with a speed control. I can't wait till it is done. I have the hammer, iron and forge now I just need something to hit it on also I have a line on 1 ton of anthrosite coal for free. The will follow me home soon. I am bad at spelling so I am not sure the name of the coal is spelled right hope you can figure it out

[Frosty]

Brake drums are cast iron, not HC steel. They're high quality cast but cast they are. A torch isn't going to do a good job of cutting it no matter what tip you use. If you can get it close to even finish with a disk grinder and call it good. The scraps won't be good for anything but weight unless you cast iron.

It'll make a fine forge though, better than steel in fact, they're designed to take heat.

The anthracite coal may not be any good for forging but I'm sure you could use it to keep your shop warm come winter.

Welcome aboard.

Frosty

[larrynjr]

Wow, if they are cast iron then that's probably why the welds on the base of my post vice snapped off while I was pounding on some metal in the vice!