Forge

[whitebear]

Hey Guys
This is Jonah Mr. Daughtry's apprentice.
i have another question. i am looking to make my own charcoal forge. i don't want coal because it's not easy to get around here. Mr. Daughtry uses charcoal so that what i want to use. i want to make one but i have about a $40-$50 budget. because that about all i have. i need to be able to forge weld in it. and i need to be able to attach a bellows to it. i am in the process of making a small canvas bellows. maybe a side drafts forge or something like that.

thanks guys

Jonah

P.S.
Mr. Daughtry says that i in fact made a very nice collar yesterday and he's very imprest at how much i learned from you all. he gives his thanks

[son_of_bluegrass]

There are a number of plans in the blueprints section for homemade forges and some can get to welding temp, if you are a good scrounger you should be able to make the forge for less than $10. My forge used to be a weber barbeque grill. The better insulated the fire pit is the better it will work, I lined my with wood ash. As for welding I've found when using charcoal it takes at least 7-8 inches of fire and will use a lot of charcoal but for general forging you can get by with 4-5 inches of fire. The amount of air also affects how hot the fire can get but charcoal doesn't take much air. For a side blown forge you will either need to consider the air pipe expendable, make it from something that can resist the heat and flux or make it water cooled.

ron

[Glenn]

Ask Mr. Daughtry how deep the charcoal in a charcoal forge should be.

Look at the Blueprint BP0238 Simple Side Blast 55 Forge and change the design to the depth needed. You can scrounge a steel drum and a piece of pipe for little or nothing.

Blueprint BP0133 The 55 Forge could also be adapted for use as a charcoal forge.

[whitebear]

thank you guys very much. i forgot to mention that it also needs to be portable. if that makes a differnce in your replys. i think i'm gongi to go with a Tim Lively/ Tai Goo style forge with the adobe. but i think i'll use a wooden bucket nistead of a steel one.

thanks again everyone
Jonah

[whitebear]

for the adobe in the forge could i use a comercially availiable modleing clay that has been harded and crushed into a fine powder then mixed with sand and ash. i'm having a hard time finding earthen clay. and it seem liek it would do the same thing.

Jonah

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by whitebear

for the adobe in the forge could i use a comercially availiable modleing clay that has been harded and crushed into a fine powder then mixed with sand and ash. i'm having a hard time finding earthen clay. and it seem liek it would do the same thing.

Jonah

A cheaper and more durable alternative is fire clay from your local masonry supplier, etc.

There are a lot of ways to make refractory liners with it up to cupola melters. Mixing it as you describe will be okay though adding about 1/2 part in 4 of portland cement will make it hold together better for you.

Don't use much water either, just enough to make a firm clump when squeezed in your hand. If it's sticky it's too wet if it's crumbly it's too dry. Getting it just right isn't as important for a forge liner as other uses but the closer the better. The idea behind using as little water as possible is to minimize shrink checking as it dries.

When you have it "right" ram it in place with a wooden mallet or equivalent and burnish it smooth with a piece of burlap, handfull of wood shavings, etc. The smoothre it is the less hot things will stick to it. It'll also be harder to gouge.

Lastly score it with a rounded point like a butter knife. When the refractory dries it will shrink, scoring it will make it check (crack) along the score marks in a controlled manner.

Let it dry thoroughly, from a couple days to a couple weeks depending on where you live, temp, humidity, etc. You may need to hang a light bulb in it to get it thoroughly dried in a reasonable time.

Once dry, fire it gradually, start with a small short duration fire and let it cool. Then make a little larger fire and keep it going a while longer. Then build a good fire and after letting it burn a while, half hour at least stoke it up and put the blast to it. You want to fire the refractory so getting it to a high red heat is good. Comercially I believe they fire red brick at 1,800f.

Frosty

[ThomasPowers]

The cheapest form of kitty litter is just clay, you need to soak it a couple of days to let it break down into glop again. You can get bentonite clay at a feed store---it's a feed additive evidently, may be cheaper than modling clay.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by ThomasPowers

The cheapest form of kitty litter is just clay, you need to soak it a couple of days to let it break down into glop again. You can get bentonite clay at a feed store---it's a feed additive evidently, may be cheaper than modling clay.

True but bentonite isn't a vitrifying clay. It also has a virtually unlimited ability to absorb water "hydro - somethingRother." (hydrophilic maybe?) It's been more than 10 years since I messed with bentonite professionally as a driller. And closer to 15 since they sent me to a drilling mud class.

Anyway, bentonite will work but there are better alternatives available. The last bag of fire clay I bought was $12 for 25lbs.

Frosty

[ThomasPowers]

My Mud class was in 1980; bentonite is good wrassling mud though!

[whitebear]

where can i get bentonite clay. i looked for kitty litter but it didn't say what it was . and duidn't want to spend money on something i wasin't sure of.

Jonah