my forge

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

I have a forge that is 21" x 27" and very shallow, its made of cast iron looks like. The pics I have seen have a fire box that sits down some inches, this one is almost level, as in not really a fire box at all just the top of the clinker breaker. the problem is that with a softball size fire, there is very little room in the back, and the coal tends to fall out the back. The other problem is there is no room to lay your piece down in the fire, you have to hold it the whole time.
Its not that I am looking to do much larger pieces, but it seem kind of restrictive.
Am I building the fire too large for the forge, or is this forge made for making smaller fires?
My next question is should I try to adapt this forge, build shelves around it or just build a whole new one. I have the room to build one, and I think I can get the materials together, if I knew what I was supposed to build that is. I looked at frog ponds, and I don't know if I can get that much steel together though.
Let me know what you think and some ideas for building a forge or adapting the one I have. Thanks for any help on this.

[Wayne]

If you are not worried about your forge being too mobile, try laying some bricks around the air pipe so it give you a hollow about 7x7 inches then around this pack more bricks to make a level surface - any odd shaped gaps you can fill with sand.
This would give you a fire pot about 3-1/2 - 4 inches deep by 7x7. give this a try and adjust accordingly, you can usually get house bricks and sand for next to nothing. The bricks will break in time but if they are cheap/free why worry.
The hearth is for your fire - do not worry about not being able to store tools or spare coal on it, as for supporting you steel make a portable helper to hold one end while the other end heats up.
Being on this side of the pond I do not know how large a soft ball is but I work on the principle big job= big fire small job= small fire.
Hope this helps, by the way you could have a look at some of the manufactured fire pots advertised to give you an idea of size, but the size I mentioned should not be too far off of the mark.

[Glenn]

A softball is 4.5 inches in diameter (114.3 mm).

A baseball is allowed to be have a diameter of between 2-7/8 and 3 inches (73 to 76 mm).

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

Thanks,wayne, that makes sense. I have some fire bricks around that i can use, close to the fire and then regular farther out. I also have sand available. As I think on this I can come up with what I need to alter what I have, in a way that makes working the forge a whole lot more simple and easier. thanks again for the idea. kevin

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

I am not sure the brick idea will work now. the bricks don't lay in flat, as the forge curves in to the center. here is a pic of the the forge.

[Wayne]

Ok, Plan 'B', Try laying a layer of sand to level where the bricks are going to be and then line/ seal the inside of the 'pot' area with fire clay - either that or fill the entire forge with clay and leave a Pot or nest in the center

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

ok I will look at plan B, thanks for the help.

[Glenn]

How does the forge operate with just a fire and some coal on the table? The fire pot looks like you could put a 5 gallon bucket of coal on the table and use as much as needed to get the size fire you wanted. I agree that if you need a smaller and deeper fire, use bricks to construct a wall to contain the fire.

Let's hear from the folks that have this style forge. We need your advice on this one.

[m_brothers]

I think maybe that the firepot might be a little shallow, a little bit of clay that goes with the shape of the forge and add a little bit of lip to the edges. Looks like it could get a real big fire going like Glenn said. Try building a stand to rest your stock on as well.

[jayco]

I don't have a forge like the one in the picture,but it looks like a nice forge to me.
I'm curious about those two holes in the back: Are they for mounting a blower? or perhaps a forge hood?

If they're not used for anything, you might make a little sheet metal fence, a semi-circle .....standing on edge.....and use a couple screws or small bolts to secure it to the back of the forge utilizing those two holes that are already there.
Just 3 or 4 inches tall.

Should keep heaped coal from falling off the backside.