i have been playing with the idea of building a forge out of refractory brick and refractory cement a 9x9 platform with a ...dip in the middle to make a pit for the coal with small holes drilled in the bottom to allow air from the blower.. now if anyone understands this? lol how would i connect a hand crack blower to the underside? making a sealed tube of brick for the air to travel through? bolting a fitting for pipes underneath? any tips would be appreciated.

American blowers have a 3" stove pipe connection. Drilled holes are like an old bathtub drain...not good. They get clogged with ash and clinker right away. It's best to have a small grate with a couple of crossbars over a hole, forming the grate. Commercial fire pots have a rotating tuyere valve, triangular in cross-section, and connected to a 1/2" round L-handle. Below the tuyere grate, you could have a vertical "ash barrel," maybe 8" or 9" long, made of perhaps 4" pipe welded to the grate.This would have a 4" length of 3" ID pipe for an air intake Tee-welded at 90º to the side of the ash barrel. The bottom of the barrel will have a hinged door, usually a kicking one, It has a weighted projection pointing toward the operator, so it can be kicked to allow ash to fall through. The weight closes the door by gravity.

The air goes into the ash barrel. It can't go out the bottom, because the door is shut. It goes up through the tuyere.

Wow.....thats probably the most indepth explanation ive ever seen about this... lol thank you very much

9 foot x 9 foot? Wow, thats a big forge... Fire brick makes for a crappy fire pot. Clinker stick to it like there is no tomorrow. Also you would not need to build the whole think from fire brick. Just the stuff right next to the fire. Personally, I'd drop the fire brick idea, use a metal fire pot, and build the rest from regular brick.

whatd be a good idea for a firepot thats... wider and more shallow then a brake drum that i could put together myself?

You can make your firepot out of 3/8" plate steel and line the bottom with refactory cement. You want your firepot 4"-5" deep, do some research first before you go re-inventing the wheel. There is also a post on here that is show me your forge look at that and you might like something in there. Good luck and hope you get it built it soon.

well nah i wasnt trying to reinvent anything i was trying to think of a new/easier way to make a more... traditional forge. i was looking for info online about scandinavian forges (viking age) but i couldnt find anything... so i kinda though this idea might work. lol

well nah i wasnt trying to reinvent anything i was trying to think of a new/easier way to make a more... traditional forge. i was looking for info online about scandinavian forges (viking age) but i couldnt find anything... so i kinda though this idea might work. lol

No offense, but you can't have looked very hard.


Viking Age forges were simple side blast designs and used charcoal for fuel. There is much to recommend a side blast design from the perspective of simplicity of construction. You'll see very fancy side blast forges with water cooled cast iron tuyeres, but it doesn't have to be that complicated. You could make a side blast with a firebrick "shield" fairly easily, I'd think.

Lots of other simple forge designs at that second link. (And click the link at the bottom to see part 1, which features even simpler forges.)