January 9, 201214 yr Hi there, I want to start forging as a hobby, perhaps sell my work as an artesian (I of course need to hone my skill). The trouble is, I need a forge. Preferably something cheap and easy enough to build. I've scoured around, and fire bricks appear to be a non-option. I like the idea of solid fuel, and portable would be grand. I don't know why I can't find any forge desings. Help?
January 9, 201214 yr Look at the 55 drum blueprint at the top of the solid fuel page or look into brake drum forges. I use a combination cost about $30US
January 10, 201214 yr Author I feel stupid now that I've missed the pinned article. Thank you, this looks great. Will a bellows improve the heat in a 55, or is the hearth open enough that it doesn't do anything?
January 10, 201214 yr I would use a hair drier.. or in my case I use a small cheap shop vac with a dimmer switch. It doesn't take much. Open hearth won't be enough oxygen to heat steal enough for forging. I used a break drum from a small pick up truck and some metal 2x4s and screwed it all together. The hearth is floor plate, flat side up. The tuyere is made from black iron pipe. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/34905-002-copy/http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/34904-001-copy/
January 10, 201214 yr Glenn Conners 55 Forge is a great design and a great way to begin your first forge. In time you can improve on his design to suit your needs. I started with his design with a brake drum inserted and still use variations of the 55 Forge design. As my needs grew so did the forge. I would suggest starting with his design and in time if you need to, make changes. Here is what I have 2 years later.
January 12, 201214 yr Iron_Bear, I just got started and I made a Washtub Forge in the Tim Lively form factor as seen on his website here;http://www.timlively...ashtubforge.htm The instructions are very straight-forward and the supplies were dirt cheap. I spent no more than $38 on the stuff to make it and it works like a champ once I got the fire tending business in hand. I don't have it mounted to anything and it's plenty portable though I plan on following Tim's recommendation of putting it on an aluminum folding ladder as a table at some point. May be worth a look. Edit: This may not work for you. Sorry, I have a bunch of tabs open to forums right now and a couple are knifemaking forums that look similar to IFI so if you need bigger stock, the 55 is probably the better option.
June 3, 201313 yr Go with a side blast like the like the 55 forge, it can be an old wash tub or sink for that mater. A brick pile iOS nice to start playing with so you can get working fast, a cheep Walmart hairdryer and about 10min worth of surgery disable the heating eliment so it will live longer. After you get an idea how, then you can build somthing more.... ... Eye apealing.
June 3, 201313 yr Can you weld? My forge was done on the cheap with angle iron that was headed for the landfill. Finding a HVAC furnance blower would be worthwhile as a blower and the airflow can be easily adjustable.
June 4, 201313 yr Welcome aboard Mike, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be happy to discover how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. If you check the gas forge section you'll find a number of working versions of the one or two brick forge you built. They're excellent knife forges for a limited space and a mappgas torch can get them up to welding temp with a good flux. Frosty The Lucky.
June 4, 201313 yr This is what I built http://onikudaki.be/content/54-building-forge I think I only spent a couple of dollars on the kitty litter, and the rest was all scrap or free.
June 5, 201313 yr This is what I built http://onikudaki.be/content/54-building-forge I think I only spent a couple of dollars on the kitty litter, and the rest was all scrap or free. Interesting build.... Looks like you had a great helper on build.... Dale
June 6, 201313 yr hi iron bear i built a brake drum forge for 2 bucks! check this site out. http://www.beautifuliron.com/forge_brakedrum.htm
June 6, 201313 yr Interesting build.... Looks like you had a great helper on build.... Dale Haha Yes. The little girl -not so little anymore, she's 8 now- likes to help me when I do things like that. They both do (the other one is now 5). To be honest, it's not like they do anything that really shaves time from what I am doing. But they enjoy themselves, feel useful and learn to work. Basically, at this point, everything they do is not so much about the output, but teaching them how to do things. I don't have sons, so I will teach my daughters how to use a drill , a hammer, etc. No 'damsel in distress' daughters for me. Plus I am a big teddy bear and I like to have kids around. When I am in my workshop grinding or filing or whatever, they are often there as well, wearing ear protectors. Hammering nails in a piece of wood, drilling holes, or playing 'kitchen' with wood chips and crumbled bricks :) I think I still have the pics of when the eldest was 2 or 3, and she was helping me bolt the legs of my workbench to the iron frame, using a hammer and spanner that were half her length :)
June 6, 201313 yr Nothing wrong in teaching them skills, they will be survivors, the kids that are TV/video game "heads" will be first to need help from skilled people.. We have a young lady in our blacksmithing group, she is probably in mid 20's and puts a lot of the guys to shame at the entry level where she is at... Really have to admire her... Dale
June 6, 201313 yr The 55's easy, lots of options and variations. Here's mine, first one I built after a "hole in the ground". Made out of a lawnmower, brake disc, and some homemade refractory. I think I spent 20 bucks with pipe fittings and fireclay for the refractory. Another 10 for a cheap blow dryer. (and 10 much later for a rheostat and step switch). http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36989-cam00121/
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