Is a hood\side draft chimney possible or feasible for this simple forge

[Viking]

I've decided to use this simple version of a forge, but would it be possible to attach some sort of simplistic hood/chimney. No welding if possible. I live in town so its a charchol burning forge. Just need it too keep the smoke out of the eyes. Thanks for any suggestions.

[LastRonin]

Do you still have the rest of the drum? If so, you could use part of the bottom half of it flipped upside down with a large work window cut out of the front half and a small feed through hole in the back for longer stock. Cut tabs into the edge of it so you can bolt it to your 'table'. ***NOTE: THIS IS NOT MY ORIGINAL IDEA, I got it from reading Glenn's thread on his 55 forge.*** I believe that thread even has pics. But anyways, you can then cut a hole in the top to attach a section of 12" chimney.

[VaughnT]

Lots of ways you could attach a hood and chimney to that table.  Being the lid off of a 55g drum, I'd simply flip it over so that the original lip is available to catch the rim of a 55g drum and use self-tapping sheet metal screws to hold them together.  From the top of the drum, you could easily attach some chimney pipe to get the smoke and cinders well above you.

 

The key is keeping the work opening in the hood as small as possible, or be able to block it off, so that you get a good draw up the chimney.

[Glenn]

This is the original design of the 55 Forge with a supercharger, which has since been modified.

 

 

The starting design for the 55 Forge was a pan forge from the 55 gallon drum. Worked great but smoke was an issue. Many attempts at a hood were tried with limited success. Finally a full 55 gallon drum was used with a window cut into the lower side of the drum. There was still an issue with smoke.  

 

A second 55 gallon drum with both heads removed was then placed on top of the 55 Forge and tack welded (later bolted to eliminate the welds) into place.The supercharger!! This creates a 24 inch diameter chimney and very good draft. The two support drums are only to hold the 55 Forge with the supercharger in the air for the photo. This forge will be used on a stand constructed of cinder blocks stacked 4 high on 3 sides, leaving an large ash pit under the forge. 

 

The window is way too large. The later design was a arched window 4 inches below the second ring and 10 inches either side of the centerline. This design has worked well for several years. 

 

This is used for a solid fuel coal forge, but any solid fuel can be used. I have run the forge on raw wood, pallet wood, and old lumber. Short pieces about 3-4 inches long work best. Using coal, keep a hole in the top of the fuel to act as a volcano which allows fire to escape and burns much of the smoke, and creating a increased draft. This drawn in more air which burns more smoke, increasing the draft again, pulling in more air which dilutes what smoke that remains. With charcoal or wood there should be very little smoke at all. Run the fuel deep when using charcoal as the amount of air determines the heat being generated by the fuel, not the amount of fuel.

 

But I am trying to improve it just the same. I am currently working on and testing a modified design for the chimney. 

 

There are other ways to move smoke, > This is great for inside but is affected by the wind outside.