284 replies to this topic

[ironstein]

Hey Thezls,
I would put some relief cuts in that forge table, when you spread out your coals, or get it really hot its gonna warp. I would use a few pieces of sheet so they can expand and contract when they heat up. Just my 02 cents. Beautiful forge though.

[captainbunch88]

Well finally, I got my forge liner finished, and I fired it all up. I did three fires, small to large, to help cure the liner. Everything's been working great since.

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[billp]

Here is the forge I made and showed a good while back but now installed in my new smith along with one I got from a friend this spring.

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[Dan.2009]

Here is my first charcoal forge - just have to finish the bellows and the air pipe.
The fire pot is a brake drum off an old F350 axle... the bellows support is made from landscaping timbers.

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[Francis Trez Cole]

dan metal on wood not a good choice

[Ted T]

Using a metal firepot mounted in a wood frame seems as though it would not be a good idea when a person first thinks about it.
BUT! Our blacksmithing group held a Hammer-in at a Grist mill "Benson Grist Mill" located in Tooele Utah.
To my suprise the forge was made of wood with a metal fire pot.
They allowed us to use this old historic forge. It worked well. The wood was considerably scorched around the pot area but never the less it worked!
History of this shop; :DBolinder Blacksmith Shop- This building was moved from Grantsville, Utah to its present site in 1987. Built in the late 1920's, it was owned and operated by William "Billy" Bolinder, a skilled craftsman, who learned the blacksmith trade from his father.
So!!!!!! If it works, it works!
Have fun forging!
Stone "AKA" Ted T.

[Dan.2009]

I understand that a wood forge with metal pot isn't the most durable combination. I chose wood for a couple of reasons...

As a period demonstrator smith, most of my smithing involves nails, J-hooks, S-hooks, pokers, simple forks etc. This forge will only be used a few weeks out of the year for special events. For most of my forging, including anything really involved, I use my work forge (I work at Storrowton Village Museum in West Springfield, MA) The blacksmith shop there is all stone, built in the early 1850's with a stone forge and a huge double chamber bellows. There are about 6 anvils, some excellent swage blocks and a wide variety of tools. This little thing is just for fun.

Wood is easily replaced when it burns out. Simply unscrew the wood and replace it. Eventually, I would like to put a network of angle iron and firebrick. Right now though, I just didn't need something that involved.

[edge9001]

 DSCN0233.JPG   1.81MB   221 downloads
here is a picture of my brake drum forge I have mounted on a 55 gallon drum. I need to clean it out.

 DSCN0234.JPG   1.82MB   205 downloads
You can see the bathroom fan mounted to the froint under the sheetmetal cover, and the dimmer switch I used to control the air flow. I originally had an open air forge setup and no where to get it out of the rain so I covered the ELECTRIC fan with some tin. then I built my shed around it.

you can also see My make shift chimney. As I build my shed around my forge and I ran out of tin sideing so I had a hole in front of my forge. I used some lighter weight tin to make a chimney, kindda. it works so I guess I did a good job. it's just ugly, and dirty

[aquamanlr]

This is what I have built. I used the top part of a 20# propane bottle, I made the first cut with a hacksaw. Cutting these bottles open is very dangerous.

I used ideas from here and other web sites.

LeeRoy

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[Jreed]

LeeRoy I really like it. It looks like it would be real nice and portable. How tall is it?

[Dragons lair]

Francis Cole, on 17 June 2010 - 08:57 AM, said:

dan metal on wood not a good choice

Come on francis, It just needs a little or a big Myakka hog. I prefered the little ones.
Ken.

[Francis Trez Cole]

Dragons lair, on 24 June 2010 - 09:57 PM, said:

Come on francis, It just needs a little or a big Myakka hog. I prefered the little ones.
Ken.

when you come down let me know I have a friend that breads them I am sure I can get you one

[Dan.2009]

Dragons lair, on 24 June 2010 - 09:57 PM, said:

Come on francis, It just needs a little or a big Myakka hog. I prefered the little ones.
Ken.

Hey - the wooden top lasted two hours... long enough for the event. I'm working on an angle iron/firebrick top now...

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[aquamanlr]

Jreed

The forge stands 17 inchs high, the bench that it sets on is 22 inchs high. That puts it up to a good working highth for me.

I think that is a bit small for blacksmithing, that it doesn't have enought surface area for some things.

Thanks for the input.

LeeRoy

[3lbhammer]

Here are my two forges one from an old sink that needs rebuilding and the little red one belonged to my wife's great grand father. I have the buffalo blower on it as the original was mounted on the bottom of the forge and to hot to use.

[Clam River Coal Forge]

Here's my first forge with some modifications for using out doors. Still working on getting it installed inside and than I will not have to depend on the weather.
 Clam River Coal Forge.jpg   68K   125 downloads

[Arbalist]

Not my Forge, but this was being used at a Medieval Festival I went to yesterday. It was being used to make plate Armour.



Vic.

[Phil Krankowski]

Started putting together my brake drum forge today. I had "help" on assembly. The sandbox is great fun while I was making noise cutting with the grinder.

This is the air tank I cut up because it was holed
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This is the folding workbench that was broken, and not very useful to start with. It was not assembled the way I thought it was, but that was no problem.
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This is the legs on the sheet after I cut the hole for the brake drum, and trimed for size.
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I had help bolting the top on the legs. Emily is making sure the drum stays put.
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Marking a piece of scrap from the table to make a grate, we didn't cut it yet (didn't really mark it either)
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I was having problems flattening across the weld, so I cut it away.Currently there is a 1 1/2 inch flange bolted to the brake drum, I have not decided how I am going to supply air, I will need to buy some pipe if I use the floor flange. I have a bathroom vent blower, and plan to burn charcoal for now.

More later, might be a while.

Phil

[Marksnagel]

Here are some pics of my 55 forge. It works great and I'm really pleased. Using Coal.

It took me about 4 hours to build but if I had a decent sawzall blade it would have taken about 3. Easy to build, good plans on BP.

It's a brake drum forge with a 55 gal drum for size.

The pics are poor quality sorry. Cell phone.

If I knew how to make them bigger I would have.

Mark<><

[tarheelsteel75]

 blacksmith pics 10 21 10 001.JPG   1.15MB   166 downloadsFired up my newly built forge today. Same style as some others have made, plate steel fire pot and top with angle iron legs. Champion forge blower which I got a heck of a deal on works great.

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