HardHead Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hello all! Brand new to the craft, I know nothing but metal is hard and when it comes out of the fire it's hot! I've been watching YouTube videos non-stop for a few weeks now. I have fallen in love with the idea of blacksmithing. So I did what all noobs do, watched a YouTube video and started making my own forge! Expect many questions from me fellas! Pics of my forge are below. It's not done yet. Still waiting for the pot and fan to arrive here in Korea. I picked up ~100lbs of pure coal on the Korean market for roughy 15 American dollars. It's in huge raw cut chunks so I assume inneed to crush them down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobbieG Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Well its definitely sturdy looking! I like the little sliding fence you have there, is there any reason you didn't include a matching one on the other side? It might be useful to have if you are heating the middle of a long piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardHead Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 2 hours ago, RobbieG said: is there any reason you didn't include a matching one on the other side? It might be useful to have if you are heating the middle of a long piece. Hey thanks! In the plans I drew up there was a matching one. However, when we started it my guys talked me out of it based on where we wanted to place it (next to our work bench). But definitely have the option of adding It later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Please look into a larger chimney to carry the volume of air and smoke up and out of the work area. If it is available, move the forge so it is closer to, and if possible under the vertical chimney already in place. Any horizontal runs will reduce the draft of the chimney as will any bends in the chimney. 45 degree bends are better than 90 degree bends, and a straight chimney is better yet. Think of funneling only the smoke from the fire into the chimney, not the air from the entire room. The fire pot should be located as close to the opening of the hood as is practical for the work you are doing. Try closing off the sides of the front of the hood with temporary pieces of metal that cover the triangular section on either side of the hood opening. A roof from the hood over the fire will also help. Another piece of metal can be angled down and used to extend the roof down on the far side of the fire pot. It does not have to go all the way to the forge table, half way will make a large difference. The metal does not have to be heavy plate. It can be from a 55 gallon drum or other thin tin. You are just creating a funnel to help the smoke find the chimney easier and more quickly. When you go outside and see the amount of smoke coming up and out of the chimney, you will need to open a window or door to let the same amount of outside air in to make up what is being sent up the chimney. The coal can be broken down into pieces the size of a golf ball for use in the forge. Larger pieces can simply be put on top of the fire and when warm whack them with a fire poker to brake them apart. Even the coal dust will burn in the forge. May want to save a small amount of the coal dust to use as a punch lubricant. When starting the fire, first put a couple of sheets of newspaper on fire and near the hood to pre-heat the chimney and get a draft going. As the fire is started, keep a small hole in the top of the fire, think volcano, to let the fire and smoke out and above the coal to burn. Less smoke and it heats up the chimney and increases the draft. Your set up is well thought out and put together. Welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardHead Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hey Glen thanks for the info. My chimney is tied to a industrial vaccum. I wasn't sure if you could tell from the pictures. Does the chimney ideas you mentioned apply with a vacuumed chimney? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Yes. Depending on the strength of the vacuum, this may be less of a problem than a natural draft chimney. You will have to make up any air removed from the room and sent outside by either natural draft or by vacuum. Check the source of the vacuum and vacuum piping for smoke, dust, and particle build up early and often. Some coal will leave more deposits than others. Burning a hot clean (no smoke) fire will also help reduce the build up. This is more of a problem in smaller chimney sizes. If the fire starts to slow down, and not get as hot as normal, check for clinker build up in the bottom of the forge. Clinker is the junk in the coal that does not burn. Let the fire idle out for a short while, cooling the clinker. The clinker can then be hooked and picked out with the fire poker. Move the hot coals back into the fire pot, add air and your back in business in just a few minutes. To shut down the forge, turn off the air, rake the fire out of the fire pot and onto the table, and it should go out quickly. Any unburned coal, or coke (light weight pop corn looking stuff) can be saved for the next forge session. Here we shovel all the material from the fire pot into a 5 gallon bucket of water. This way we sleep very well at night knowing that anything that used to be hot is now under water. Next day you can stir the bucket a bit and pour out any coal and coke, leaving the ash and clinker in the bottom of the bucket. Let the coal and coke dry out and use it later. DO NOT forget that there may be hot materials in the ash dump. They can go into the water as well. Ash tube below the tweere should be large enough not to clog and have enough volume to hold a quantity of ash. Here anything above 2 inch diameter (3 inch is better) and about 12 to 16 inches long works well for our coal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Note that coal varies a LOT and so coal that is great for a power station may be terrible in a forge. You might think of putting a hinged "flap" from the top of the smoke intake section of the forge to over the firepot to help channel smoke when you are starting out with a lot of green coal and then can be flipped up out of the way once the fire is burning clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardHead Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 11 hours ago, Glenn said: Ash tube below the tweere should be large enough not to clog and have enough volume to hold a quantity of ash. Here anything above 2 inch diameter (3 inch is better) and about 12 to 16 inches long works well for our coal. Thanks again Glenn! My ash tube is being made from 3.5" tube that is 1/4" thick. It's not in the pics , it was being made off camera. I purchased a 190 CFM variable speed blower off Amazon as a starter blower. Some of the reviews mentioned they used it for their coal forge so I figured I would try it. It's a Ventec VT IF-4-B. I'm headed in to the shop now, going to start applying those recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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