Ive been into the idea of blacksmithing for about a year now. Ive heated some rebar and pounded it flat in a half pit I made in my back yard. I'm getting more serious though, and into the hobby. I've setup a new forge design at my work, in the back of the shop out of the way. I cleared out a nice area and set up, I have pictures, any advice or comments from you guys would be appreciated here, real greenhorn here..
Cleaned up my work area: Backbladed the hard packed earth, cleared out alot of that (potential fire hazard) grass, laid down some rock and evened it out, cleared away debris, and just organized the area.
Forge: Here's the forge, cleaned up.
Inside of forge: Here's what the empty forge looks like, you can see my air induction pipe. I have holes on the top and both sides to let air out. Might drill a big one near the entrance to regulate airflow.
Charcoal Station: Here I make half my fuel. I bake wood into charcoal basically. I stuff the small drum full of wood bits, then put it in the bigger drum, upside down, and build a fire around it. Gas escapes out a couple holes I put in the top, but no oxegen gets in as it burns, hence charcoal.
Baking Charcoal: Here it is at work.
More charcoal: Made anoter area to render charcoal. The can's do the same as the barrel, just on a smaller scale. Need to grab a few more cans.
Charcoal: Here's that charcoal I rendered in the last pictures, dug a pit, lined it with a tarp and covered it, my new charcoal supply.
Ready to go: Forge bowl is full of raw fuel, broken up store bought briquettes, homemade charcoal, and wood scraps. Forge itself is just a old break drum, with a sheet of steel welded on the outside to provide a higher wall. The air induction is just a steel pipe, capped at one end, with some holes drilled in, and a $15 hair dryer taped to the end to provide the air. I start it by building a fire below it and it catches the paper in the bottom of the bowl through the holde
Heating up: Letting it get a nice hot coal bed going.
Ready to forge: Doesn't take long to get a great heat from here, almost too hot, you have to watch it.
Any suggestions you would make to help me improve my setup?
(Should mention some pictures are a few days older then others, which is why you see broken bricks, and grass in some but others are cleaner.)