Solid Fuel Forges

I live in the 'burbs and to escape the ire of my HOA, I use lump charcoal in my forge. I am only a hobbyist, so I don't usually forge for more than a couple of hours. I used to use coal and when it came time to stop forging, I would just separate the coals to reduce the thermal mass and they would go out on their own. With charcoal, I need to extinguish it. I have been slowly pouring water on in little dribs and drabs until the coals just go out, but the bottom of my forge is lined with adobe and I don't really like getting that wet. Does anyone have any other suggestions so that I don't waste a bunch of fuel every time I forge? Thanks, Rob P.S.: Is a side draft…

Hey i had bought this charcoal in order to do a first heat. I was wondering if it is OK to use for when i do forge metal. It does say natural but i was wanting to you all thought.

I was wondering what you guys would use for belt to go from the pulley to the blower on a small, rivet forge. It had a rotten leather belt on it when I got it, I replaced that with a temporary fabric one, then another fabric one when that melted. Last night I replaced it with a leather belt, that I thought could not melt, I guess I was wrong... the belt burnt most of the way through in one place and cupped almost the whole length in just an hour and a half. I kept it at least slowly moving the whole time so it would not heat up in one place too much. I removed the belt from the large pulley wheel before I went inside for the night, but I could not remove it from th…

I am looking for plans to make a Cavalry Pack forge. I am a civil war reenactor that portrays a Cavalryman. I would like to get a portable Cavalry forge for demos and just to have in camp. I also plan to use this forge for my scouts and my own personal use. I found the Portable Artillery Forge but am looking for something for the Cavalry. And of course this has to be from the period of 1861 - 1865 Can be from a little earlier but no later than 1865. Thank you for your help.

OK guys i just built my first forge. I know its simple but I'm new at this, and it was in my means to make. The adobe is still drying in this picture. I just went out and checked it a few minutes ago the adobe is hardening and settling so now there is more room between the adobe walls (witch is what i hoping for).

Hi everyone, I just found this site on the internet while I was looking for information about an old forge I just came across. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me on this forge. I can still read the numbers and name on the forge. It says "The Roto-Matic Co. Ltd." and it even has the address of the company. 130 A Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Model # is RMBF2. I can't find any info on the internet, yellow pages, or phone directories for this company. Anyone out there know what this is?

Been working on this off and on in my "spare" time for 3 or 4 weeks. Finally put in most of an 8 hour day Wednesday to finish 'er up. The tuyere and clinker breaker came from my Grandfather's forge, then passed to a Great Uncle, next to my Dad (who never did anything with it but a window display), finally to me, along with his anvil and several sets of tongs and other tools. All the material was found at a couple of different scrap yards where I like to shop. Fire pot looks to be the size for a full size pickup or the like, around 10" diameter X 2 1/2" or so deep. bed is 24"X36" and stands 34" high. I'm 6"4" and that height looks like it's just about right. Besides…

Greetings, I am curious if there are any fundamental differences in design for forges using Coal or Charcoal. I know that you usually use one fuel or the other and have even used charcoal to start a coal forge before. I also know that both will allow heat enough for forge welding. so, if I build a forge and usually burn charcoal, will it likely work for coal/coke when it is available? Regards, Tim

I just found a coal forge at an auction the other day, paid a premium for it because something told me to get it. I'm curious if there is a way to tell the approx age of this piece? It has a champion No. 40 gear blower and the pan is cast iron. The pan has a bit of pitting in it but no cracks, it either looks fairly new or only moderatly used. The blower still turns nice and the gears are in really good shape. here are some pics! :D

Well it took me about a year to get around to it, but after I got my anvil last year I NEEDE SOME FIRE!. THE GOOD OLD OXY-ACET torch just won't do me...and is TOO COSTLY! I just made a simple forge from my shop made coal stove I had made 12 years ago to heat my shop. Here are some pics and I'll try to post a link to a U-Tube video I made of it running. I call the video/forge FRANKENFORGE! YouTube - frankenforge

I recently aquired a coal type forge with a hand crank Champion blower.The blower works good but needs a 3'' supply to go from the blower to the forge. Will aluminum work? Also I've been told from a reliable source that you don't need to line the fire pot with clay,which it isn't. Any advice or comments appreciated. Coalfired (hopefully soon to be )

Addendum: I posted this note in response to a question about lining a forge sometime in March 2005 but I'm not sure if it still resides in cyberspace. Glenn, you are welcome to post as a sticky or a blueprint, if one does not already exist with this information. I might also add I lined a forge with this clay recipe about three months ago (March 2008) and it is holding up fine with no cracks in the refractory - I hope it helps someone... Lining a Forge: I lined a Buffalo forge that has the lips an inch or so above the iron hearth and it turned out well. The process is based on something I learned years ago when I used to help my grandpa build houses. In addition…

I recently discovered this site, thanks to ron aka "son_of_bluegrass", this is my first post here. Last week, I was wandering around the local scrap metal dealers yard and spotted an old davy water pressure tank, that looked ideal to make that forge I have been planning for as long as I can remember.. I read somewhere that you can make a forge from just a hole in the ground and an air blower, but I wanted a forge for making woodworking tools and heat treating hc steels. So I don't need anything too big and cumbersome... After trawling internet web sites looking for forge designs, (wish I had discovered this site earlier!) I finally decided on a pretty traditiona…

I've been looking on the site and internet for days looking at solid fuel forge designs. I have an idea and I would like to ask the more experianced smiths here what they think of it. The basic design would be a square BBQ grill, the kind with the rounded corners and a flat bottom for the box. Put a 2" hole in one side and then make a tuwere, or however you spell it, out of 2" pipe ending in a neck down to 1" four way junction. Make a square ring of straight pieces with 90 deg. corners, and the final junction the straight piece, would be capped in the center. 2 or 3 holes in each section for air flow. Coming out of the forge I would have a gate valve to control a…

Dear Forumites, After reading some of the information available here about forge design, I decided to upgrade, to my home made earthen forge. I don't know if it will work , but I have designed it based on what I read. I took clay, coal ash and rice husk in the ratio of 4:1:1 and mixed it all up with water and let it sit for a few hours. Next I took a fired clay pot (20'' dia ) with fairly thick side walls (3/4 inch) and made a hole at the bottom. Then I wrapped a bit of paper around the steel tube and pushed it through the hole so that the mouth goes to the center of the bottom. Next I took a few days worth of news paper and put it perpendicular to the tube and c…

All, Saw this on EBAY thought I would share.. VINTAGE TORPEDO BLACKSMITH COAL FORGE Anvil - eBay (item 120437825082 end time Jun-25-09 19:07:00 PDT) Brian

Hi im just starting in blacksmithing and i need advice on how to start. I havent made a forge yet but i was fortunate enough to find an old crank blower and a few anvils at my new home and i have been visiting this site for quite awhile so i have a general idea on what to make but i need advice about other tools and the initial building of my forge please and thank you.

Here is my temprorary set-up for nice weather...unlike my brake drum forge, the shape is easily adjustable to make it more fuel efficient...anvil is cut off from some type of huge crankshaft nearly 4 inches in diameter. I'm happy I finally got to put my crank blower (thanks to SaskMark) to use !! It get's a little hard on the knees after a while sitting there, and I want to shorten the blower tube a little too, but overall I'm pretty happy with it...that is one EASY set-up !!

a forge a friend made

I feel I could of put the forge closer to the wall, to gain a little space. What do you guys think? Now is the time to do it. How funny is it that I chose to have a working forge before finishing my cabin? LOL! Enjoy, comments welcome, critique especially welcome! My dog Mika and my cabin retreat/forge (WIP) No fire poker yet, LAWL! Super sucker hood, by Lester Beckman! Works great! My tiny shop and me.

I bought a very heavy cast Iron sink for $10 to use as a forge, due to the lack of 55 gallon drums at the time. I hooked up the blower pipe, and raised the bottom of the sink with clay I dug up and washed. It's been about 2 days, and the clay is still wet. Can I use the forge wet, or should I wait for it to dry, and how long should it take? Any tips for speeding the drying process?

I have posted a lengthy answer with pictures to Reb-Cav’s question at: http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f85/cavalry-pack-forge-12283/#post115553 I started a new thread because the statistics and updates for the old thread has not been showing up correctly. The statistics are still showing up under "solid fuel forges" only. and as the result no one can see that answers have been posted when looking at the discussion category of Blacksmithing, General Discussion.

Sorry to list such a basic question but... When I light my forge fire, to begin with the airflow seems ok, ( I am using a vacuum cleaner so far.) but after an hour or so there is no or little airflow and the metal doesn't seem to heat up enough. Every now and then I put the poker in and lift the coals and it helps 10%. Is there something I am doing wrong or maybe a vac cleaner just isn't powerful enough?

I finally got my new forge running and I was rather disappointed in it. Before I go back to the drawing board, I was hoping that you fine folks might offer some simple tweaks that might improve performance. In an effort to avoid confrontation with my local home owner's association (hopefully, I can start making presents for them soon, but first things first), I decided to use charcoal. This is available to me year round and is not too expensive for the amount of forging that I do. I constructed a small forge out of a discarded lawnmower body and am using an adobe-filled bucket with a one inch pipe passing through it for a fire pot. The pipe has two 1/8" holes drille…

I needed something portable. Everything, except the blower came from the scrap pile. I will be doing my first public demo on the 16th. Since I have never done anything in front of a crowd, I will probably be bringing some items back to the scrap pile.