stevehewer

I cant take the credit for the design, I saw it on an image search engine but I am very happy with it, it is made with 10mm round bar, I aim to tweak it as I think a dished candle plate and base would look better, I am also going to add a band around the welds to hide them.

I was also thinking about this sort of thing, I could do with (a) a round hardy tool and (B) a cup/bowl hardy tool. I found my supplier of steel bar also sells all the scrolls and other pre made iron work, So I intend to buy a 2" and 4" solid ball and weld it to some 1" square bar for the hardy hole and also get a hollow ball of a similar size and cut it on to 2 halves, with it being cut off centre to give me a small and large bowl, I will then bend in to a curcle and weld some square bar around the outside of the bowl for strength and the 1" bar on the bottom to fit my hardy hole. does that idea help anyone else ??? Steve.

This is the first candle holder I have made, saw the design online, thought it was nice, so had a go.

I have had this forge for about a year now, only just got round to taking any pics of it, I made a new hood for it, just welded it out of some scrap 4 mm plate, I have an inline 4" fan that puts out 180m3 hr, I made a gate on the inlet side for longer life of the fan, I made a grate for the fire pot from 10mm square bar with 3mm gaps, the grate is 130 mm x 160 mm. top of the fire pot is about 180 mm x 230 mm, it gets really hot, always burning 12 mm bar, only thing I would change if I was building it again would be a bigger table.

I was under the impression that anthracite was one of the hottest burning coals there is, if you google btu x kg etc I believe it is. I started with anthracite when I started smithing (only been going about a year), I recently bought 50 kg of blacksmiths breeze, I wanted to see how it compared as I was getting some clinker with the anthracite and it was sticking to my castable refractory forge and when chipping the clinker off it took some of the refractory with it. I was very surprised when I used the coke that it created almost as much clinker as the anthracite. Anthracite does need a constant breeze on it or it will go out pretty quick, but it is pretty good stuff, well it is in the UK. everywhere is different I guess. I paid £12.80 for 25kg bags of breeze/coke or about £8 for 25kg of anthracite, I did find the coke burned quicker than the anthracite too, although the bag of coke is bigger as coke is lighter. I am not 100% sure if I will continue with coke or stick with the cheaper anthracite, the coke smells slightly less than anthracite, but I have a couple of older neighbours that still have coal fires and with the colder weather coming its not an issue for the next 5 or 6 months, woo hoo. That is my experience with coke and anthracite. HTH. Steve.

Hi Basher, Can I ask what sort of money you gave for her ?? I would love a power hammer, I couldnt have one in my current workshop as the floor is just slabs, but eventually I want a decent workshop, it would defo be on my want list then. Steve.

Blimey that look fierce enough, my weed burner is just the sort that runs on the 350ml cans so no good for a forge, I am considering having a go at building my own burner as per the instructions on so many site online. I might get the bullfinch burner as well as it would be good for tempering etc as well as lighting the coke forge when I can run that. I do love my coke forge, I just wish I could afford to rent a proper workshop, I doubt I would bother with the gas forge then, I like the feeling of working with the coke forge, it has history about it, I like that about it, I was born in the wrong era really, I like steam engines/trains and all the old stuff (and ive ony just gome past 40 ! ! )

Hi guys, I have been blacksmithing for a while now, not as often as I would like as I have heart failure so get tired after a couple of hours, my biggest problem has been firing the coke forge, I start it with kindling and add coke on to it, I use a weed wand gas burner to get it going quicker and with less smoke, but its getting harder and harder to work the forge, I live on a small estate/close and the house is mid terrace, so there are people both sides, it seems every time I want to fire the forge up someone in one of the houses always has their washing out, I have been letting people know I am going to lite a fire etc and they take their washing in, but this is getting a bit tiresome, and they seem to be getting frustrated too.... So my plan is to build a small gas forge, I used catable refractory for my coke forge and it had worked very well, I intend to use it in building my gas forge (I dont trust myself with the carciagenic wool stuff, I would far rather use the castable stuff as it is harder wearing too), I am thinking of making something simmilar to the Swan forges here in the uk, not the round ones many seem to make, I am thinking of the internal chamber being 23cm wide x 35cm deep and being 12cm high. My question is what burner, I am not overly happy making my own burner (most likely to go bang knowing my luck), I have seen a 45000 Btu burner from Castree kilns for around £90, but I have the chance to buy a Bullfinch propane torch with the 1250 burner, that burner is rated at 43000 Btu`s at 1 bar, so around 60000 Btu`s at 2 bar. Would this burner be good enough to heat the @ 1/3 cubic ft space, I will still have the coke forge for use when needed but wajnt to use the gas for daily use, also would this burner in this sized forge get up to welding heat ?? I intend to have a castable wall thickness od 3 inches and will have a sacraficial 1" kiln brik as the floor of the forge, I intend to have drop down doors (both ends) with 1" thick castable lined doors with a permanent opening at each end for small bar stock of around 1 1/2" x 4", I am assuming I would need the permanent openings for exaust gases, I would sit the gas forge on the table of my coke forge to use the chimney to vent the workshop (although my workshop is a closed in patio, it has a fixed roof and end wall and the back wall and gates to the front with @10" opening above and below the gates, I made it with gates so I can get anything large out of the workshop without any problems, I also open the gates when its warmer). I am on a very tight budget as I am on incapacity benefits, hence the reason for wanting to use the bullfinch torch as it is available to me very cheaply, buying a "proper burner" is out of my budget at the moment, I am guessing the burners would wear out now and then and I would be happy to replace them as and when as they are around £18, so that isnt too much of a problem. But will it work..... What are your thoughts, will it work, at 43000 to 60000 Btu`s I would have thought this be plenty. Thanks for your thoughts, they are all helpful. Steve.

I have to be honest, they all look terrible, if you post them to me I will make sure they are never seen again...... and that goes for any more you make :D :D :D :D :D I just wish I could make anything close to asgood as those mate. not jealous at all ^_^ ;)

Hi John, YES I want a volcano moahahaha. Seriously though thanks for the reply. The "table" would be around 32 inches deep and 40 inches wide with a side draft chimney, I am thinking a firepot about 14 inches x 10 inches with angled sloping sides with the bottom of the firepot about 4 inches by 4 inches and the Grate about 2 inches above the bottom with the usable firepot being about 4 1/2 inches deep. The air inlet I have is 4 inch pipe (this I already have), My theory was that the air would come in the bottom and have the 2 inch gap before it went through the grate and into the fire. I though if there where lots of small holes on the grate then this would aid air flow around the whole of the base of the fire as well as allowing air to pass without too much blockage from ash etc. I have a couple of fans I could use, I have a 4" inline power fan (not the 4" shower type) that blows about 160M3 hr, I also have the blower from a leaf blower (1600w) and third I have a 1000w motor from an earlex hvlp spray gun set, All of these I would have some sort of air flow control on. As for the quarry tiles I really was testing to see what the chapest option would be, I have seen a 25kg bag of refracotry castables for £26 ish inc postage on ebay so I think that would be the best option, I would plan to lay about an inch all over the table and about the same in the fire pot, so this would make the fire pot a little smaller. Going back to the fire grate, I have seen some cast iron drain covers that are 6 inches square and 10 mm thick on ebay but they do have quiet large air gaps in... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-Square-Cast-Iron-Gully-Grid-Driveway-Drain-Cover-/330569568600?pt=UK_DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item4cf77b5158 On the air inlet I would have a ash drop at the bottom of the air inlet with the air coming in via another pipe into the side of the drop pipe if that makes sense, same as most firepot forges I have seen. Again thanks for everyones input. Steve.

Thanks for the reply, I only intend to use a firepot that is 13" x 9" as in this link http://www.blksmth.com/mild_steel_firepot.htm with the pot of 4mm and the table with the 1.5 (for now) and then lay the clay quarry tiles all over and cut them to fit in the firepot (I would enlarge the design of the firepot so it would be the 13x9 with the tiles inor maybe 15x10), its like I said really, I dont mid replacing the tiles in the firepot every now and then, and replace the 1.5 for something better when funds allow, I thought I would just tack the sheet on so I could remove it easily when replacing with the thicker material etc. as for the air holes, the p[late at the bottom would be around 5" x 6" or so, I intended to drill holes all over the plate so that the holes removed around 30-40% of the metal, so maybe 60+ 6mm holes, there would be a small chamber between the plate and the air inlet of about 2 inches so the air can get around to all the holes, I thought this would give a good even distrbution of the air to all of the bottom of the firepot ?? tell me if its not a good idea ?? cheers. Steve.

Hi all, this is my first post so be gentle with me... I am going to build my first purpose built forge soon and am looking at different materials, mostly due to low funds... I have some 1.5 mm m/s sheet and some 4 mm plate, obviously this wont last long as a forge table and fire pot. What I am thinking is can I use clay quarry tiles, im guessing they would be ok for the table as it would only have the coal converting to coke and radiant heat from the firepot, but could I use the quarry tiles in the firepot, I intend to make a rectangular pot with angle sloping sides with a double sheet of 4 mm with 6 mm hole drilled all over it for air flow. So what I am asking is do you all think that the quarry tiles will stand up to the job, I know other materials would be far better but after buying an anvil funds are low so whatever I use needs to be cheap. I would not fix the tiles down so any that crack or crumble can easily be replaced, even if I had to change all the tiles in the firepot every 6 - 12 months it will still be a cheap option. BUT will it work ? ? ? Thanks for your help. Steve.