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Iron_Bear, I just got started and I made a Washtub Forge in the Tim Lively form factor as seen on his website here; http://www.timlively...ashtubforge.htm The instructions are very straight-forward and the supplies were dirt cheap. I spent no more than $38 on the stuff to make it and it works like a champ once I got the fire tending business in hand. I don't have it mounted to anything and it's plenty portable though I plan on following Tim's recommendation of putting it on an aluminum folding ladder as a table at some point. May be worth a look. Edit: This may not work for you. Sorry, I have a bunch of tabs open to forums right now and a couple are knifemaking forums that look similar to IFI so if you need bigger stock, the 55 is probably the better option.

Phil, thanks for the suggestions. The long reach pliers seem like they'd be a good stand-in until I can get my tongs made. I'm definitely not looking to use a substitute for the long term but I figure right now I have nothing better than my crappy channel locks to hold stock to even make tongs so having something grippy is better than nothing at all!

Maillemaker, I agree with that. Rather than starting out entirely from scratch for tongs since I need something that'll help me hold material sooner rather than later I purchased some tong blanks from polar bear forge so I can start with a partially made set of tongs that I have to finish. Once I've got some decent tongs in hand, I intend to try making more tongs so I can hold a variety of stock. As I'm finding out presently, using channel locks is a horrible substitute but I was so anxious to get my forge to burning coal I didn't want to wait any longer to get started. Now that I'm finally hitting a stride on controlling the fire and getting heats for hammering it's starting to be a major liability and I'll need some tongs pronto.

Success! I spent the last 2.5 hours hammering away on my stock, drawing out the tang and notching it. Now that I'm piling the charcoal up higher and keeping the steel covered between heats I was able to achieve heat and get back to hammering every 3-4 minutes. Unfortunately, I still don't have my tong blanks from polarbear forge so I'm improvising with old channel locks which has caused me to lose a lot of time in making the most of my heats but I'm still leagues ahead of where I was yesterday. Thanks again for all of the helpful input and advice.

Thomas, I was not positioning my stock correctly. After watching Tim's video again (several times in greater detail last night) I paid close attention to how he was piling up the coal and keeping it on top of the blade for every heat. I will be trying this today since my stock placement yesterday was just rubbish. Also, I don't have anyone in my immediate area that I could find using the ABANA site but I'll keep looking around. If I could get some one on one time to watch a pro work I have no doubt that it would be tremendously beneficial. Drewed, it may be better described as a lighting problem. It would catch fire but would gutter out after a couple minutes or so. I couldn't get it to burn any longer than that. I didn't try it with newspaper or straw, though. If I tried it with a tinder source I'd probably have been doing better but the hardwood lump charcoal definitely took to flame much easier than the coal. Ten Hammers are you recommending mild steel so I'd have something "easier" to bring to heat than the 5160? I really need to get some regular steel for practice work but presently I have only one piece of steel in my position and it's the 5160 I mentioned. I'm starting small but I admit I may be trying to run before I crawl by not working on practice materials first.

I just wanted to follow up on this thread by saying that I got some cowboy hardwood lump charcoal and had no issue getting it to take light and stay burning. I guess it helps to have the right fuel source. I have tons to learn about the basics of fire tending and material placement but I am starting with a billet of 5160 that's 1/4" x 8" x 2" and was able to start drawing out the tang. It was just taking 10-15 min. for the steel to heat up to a hammering temperature which seems like my fire isn't right. Oh well, there's going to be a learning curve and I assumed that going into it. The important thing was getting the right fuel and getting it to keep burning and you guys helped tremendously with that. I appreciate all of the info provided and my location is in Greeley, CO. for what that's worth. I'll see if I can get it to show up under my name, also. Thanks again!

Guys, thanks for the heaps of useful information! Wpearson has the right of it, the elkhorn blacksmithing coal is exactly what I have. John, I think you hit the nail on the head with the coal being the wrong type based on your explanation. The few smiths/farriers in my immediate area that I've been chatting with recommended the coal but they use propane forges so it was a friendly best-guess on their parts. It does seem very... dense, I guess is the word I would use. It's good to know that I can at least use it for some other application by crushing it and adding it to the proper charcoal. I'll pick up the "right stuff" today and hopefully get a fire burning this afternoon. Again, I appreciate all of the help and will use the stick and twig fire tactic and use less of the charcoal, as well. I wasn't very prepared I guess and need to get some straw to act as tinder while I'm out today, also.

Hi folks, I'm fairly embarrassed to even ask this question but I just completed a Tim Lively style washtub forge to be used for bladesmithing and I was pretty anxious once the adobe dried out to get a fire in it. Trouble is, I can't seem to keep the blacksmith charcoal (elkhorn) burning for longer than a minute or two. I couldn't find a handcrank blower anywhere so I'm using a hair dryer and I've tried it both with and without the dryer to put airflow through the tuyere and that didn't seem to help. The airflow is there as I can feel it blowing up through the holes in the tuyere when set to high speed. In the video by Tim Lively that shows the construction of the forge and the rest of the knifemaking process he seems to have some dry straw in there with the coal for the initial fire and I haven't tried this yet but wanted to see if it's something that is required for starting and maintaining a fire with this kind of charcoal? I've got about 3lbs. of charcoal in the bed of the washtub forge, piled up about 3 inches high which seems like it should be enough but I just don't know and since it isn't burning for any substantial amount of time, I have to assume I'm doing it wrong. I would greatly appreciate any advice on this very rudimentary subject matter since I'm hitting a dead end. Thanks!

Thanks for all of the responses! Thomas, I am aware of that but I can't find any for sale locally. I've checked WalMart here, Lowes, some home and garden stores to no avail. Not sure if I live in a black hole of smithingphobes or what but it's been a frustrating quest. Matt, I didn't realize I could use those materials as substitutes. I've tried my hand at searching for various ways to make adobe but it seems mostly for sustainable building purposes and the instructionals have all been very puritanical with no mention of those additives. That will make things much easier since it looks like I have a few sources for both of those materials. Grizzer, I responded to your PM. I appreciate all of the help and information guys. I'll post up pics when the forge is up and running - hopefully the construction will be finished by next weekend.

Hi all, I'm in the beginning stages of building a small charcoal forge. The design I've ultimately decided on is one of Tim Lively's concepts as seen here on dfoggknives.com; http://www.dfoggknives.com/charcoal_forge.htm This is going to be a new undertaking for me on a few levels, however, and the first obstacle is making the adobe for the shell. One of components needed is hardwood ash and, as it turns out, it's proving harder to find than I would have thought. I don't have a place to do any burning right now and it seems that everyone I know - family, friends and even co-workers - are suburbanites using a gas furnace for heat just as I am. I've tried contacting fireplace and stove shops in the area to see if they demo wood burning stoves and if they'd mind letting me collect some ashes but they probably all think I'm bananas seeing as no one has responded. Heck, I'm willing to pay for it. To get to the point, does anyone here have any suggestions for where else I might seek out hardwood ash? I'm not sure what other type of shop or business might produce the stuff these days and, surprise surprise, no one's advertising it on craigslist! I live in Northern Colorado (Greeley, specifically) so if anyone is in the surrounding area and may know of a local resource that would be great but at this point I'd be tickled pink with general suggestions, as well. Thanks in advance!