unkle spike

I chose to bolt my brakedrum forge together, as the welds will eventually crack from differential in heat in different areas. I have been using mine for 5 years with the same drum and pipe.

I would avoid welding things together, with the differences in heat in different parts, the welds would likely crack at some point. Specifically I am looking at the pipe flange to the brake drum. I have a near identical design and my pipe flange is bolted, with loose drilled holes to prevent binding when it expands, I would go 3 or 4 drill sizes larger than the bolts. If the bolts burn off, you can knock them out and put new ones in, if the welds crack you will have to do a good bit of grinding to get it clean enough to weld. I also would not weld the grate in, I would make it as big as will fit in the drum and just lay it in there, again when it burns out you will have to grind the welds loose to replace it. I have a piece of 1/4" thick stainless screen I use in mine, it is grating of some sort. Stainless steel is less affected by oxidation caused by the fire, 304 SS is the best. Good luck, asking questions like these you will get opinions, my findings are based on the fact I am actually using the setup you have drawn.

Draw filing is the only way to keep a surface reasonably flat. It is an uncommon practice that you hardly ever see, but trust me it works.

Sat. project is a damascus knife, the first and I hope only one. I just want to do one so I can say I did one....

I hope to have this anvil home here sometime this summer, perhaps I jusmped the gun on the IDing of this anvil. Will be easier once it is here. Thanks for all the responses. More updates to follow...

I don't have picture of the finished product, but my Dad repaired my Grandpa's anvil. He said markings on it are "SB" "13" I would assume the 13 is the stone weight, 182 lbs. which seems about right. Any information would be helpful. It is old, like 1925 or earlier I would guess. anvil pic.doc

Me at the forge....

There are a couple of pictures posted in the thread, they are great for identiying what you have Chris. That coal you had that slagged up was anthricite, with a good bit of impurity in it.

I have seen "top and bottom seam coal" it leaves a big coating of slag on the metal being heated. I suspect this is due to the silica in it depositing on the metal as the flame melts it and it rises. As I said I use Anthricite, because I get it free. It heats to weld heat, it does coke off fairly quickly. BUT it is dirty, I have to get the clinker out probably 3 or 4 times in an afternoon of forging. The clinkers are flat, round dishes probably around 3/4 of an inch thick and as big around as the firepot I use. Starting a "green" fire with new coal (no leftover coke) is a smoky affair and is somewhat hard to light. Also I don't get the cave effect which works the best for depleting oxygen from the flame. My coal does have a good bit of fines in it, and I usually let my coal cart sit outside uncovered so the rain keeps it moist, no standing water, just damp in the shade most of the time. I have a large squirrel cage fan, that brings a great volume of outside air into my shop, so I get plenty of fresh air, and there are enough air gaps in doors and windows to keep the smoke down to bearable. I do however turn the forge fan on low sometimes and take a break outside if I have to add a good bit of green coal to the fire to rebuild it. I don't know the cfm of my shop ventilating fan, but two fans the size of the average furnace fan mounted with a motor in the center. It is in the adjoining shed so the air is cool usually. Sorry to kind of ramble there.... Summary, Good coal or coke makes the best fire, but you can adapt to anything that will produce enough heat. Maybe next time I forge I will take a picture of a "clinker pie" so you can see what I am talking about. I have used good Pocahontas 3 and it is a great deal easier to manage a fire. Glenn, correct me if I am wrong. Is the "shine" on anthricite due to the high silica? This is what gets gooey at first, then as it cools becomes the clinker? Also I get a lot of these, about the size of 8 shot surrounding my fire after a while, they fly out with the flame.

I actually use Anthracite in my forge, the neighbors have an unused coal shed about half full of it, so I get it free. It is pretty sulfurous, but can be used. I don't get any more scale then I have seen with other coals.

The minimum is to "build" it start to finish in your mind. On large projects sometimes I outrun the engineering, and if I don't stop I make mistakes. On other projects I do actually sketch things out. One thing though is I tend to follow my eye for proportions, and remember if you are building it for yourself the only one that you have to please is yourself. I hope this helps, and seeing as I have posted no projects here it may be hard to understand what I am talking about.