OllyO

Hi all. Our spit roast went very well in the end but the spit (despite best intentions) was quite rushed. The spit fire had been lit before I'd even finsihed the thing! Front legs are 25mm square and the rear legs 20mm round. These are the morning after photo's, don't think I got any of the hog on the spit. Six gallons of pottage hung from the hook for our vege folk. Thanks to everyone that provided help, info and offers of favours.

Cheers Alan, much appreciated. I may well take you up on that offer as it is looking as though I may have no time to make my own! All being well though I'd like to have a bash (no pun intended) at making one. I'll keep you posted.

PS> I just picked up a six gallon cast iron cauldron from a scrap yard so I may have a go at making a trammel for the spit as well. Then it'll be time for pottage.

Thanks for getting back to me chaps. I've had a couple of break throughs regarding this subject. One is a great book (for the people in the Uk) called "The cauldron, the spit and the fire", there are some great images of domestic cooking equipment over the last how ever many hundred years. I've not got a copy becasue it's a bit dear but my friend has so I have a date with a photocopier coming up. The other example I found was made by a Smith who works near me by chance called Jasper Johns, the spit is now in Glastonbury abbey in Somerset. I'm picking up some victorian register grates from Glastonbury tomorrow so I'll drop in and get some photo's. Here it is; roastingspit1.jpg

Hi all, I've been trying to research traditional wood fired spit roast designs but can't find much info. Can anybody point me in the right direction? Maybe some of the living history folk have seen or know of sme nice designs? It's being built for a May Day celebration we're having here in Somerset. I can design/ build a way in which to power it, I'm just looks for a nice asthetic for the legs and spit etc, preferably something based in history. Cheers, Olly PS> It's got to take a whole hog.

Seems straight forward enough. I'll just need to invest in a bit of kit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmjMwWqrDnk

Hollow ideally but I guess knocking the corners of a square lump would suffice. Cheers all.

I'm new to this game and I don't doubt this task is beyond my abilities but my friend has asked me if I can make him a sphere. Other than welding a couple of ladles together is there a way this can be acheived?

Well that's interesting to know. Cheers chaps. No markings though I'm afraid.

Hello all, I use an anvil that was my great grandfathers. He was a monumental mason and his appretices used to have to break up marble into chippings on it to use for graves. It was used in this way right up until the 60's. I was just curious as to what age it is, anyone got any ideas? Cheers. O

I have a flue section in two meters then a 800cm section with a cowl on. I wanted to go through a single sheet of tin but it wasn't possible due to the positioning of the forge. It was a right pain. It's still water tight though thankfully.

Here's the forge as it stands. I decided to go for that gator type flashing I saw on eBay in the end. It's a really good seal but obviously a more expensive option. Around thirty two pounds all in. I've not yet made the braces to support the remaining three meters of flue so have been running the forge with just one meter but it still works well. Flue pipe is 9". The photo below is from today after I finished with the fire. It shows my rough looking fire brick/ brick arrangement.

Cheers John, looking forward to the course. Thought I'd try and get in a bit of practice before the weekend! I've got some old bits of fire back that I've arranged around the tue to create a nest for the fire. Seems to work alright. I've got friends around at the moment so haven't managed to sneak more than an hour or so on the forge but initial tests seem positive. I'm using anthrasite at the moment and had the steel sparkling white. Thanks for the sketch Alan, I'll take a look this eve and see if I can simulate something like what you describe. I'll get a photo up as well at some point. Thanks again all!

Hi Alan, Any chance you could send me a photo of your hearth or of an example of the mud/ash/brick swans nest arrangment. I'm quite sure where to aim to have the fire in relation to the tue. Cheers, Olly

Not to worry Alan, we live and learn. I've got a bit of a habbit of barreling into things i'm afraid. This forge has only really cost me around sixty odd pounds so if it all went tits up it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I've not yet had a go with a forge so hopfully as my skills develop, my forge will too. I greatly appreciate everyones help on this forum and hope that I can re pay your efforts with some photo's of some forged steel in the not too distant future. A Blacksmith has just moved into the area after the forge had remained empty for a time so I'm hoping to go and help out for an afternoon a week.