HWooldridge

I have a favorite that I made a few years ago and use every day. I did not want to mess with the handle since it worked fine but a friend convinced me to slim it down some. I bit my lip :shock: , put it on the belt grinder and sanded under the head and toward the end so it bells a little in the middle (something like a reverse hourglass shape). This gives me two places to catch if it tries to slide out of my grip.

I also make my handles very slick so they don't wear holes in my hand. I sand to 240 grit, raise the grain repeatedly until it quits coming up then stain and finish with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil gunstock finish. After that is dry, I burnish with steel wool. I do not like to leave my handles bare of all finish because my hands are usually wet with sweat and makes the wood stick to my skin.

Cover the posts so nothing shorts against them and put on a block of wood in a place where the temperature range doesn't fluctuate greatly.

Do you like it and how is the fire compared to a bottom blast? Have you welded with it? Inquiring minds want to know...

I will tell you the weirdest fire I ever saw. My first forge was a frame of angle iron with fire bricks on top. The pot sat in the middle and the sides were just 1x4's screwed to some tabs so the coal would stay off the floor. I used this forge for several years and always shut down the same way - let it cool, tear the coke out and then water it to death. I had been working all day, closed down normally and went home. Next day, went into the shop and smelled burned wood. Looked all over and finally found that all the boards were burned through in several places. Apparently, some coal dust stayed lit and the little cracks between the bricks fed enough air so that the fire marched right across the hearth until it hit the boards and then burned thru them. There was ash all over and on the floor. Sure glad I had a dirt and brick floor.

Ed,

What I had in mind was to fabricate a side draft box and set it in the window. It could also be insulated at that time and flashed for drip-proofing. The duct would run up the outside of the wall and either cut straight thru the overhang or dogleg to clear the roof. The forge is then right up against the wall or nearly so. The only thing you have to get used to is that you have no room behind but I have seen a couple forges built this way and the smith was not having any trouble. My side draft chimney is only about a foot from the wall and you cannot walk behind the forge. I have some miscellaneous stuff stored there but the proximity to the wall is not a problem and it keeps the center of the shop clear so I can clutter it with other stuff.

BTW - you probably already know this but use at least 12" round for the duct. 10" is marginal and anything smaller will smoke some. I had a buddy of mine make me a nearly 12" square duct from a piece of 4x8 galvanized and it worked quite well (until a storm took it off one day). He bent it on a brake and folded up the sides then made a seam where two corners met. Easy and fast for an HVAC guy to make.

Ed,

My first shop had an overhead hood that was attached to a 12 inch round duct that made a 90 out the wall and then a 90 up. The horiz piece was 6 feet long and the vertical was 8 feet, which put it a foot or so over the peak of the roof. Although it was better than nothing, it still smoked a lot and I finally went to a straight stack.

For your shop, I like Swamp Fox's idea of a window that you can set a side draft chimney in. It's very versatile if you decide to move something later. I just don't think you will like the performance of two bends in the chimney.

Don't know if you have tried one but those velcro arm bands for tennis elbow help a lot. After many years of regular hammer work with no problems, I went out one day after a 3 month layoff and promptly blew out those same forearm muscles. I let it heal a couple of weeks and started wearing an armband. After a couple months, I was able to remove the band and go back to normal use.

I briefly went thru Bealer's book and he indicates coal/coke was in general use by the time of the Civil War and that blowers started appearing by mid to late 1800's. Electric blowers were in use by 1890's. I have seen a couple of photos of Civil War era soldiers using bellows and coal but I don't think I have ever seen a picture of a blower from that period.

As you stated, the other thing to consider is how common anything was until the technology eventually made its way out into the hinterlands. Even if coal and blowers were in existence, it is quite likely that charcoal and bellows were still in use in most places - especially the South since blockades would have stopped many commercially produced items. Jay Reakirt (who I think is now deceased) used to have an historically accurate traveling forge at Andersonville. Although he had an electric blower hidden in the wagon, the premise was that it used a bellows and he would pull the handle periodically to make it look real - I also believe that he used coal for fuel.