Dale M.

I would NOT weld drum into top plate, i would bolt it in.... IF you ever have to change out drum or want to change forge design, bolts come apart easier than welds....

Here is how I did it.... Not saying it is a perfect design, but it works well for me and so far there is not much I would change ....

Dale

Simplistically it all sounds good..... But as the say , the devil is in the details....

Dale

For the average "joe", probably Oxygen/Acetylene rig with big cutting tip..... If you have something similar to a 12 inch capacity cutoff saw (which most of us don't) that would work... Anything smaller is a exercise in futility....

Dale

You'll put yer eye out, Kid!!!

 

 

I posted it cause it was actually kind of humorous-forging a 6 pound sledge on a 125lb or so anvil, and it went downhill from there.........

 

It's one of the things that really turn me off of this site-too many people who never pick up a hammer and actually MAKE something telling others how to/not to. I'd like to see more "doing" and a lot less "reviewing".

Excuse me!!!! Do not actually have to make anything (BUT I DO) to recognize something on verge of being reckless.... IF you don't want  to be criticized quit posting these type of things and quit defending something that was pretty close to stupid and getting some one hurt.... You can not defend the action that all of us see, your mistake was not recognizing a problem and dealing with it but also going public with the foolish action ....

I spend 38 years in "industry" and the place I worked had a rule, ANYBODY who saw something unsafe could SHUT DOWN ANY OPERATION if a unsafe condition was observes.... Don't yell "EXPERIENCE"  to me!...

Dale

Don't think anybody that criticized actions of anvil is out of line ...The bobble and weave of anvil is some what disturbing.... At 43 second mark in video I would be inclined to stop and get better base for anvil.... Also in my mind anvil was a little small for such heavy striking....

Anyway glad nobody got hurt....

Dale

Visit resale shops and look at hair driers kind of noisy but its a really cheap blower....

Other  solution is visit HVAC shop and try to talk to boys in back... Might have small blower out of heater thet might work.... I also found a nice little blower on back of a dishwasher that was in junk pile....

25mm is only about 1 inch... its pretty small.... You want volume but not much pressure... As size goes down, pressure has to go up to move same volume.... In my mind bigger tube is better....

Dale

To those critical of my references to web sources of information... I have been on the web since its inception, and have logged hundreds of hours of research on various subjects.... Seems that the things I am specifically interested in have least information or least creditable information available...

I chose to display these sources so people would know where my questions were based from... NOT to recommend or validate them.... I am a believer of researching things from many sources and hopefully making a intelligent or informed decision from all available information presented....

Even in this tread some of the abstract comments are valid proof on the lack of  validity of information ... Some of the comments here ( in this set of message thread) have the same unsubstantiated information from vague sources that people critical of Wikipedia are expounding as truths....

So enough of the grumbling on the validity of the reference material and lets get to what people have actually used and what works for them...

Dale

it was wikipedia that caused the confussion between boraxo and borax, the point has been made, maybe some confusion could have been avoided by reading this pinned thread first

Whine!!!.... Still can't see it...

Dale

boraxo is borax And SOAP,  that soap addition is going to cause trouble.  NEVER USE WIKIPEDIA AS A PRIMARY SOURCE,  anyone can and do post there, some are clueless.

Guess I should also not use GOOGLE or BING or manufacturers web site either.... Most times I have found Wikipedia to be accurate enough to at least get a handle on information I need and usually is accurate enough to  set me off in a direction I can go to validate it at ANY OTHER SOURCE of information... Sorry if my reference material source does not conform to your standards....

Do you believe everything you see on Youtube?

Respectful to your comment just the same...

Dale

pure borax, NOT the soap, ever look in this thread ? '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

Gads... Why couldn't I find this thread earlier, would have saved some bandwidth ...

Ahem.... I already have this...

Is not BORAXO and 20 Mule Team Borax not basically the same stuff?

"20 Mule Team Borax" is 99.5 % "sodium tetraborate"...

http://www.20muleteamlaundry.com/about/what-is-borax/

"Boraxo" is "sodium tetraborax decahydrate"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax

And anybody explain the difference?

Dale

This post was moved and added here from yet another thread.

Anybody have any good home brew recipes for flux for forge welding... I am about to venture into  this area and at the moment just have Boraxo hand soap available to me... Been told it is workable, and also  it was mentioned the by adding salt to Borax it helps process ( but how much) ....

Yes I know I can order many fluxes online but that is not what I want to do at the moment....

So what's your favorite mix of common household items ...

Dale

^{Dale sure likes to stir the pot! I was with him yesterday and he'll contribute to any conversation, just kidding Dale!!!!}

^{I too will be fabbing a new coal forge later this summer and have been following this thread closely for good ideas. Like the idea of a hood. My last outdoor event I was covered in ash and my tent too! 5-6' of chimney to loft the ash and junk would do the trick.}

ACK!..... My secret is out.....  Hi Jake....

Dale

I have no problem viewing it. Must be a facebroke user settings thing...

Odd... Because I can logged into Facebook and I still cant see it!!!!

Dale

First No disrespect to you Dale just happened to be your post.

 

I have seen statements like this through out the forum a lot.

 

Why do any of us spend so much time on things when you can go to a shop and buy something that will do the job.

In my humble opinion it is because we strive to improve, or to make items to suit our needs and wants.

Think of all the time and effort that has gone into a hammer. I have seen a lot of discussion on here about hammers and the how to improve on what they had to start with.

I think that 123samic is only trying to improve on the table to suit his needs, as we all do with things that we make.

I have buit all of my own 3 forges. I copied a basic unit then modified it to what I had available. My first forge has been modified now to a long blade forge (24" of blade can be heated all at once). I have my main forge also which is a basic unit, and I have my portable forge that drops down to like a flat pack & only takes a couple of minutes to put together. Out of the 3 each has it advantages.

 

So I say good on people who reinvent things, they will have set backs and find ways not to do things, but that is how we progress, improve and grow. Only a fool doesn't learn from what others have done before them though, so look at other builds listen to what people say, use other peoples knowledge to get to where you want to go.

 

Peter

No offense taken, but if one can  building something on the fly such as I did, the "plan" changes as build progresses...  I believe in the fact that one can adapt  a design to fit his needs to what one has available in a somewhat limit source of supply....  I did not plan to build a coal/brake drum forge in beginning, I was  experimenting  with making gas burners for a gas fired forge when I happened by a pile of junk where that  had a old gas water heater and some old furnaces, while I was intent on salvaging burners if they were adaptable I also realized junk pile also had the old gas BBQ and buried down in pile was brake drum.... Didn't take but a few second to completely change directions and concieve a plan for forge... Mental picture/plan of forge came blinding fast and didn't even need to put it on paper it was so simple... Construction followed only a couple days behind  .... I guess my point is why spend hours engineering  something and spend hours laboring over it if something that is quite acceptable may be sitting there staring you in the face, IE: Gas grill cart.... Now I am on the lookout for another gas grill base (many are not acceptable due to cheap construction) and am thinking of using plow disk as bowl similar to open hearth forge...

Gas burner is still on shelf, propane tank and regulator in now in storage and I am happily heating steel....

IF I were to purchase  everything new and follow precise plan, new coal forge or gas forge probably would have cost me $600-800... But I have less than $100 invested and it may not rival fancy "store bought" forge but it gets the metal just as hot...

IF one wants to create a detailed drawing and buy all new materials and assemble with rigid adherence to master plan, its ok... But when every dime counts, I would rather spend the saved dimes (from adaptive construction) on tongs and hammers and books on blacksmithing, maybe even on a few lessons from a master...

Dale

I don't know what I did wrong-best to delete the post????

Is permissions set to viewing by general public (not restricted)?

Dale

Well... Sorry but I didn't really mean "junk" as useless... I meant it as steel that has inferior grade and may not be as useable or desirable as to steel  with better pedigree for particular application.....

Dale

Nice looking forge build Dale. Bummer about using plumbing for a tuyere though. If you'd visited a muffler shop you could've picked everything you needed out of their drops for the price of a box of donuts. Then a flapper exhaust cap makes a near perfect ash dump.

 

A foot switch is as easy as using the horn button out of a car and making a nifty cool floor mount for it and you're golden. Other wise, self centering switches in the 12v category are pretty common and inexpensive.

 

I didn't notice, did you mount the air damper on the intake or outlet side of the blower? either will work fine for controlling the draft but if the motor relies on the blower flow for cooling you might run into overheating issues.

 

All in all, Well done Dale.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 I realized later that It would have been a lot cheaper to simply manufacture the tyree from tubing, but was caught up in all the "brake drum" forges I had seen on Youtube and was sort of caught inside the box for the use of pipe, and thinking at the time heat was going to be issue (which it is not)  and tyree had to be more robust, probably will manufacture next tyree from tubing for dimes on the dollars I spent in pipe for this one.... Since I am at least 40 miles from any muffler shops I sort of made a shopping list for parts needed and spent a day in the "city" shopping for forge parts and lots other things my back woods community  does not have...

The fan is a auxiliary blower fan from Datsun 240 Z and is sealed 12Volt DC permanent magnet motor so ventilation of motor is not needed ... And yes the  damper is on inlet.... At the time it seemed simplest way to go... Can't see any reason to change it (yet) but have given it some thought...

Already have  foot switch for fan, just have not got around it installing a relay and the switch (and switch bypass)... Motivational issues I guess... OR maybe its if it is working, don't fix it...

Dale

Why are you spending so much time and effort and reinventing the wheel when simply a few scrounged parts and a Saturday in the shop will build you a great forge for $50- $100 ( or maybe less) ...

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Dale

Quite frankly, I would do away with old material that is difficult to work with, and replace it with newer materials, IF you are good enough smith,  person that  is contracting work will never ever know.... And once you have taken something "old" and reformed it to newer shapes it looses it validity as a authentic antique piece... Antique piece is probably something at least 75 years old, has some sort of patina and hopefully a provenance,.. IF you  heat,  bend, hammer  or change finish (patina) it's no longer original and is probably now just  "junk"....

Dale

If one wants the fold down ability for storage space, and retains hand truck use then yes go for it... If you want purely portable (for doing off site demos) I still think putting forge fold down on front side is more practical...

If one wants "just portability" then a wheeled cart aka: used  bbq cart with bbq  junk (hood/pan)  removed and fire pot added...

Dale

IF you are going to have motorized blower go to a resale shop and just spend $3 for used hair drier and disconnect heating element.... IF you want mechanical blower some like of squirrel cage (car heater fan)  with 4:1 or 5:1 dear ration will do fine.... Auto turbos rely on really high rpm to create air pressure.... Its more work and bulk than its worth, but if that is what you want ..Go go it...

Dale

Nothing wrong in teaching them skills, they will be survivors, the kids that are TV/video game "heads" will be first to need help from skilled people..

We have a young lady in our blacksmithing group, she is probably in mid 20's and puts a lot of the guys to shame at the entry level where she is at... Really have to admire her...

Dale

Other option is not try and uncoil spring but to cut off length needed and heat and hammer till its in shape needed...

In pic  bar on left is spring stock (approx 1/2 of a coil)

Next is center punch

Cold chisel

Slitting chisel

"Eye" punch (center is hollow for eye in "horse head" art hoof pics)

6 inch ruler

Dale

I have uses suspension coil springs to make basic punch, center punches and cold chisels and  slitting chisels and basic punches.... IF you  tempered item properly after heating and hammering (shaping) they are excellent tools you can make....

Dale