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OK folks the tub forge finally dried and then was resurfaced and I just lit the first fire, i'll have the pix for ya'll tomorrow sometime. Everything went well and even tossed a cpl pieces of steel in to see what kinda heat i could get with the little bit of charcoal and charcoal brickettes, i had a great fire in the forge and no real sparking to speak of, i am quiet happy with my forge. So do we name forges? anvils? hammers? I know i name all my firearms and my trucks so it kinda seems right, huh? well tomorrow will be the pix, catch ya'll then!

Very nice, the antlers are a great idea, i hadnt thought of using them for BBQ tools, great idea. So of course the question, if you dont mind answering is...how much are you letting them go for? thx and again great job!

here's a pretty good page on adobe for stoves/ovens that i figured i'd share since it's defiantly rather applicable to this thread here and will use this for my fire bricks and heck i might make another one just for giggles. Hope ya'll find it useful! well the hyper link didnt work so here's the URL that i found this at, it's .doc file and a little to long form me to copy and repost here since i dont know if thats cool here either but if your interested in this defiantly worth a gander, it's really good info on the adobe refractory. http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:HFha3SWHGe4J:mha-net.org/msb/research/BP49%25202003%2520insulative%2520ceramics.doc+insulative+ceramics+for+improved+cooking+stoves&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

point well taken and i dont see why that wouldnt be a good idea, just not sure on how the fibers would stand in the forge heat environment but other than that i dunno. oh and any idea what 4.45 pounds is in US dollar and stop laughing i know our dollar in sucking pond water these days here's a link on the adobe forge deal using a different type of bonding substance....haahaahaa enjoy.......... http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/building-forge-3016/

Wow...what a ton of great and helpful info, i like the pearlite idea since i have a bit of that from some paint jobs i did a while ago and then making fire brick out of them...what a great idea and would have been a great use for the extra material i had from the forge build. As well i have used the lump charcoal both cowboy and Royal Oak and they are no remarkable differences between the two that i have ever noticed, of course i have only used them for my smoker not for any forge work..........yet I bet i could make the fire brick in a semi-circle to arch across the top of my forge to retain more heat in my fire...sound like a good idea...worth doing or not...any thoughts on the idea? Oh and i'll have to see about the pool sealer clay stuff for the bricks for smaller batches depending on cost, sounds like a good deal. Well thx everybody for great ideas and info here and the good comments on my forge and i'll be sure to post up the progress of the forge and the life it is taking and with pix, pix are just the way to go in explaining things. catch ya'll later!

cool deal then guys, i appreciate the feedback, i'm always trying to get a lil more out of the things i do and thought it might help out. So i'll stick with the cold air intake and of course i'll be sure to post pix of the forge as it progresses. thx Rob and Psilogen for your input.

the plastic on the heat gun i assume but aside from that would the heat gun help my forge? I can rig some way to make it work, i'm pretty good like that, i can add an ext pipe to the 1 1/4 flair to keep the gun away from the forges heat. thx

this is the same link i used, from livley knives but i didnt get the DVD they sell i just used what info they had there and used the %50 cheap kitty litter (the all clay stuff) and %50 landscaping sand (lowes) with a few handfuls or hardwood ash from my woodstove that i finally cleaned...LOL Now first mistake i see already is i put it too thick for first coat, should have applied in a cpl of layers i figure, kinda like drywall mud apply to think and it cracks like the adobe mix from the forge but i can fix the cracks with more mix and patch it up i assume. In retrospect it would have been a better idea to have either gotten the DVD (or the cheaper D/L at $14.95) or perhaps looked up "Adobe" in google and found a site that gives free info that might be more expansive on the topic. Also i guess that some fire bricks set in before the adobe would have been a grand idea but heck that for the next one and i'll prolly give this one to my Dad for when we work there. I'll be sure to keep ya'll informed about the progress of the forge and i'll post a pic of the cracking adobe for ya'lls viewing. Any further comments or questions please feel free.

Well cool that answers my question w/out even having to ask, i just built a washtub forge (it's still wet even) and have a bag of cowboy ready for it. I do have a question about it though, i have a wagner heat gun (for old flooring, paint and shrink wrap stuff) and i am wondering if i use the heat would that be good or not? The heat gun has low volume and high volume settings and by luck it just fits the 1 1/4" to 1" reducer perfectly! Any comments would be helpful and sorry to hijack the thread.

Well here's my 2nd anvil, it's a #100 Vulcan thats in what seems to me to be great condition, no pitting, no sway nada! I dont have a scale for actual but it's #100 enough for me. My first forge was a harbor freight 75-80 lb'er that i left behind in Fl. for some stupid reason but it was hot as all heck loading up that truck so thats prolly why. I'll post a pick of it when i track one down. So cool deal with my Vulcan anvil and heres a cpl pix of it and one of the new forge i built last night to boot. So just an FYI here, I am very new to BS'ing and this is my first real set-up and it not even really set up yet but it's getting there as i go, next i need to take a BS'ing class to become proficient in the art of, of course this place is like a school in itself and i have gotten TONS of helpful info just reading the forums here and it seems that everybody here is quiet giving with answers to questions here, so thx everybody! Oh and all comments are are well taken on anything so long as they are helpful : )

WOW i love this place! I have been searching the web for my forge plans and since i sold my home and now rent i need something more "portable-ish" so i found "Livley Knives" site again and then of course i came here to do more practical research and of course there is a ton of practical wisdom here and even on things i hadnt yet thought of asking about. It's nice to find one place to set information at, one can search the web and really get lost and also find less than credible info on any topic and in the case of forges bad info can be dangerous! So i see that somebody mentioned using coal (acorn and pea) in their ("tub") forge and was wondering if i read that correctly and how well that worked out over time? thx folks!

Well this is my first post coming to you from WNC here, I make no claim to be any kind of BS but but i have banged some metal and even made some stuff. I just moved here to WNC from Florida a cpl of months ago and had to leave alot of my stuff behind so i'm starting over here gettin stuff together to get back to BS'ing and see what i can learn, this sure looks like the right place for that. I browsed the galleries here and saw allot of very impressive metal work here by some obviously very competent BS's, so i'm sure glad i ran across this place, i figure I'll be able to learn allot here.