ThorsHammer82

look at the selection in the "show me you homemade anvil" thread. There are lots of options out there, and if you're nice and polite and gracious you might even be able to get something for free. offering labor for a couple hours cleaning up stuff at the metal supply, or where ever would be helpful. and it doesn't hurt to offer your services. the worst they can do is say no. but ask around. If there is any place around you that repairs heavy equipment or uses heavy equipment you may be able to get hooked up with some good steel to use as an anvil. Think outside of the box. It doesn't have to look like an "ANVIL" to be one.

Rich, if you're seeing bullets in a battle of wits you're winning. Thats a beautiful anvil HW.

sounds like the smoke is cooling by the time it reaches the top of the pipe and wanting to fall back down. but the heat from the fire is preventing it from going down and the cooled smoke is preventing more smoke from going up the pipe. You said on the sunny day it worked fine, because the top of the stack was warm from the sunlight, but when it was cloudy it was cool and thus cooling the smoke as it rises up the stack. painting the top part black may help on cold days. Other than that I don't know enough to comment on. Frosty's suggestion of a blower sending hot air up the pipe sounds promising. You could also put in a fan at the top that you could turn on on cold days to pull the draft for you. but that my cause problems on warm days.

I have 4 electric trailer brake drums I could have used for my forge build, and didn't because the drum has a inside flange for the bear assembly that would have stuck up into the fire pot. I would have had to clay the drum in order to get it to work and that would have made the fire pot about 1/2" deep. I Think you're better off sticking to a car/truck brake drum vs a trailer brake drum for that reason.

yeah, those are brake disks, not brake rotors. the OP wanted to know about brake rotors.

it's not the prefered method, but it would work with some modification. If you can find a disk from a larger truck you'd be better off that say using a disk from a sedan or compact. Anything is possible with a little will power and some enginuity. I used a drum because I had one saying around. I used a rotor to act as a damper when I'm done to same fuel and cut down on clean up time. when you're forging you want enough fuel below the metal to use up all the oxygen before it reaches the metal. The shallower disks wont do that without adding brick or refractory to deepen the fire. from what I've seen, it takes about 4-5" in a coal fire to use up the oxygen.

Pictures help. as for calling out the welding machine/brand I'm going to call bunk on that. each brand makes a product for a price point and some people like one , and others like the other but as long as it's a recognized name brand you're fine. than it's just a matter of finding a machine you like and a rod that works well with it. basically different strokes for different folks. The only time I have a hard time getting slag off is if there is something wrong with the weld. contamination/inclusions, temp issue, angle issue, etc. but when it's done right it just takes dragging something down the bead and the slag comes right off if it hasn't fallen off already.

I think your problem was in the order of the welding in combination with the location, and distance of the weld. from the sounds of it, the long side of the die holder warped. causing the center of the long side to bow in on the die itself, correct? this was caused by welding the U shaped holder onto the long side of the holder. The heat, and subciquent shrinkage of the welded area pulled the outside of the long section together causing the inside to curve in. Welding the U onto the long section before welding the sections of the holder together would have helped prevent this. also welding the U onto the short side of the holder would have also helped. In addition, using shorter welds to minimize the heat imput into the material would have also helped.

that site could equate to some very unique Blacksmithing hammers. to bad I don't have a woodlathe..... yet. The next house is going to have a big shop. with three sections. one for working on and storing automotive/atv projects, a wood working section, and a metal working section. I'm thinking 30'x60' and potentially having a great room above with games and stuff for the kids. we'll see.

you don't need a huge forge to get the job done. infact the smaller ones are more efficient. using less fuel to get to temp.

I wouldn't call myself an experienced Blacksmith, but I've never gotten a blister from hammering. My thoughts would be either use good leather gloves that are properly sized for your hand. it should be snug, not loose. there is a reason there is the saying "it fits like a glove" Costco has decent leather gloves in a 3 pack for like $19 that work great for me for all kinds of work. other than gloves you need to work on how you hold the hammer and how said hammer fits your hand. the location of your blister is odd. that part of my hand never touches the handle at all. Shaping the handle to fit your hand. or just plain making your own handles that are specific to the way you like to hold the hammer would be a place to look. also you may want to adjust how you hold the hammer. if you hold it loose, tighten your grip. If you hold it tight. loosen it.

gotta love it when a plan comes together.

no need to weld. sheet metal, and angle iron and either bolts or rivots could make that square section. than just add some high heat sealant or tape to keep the smoke/fumes in the pipe and you're good to go.

bed rails will work for this, but it's a PITA to weld with. very inconsistent and brittle at times but for this should work fine.

Just get something solid and heavy. Smiths used Rocks for a millenia. So long as it's heavy and solid and has a decent flat spot that you have easy access too and can beat on you're fine. You don't need a Horn, or for that matter a hardy or pritchel. what you need are a flat spot and some angles. Through in some ingenuity and you're off to the races.

Yes.

Charles, it's the eddy (sp?) effect. Think of a river and the water flowing down it is the wind. as the water goes around an obstical it creates and eddy in the slack behind the obsticle drawing things into it like floating branches leaves, ects. the same effect happens as the wind goes around an obsticle. thats why they use water tunels for aerodynamic testing. They can use dies in the water to see the eddy effect if there is any. I don't have a lot of wind, and I'm working right next to my shop which acts as a wind break so I don't have a lot of issues with the smoke/fumes not going straight up.

I should clarify. There is only smoke when there is green coal put on the fire. But there are still fumes. I make it a point to stay out of them. Having a chimney would get them up and away from me. but that would also reduce the portablilty of my set up and I can't see myself doing that right now.

No need. I've got 16 guage steel for my top. no point in making it heavier that it needs to be. Just support your brake drum under neith and you'll be fine.

I don't use anything on my outdoor forge. There is only smoke when green coal is first light. after that you can't see the smoke, but you can smell it.

We have similar problems at work. Can't find something until we start complaining about it than it pops right up on the screen. Glad you found what you were looking for.

that tan substance is clinkers. though just not as much as you might get with coal. Just look at the "dealing with clinkers thread and the clinker that Glenn posted (pg2).

but if I used the blower I've got forging temps in 5 so where's the benefit?

My $0.02 for what it's worth. I'm an avid hobby welder and build just about everything myself. That being said. I would lose the bottom skirting. Save the material for something more useful. I would build a frame of steel angle iron. (ditch the wood 2x4's all together.) This way you should be able to bolt the "table" together. your 1/8" top is plenty thick espeically if you're using a brake drum as the fire pot.(Note: you'll want some support for the brake drum just to minimize the weight on the 1/8" top to prevent possible warping over time) Removing the skirting also eliminates the weird angle caused by it. Having the table frame made from angle iron will also allow you to add tool hangers to it allowing you to keep your tongs close at hand. I'm assuming you're planning on adding some sort of stack to the top of your hood, if you're not, it's pretty much pointless to have it there. I work outside with a brake drum forge and no stack or hood and I haven't found a need for a wind break so if you don't need the blue pannel I'd save that as well. 1/8" plate will get pretty heavy pretty quickly so if you need this to be moveable, the less plate you can use the better.

If you can't find a 30 gal you could always turn the two 55's into a DBS wood fired smoker. I love the one I made. Sorry, I'm not in your area so I'm not help in finding materials for ya.