Shovelhead666

So much help. Really, thank you all! I'll post updates soon.

Thanks for the replies. And Thanks for the new leads Daswulf and ThomasPowers. That was fast. Can't beat a forum. But I have been using the clean out wide open as an air flow reducer. Didn't reduce it enough. But being an electrician, a simple vari speed pot, dimmer or rheostat, will hinder the life of the motor, and a cheap freq drive just doesn't really exist. So I'm going to install the brake drum as my next step, and then put a slide in the air intake to use as a door valve to resist air flow to a better speed. I appreciate all the help. Thanks guys.

Hey everyone. New to the site, and new to the forging world. I've been doing my best with the information I can get, and with not knowing a single person around me that blacksmiths, I am limited on some very important advice. Long story short I built a forge out of what I could get a hold of. I have some pictures below. I started with a 2 inch area with hole drilled for airflow, but the area of hot coal was to small. I cut that wide open as you can see, to use the plate I fabbed up with 3/4" legs to make space for air flow from the 2" hole underneath. I run the furnace blower I have with the ash clean out all the way open, and I'm still burning around 15 lbs of coal in far too short of time. About 40 mins. Which even as a new guy, seems far too high. Also cannot achieve welding heat. I'm looking for tips on how to move forward. Is the airfeed too wide of an area? Not deep enough? Too much air flow cooling my temperatures? Better to bolt a brake drum over the hole and throw out the plate addition? Anything will help. I can't follow through with my first project with out welding heat. Thanks in advance, and apologies for anything extremely obvious that I missed, very green to this whole process.