Irondragon Forge ClayWorks

If you were in Miami Florida and said that the police would be knocking on your door, looking for your stash of coke.

Great find and chain because one can never have enough chain.

We took the propane tank that we are making a forge out of to a friends and my wife used their Miller plasma cutter to open it up. She said we gotta get one of those. Soooo a trip to Welsco and a Victor Cutmaster 42 with an SL60 torch + accessories followed us home. Used it to cut up a bunch of material into more easily handled pieces in about 2 hours (would have taken all day with the O/A cutting torch) and cut up the metal for our pack forge retro fire pot & hearth. It's like a hot knife through butter, probably never fire up the O/A torch again.

If you put your location in your profile, you may be surprised how many Smiths are near enough to visit. You are right about learning here. I have been at this for 30 years and I learn-relearn stuff just about every time I visit here.

Should work fine. One guy I know built a dirt box forge using 5/8 crushed lime stone with a lot of fine dust in it. He used it for years with lump charcoal.

Without a doubt it's a good looking and should do anything asked of it. Had to chuckle about the ash dump plug because when I built my forge decades ago I too planned to replace the plug with an ash dump door. I'm still unscrewing that sucker after all those years.

If it were me, in my area, I would offer him $300 unless the blower works well, then $350 would be a good price even though it needs some work. If he sends more pictures look for any cracks in the table or ask him about that.

This is the tuyere plate the fire pot sits on.

The brackets that the tuyere & blower attach to.

Everything except the retro fire pot fit neatly inside.

Ready to go traveling.

The underside of the retro fit.

17 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Just a guess, but the original intention may have been that the smith would add a few shovelsful of dirt when setting up at each new location. That would insulate the bottom without creating additional weight that would have to be transported everywhere.

That was my thought too, dirt or river clay. Anyplace I would set up dirt or clay is not usually available so I would have to haul it too. The raised hearth & fire pot works well, not any heat is transferred to the bottom sheet metal. I'll just transport the retro fit separately.

The retrofit handles are a good idea, that way if the fire pot is still hot it will speed up breaking down.

13 hours ago, turbo7 said:

Did you cut the hole for the fire pot? What was there before?

The hearth table already had the hole cut. It was 1/4 inch scrap from another project and odd shaped that had to have scrap fillers welded in. The picture just before the retro fit fire pot is how I received it. The tuyere is held in by a plate and brackets underneath but doesn't protect the box bottom which is thinner from the heat of the fire and without a fire pot it would take a huge pile of coal to get a decent fire. The fire pot itself is a reclaimed wheelbarrow wheel with the hub cut out and it sits on the tuyere plate. To remove the retro fit, I shovel any coal from the hearth and the ash & coke fall out when it's lifted then swept up. I'll take some more pictures of the underside.

About a decade ago I picked up this pack forge. I had never put a fire in it until today. It is in good shape and the Champion blower puts out great air and runs smooth. The reason I hadn't lit it up was there was no fire pot with it and I couldn't find much information about it or if they even had fire pots. Today I decided to fabricate a fire pot and table that's removable and it sure will maintain a nice hot fire. Now we have a self contained forge to take anywhere. If anyone has information or pictures of these pack forges I would love to see them.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2125ymo.jpg

Note photos added at the last page.

Poor fitting tongs. While at a monthly BOA meeting my wife was working on a knife blade with a borrowed pair of tongs that did not grip the work very well. Of course it popped out of the tongs and landed in the pocket of the members apron who was working next to her. Luck was with them because most of the heat had cooled and no damage done but the dance was amusing to watch.

I have been very fortunate in the forge, no serious injuries to speak of. Minor ones include holes poked in hands & elbows from sharp metal (Bandaid types) and one burn when a very hot piece of slag while welding burned through the top of my tennis shoe (leather boots from then on).

When I'm making something for myself, I usually settle for good enough, It'll work. When making for someone else, I try to make it to the best of my ability.

Good job cleaning and seasoning those old cast iron pans. The one that is shaped like a platter would be perfect for baking fresh trout in. Yummm

If you go to the forges and fires sticky, the first post shows the ideal fire and how to maintain it.

The trade item at the BOA meeting tomorrow is something made from a horse shoe. Thought I would kill two birds with one hammering. Made this from a small pony shoe this afternoon.

I have been known to get out in the forge in my Pj's with my leather apron on. Of course I live way out in the woods so no neighbors to impress.

Old Arkansas joke. A couple had promised the BIL he could name their child who was about to be born. He chose Deniece if a girl and Denephew if a boy.

I would go with Mikey98118 and buy the Chile Forge, if I were in the market. Too many that have a Forgemaster are less that happy with them.

My prescription bi-focal glasses are made from a poly-carbonate material that is rated as ballistic with a special coating. I don't remember the manufacture but every time I get a new prescription my eye care center has the record of them. I have had some pretty hard impacts on them over the last 10-15 years both on the range and forge with no damage.

While building the forge other ideas pop up, like using it outside to prevent fires in the smithy.  Then having to move the propane tank from the other side of the garage and building a cart for the forge from a cannibalized BBQ that someone had dumped on our road. The last several days took up those projects. Had to get a load of crushed limestone to level the land outside the smithy door so we can use the forge outside then step through the door to the anvil's and power hammer. The next project is to replace the chicken house curtains a storm tore up.

On 4/7/2017 at 5:58 PM, EnglishDave said:

That is exactly why I have set up my forge outside in the backyard where the only thing likely to catch fire is my beard

Take it from one who has experience with gas kiln's, eyebrows, mustaches and hair on arms & head will burn as quick as the beard. I learned from experience you can't dodge a propane fire ball.

On 4/4/2017 at 2:31 AM, Caleb.B said:

Some backstory, right now I do have a stump for my stake anvil but it's lopsided and too short for me I was wondering if you guys had any ideas for a new anvil stand construction or where I could possibly get a new stump

I have 3 or 4 large stumps from a tree we had to cut down, all of them would work for an anvil stand. You are welcome to your pick, just bring a friend and truck they are heavy.

My wife is the potter of the family and understands all that stuff about kilns, kiln washes, rigidizer's, clay properties, Satanite, Kaowool, and on and on. Stuff that's over my head or goes in one ear and out the other. The solution we came up with is she will be in charge of what goes inside of the forge and I for what goes on the outside.

Speaking of sucker rod, back in the late 80s someone had put a lot of it cut up into 4 ft. pieces in the cities scrap metal bin. I had permission to scavenge all I wanted from the bin and at the time I was driving a Honda CRX. I loaded all the rod and cut off ends into the CRX and headed home with the front wheels almost off the ground. When I got home I weighed the lot and it came to 400 lbs. no wonder the CRX gave a sigh of relief when I unloaded it. I still have a lot of it left.