Mateus Kern

Thankfully everyone is okay and even the pets were able rescued. Who xxxxxxxx thinks that "a bigger fire" and "close to the house" together is a good idea? While I have a disdain for more regulations. This kind of moron almost makes me think that a license is not bad of a idea.

Tried but just got those plastic blowers... I searched with french / portuguese keywords but not with english keyboards... <facepalm> Thank you!

Picked up this hand crank blower. It's working really well, no broken parts or strangers sounds and it moves smoothly. Although I bought it here in Brazil, the ad said it was imported.

Yeah I know, but the piece of RR track I got will gave me a "usable" surface of 3cmX10cm if I put in on the vertical. That's seems like a really small work surface. Over thinking is what I do best! To have the I-beam web directly under the web of the RR track is why I thought of use an I-beam instead a steel tube for the base. But overthinking a little bit more, It seems I am better of using the money of the I-beam in something like a 4" by 6" of round stock and use it instead of RR track. Thanks everyone for the help!

I was planning on just putting a piece of rail road that I found on my grandfather's shed and put in on tree stump and call it a day. But reading the Anvilfire article on RR Anvils and this thread I found out that a RR Anvil on the horizontal are not that good. Fortunately, this thread and the article gave me an idea, that I really hope will work, of using an I-beam with two plates welded in each end: One to provide a way to bolt the RR Anvil to the base and other to provide a good base to the ground (I will be putting it in a 8cm (3inch) deep whole so it has contact with a more compacted soil and has a bit of support so it will not tip to the side). This base would add about 16kgs (35lbs) to the anvil. The I-beam is 152cm (6") x 9.1cm(3.5"), the outer walls are 9.1mm (0.35") and the middle wall is 11.8mm (1/2"). Here is a quick sketch to make things clear: Is my idea will really gonna improve the RR anvil or it will end up being just a gimmick?

yep, I'll be burning charcoal.

Well, I don't have any wood ashes in hand (haven't made a barbecue in quite a while, have to fix that soon!) so I will use some construction sand that I have. And you were right, I dig up a small hole and after the top layer I see something that looks like red clay, looks like I have whole lot of digging in my feature... Thank you!

I decided to go with a bigger tuyere because it's less work to make it smaller than is to make it bigger afterwards, but since charcoal uses less air, I will go with 3/4". Oh, now it makes sense on why not use plaster of paris, thank you for the answer! Yeah, I will have to deal with the cats every now and then (I know I will forget to cover the forge). Thank you again! One more for the series "things that my country are quite famous about and I didn't know"! I have to do some digging to see if I can get some clayish material. I will be right thinking that it's ok to mix up some sand with the clay?

Hello everyone, After a good time lurking this forum I decided to finally to build my very own box of dirt! I will follow Charles Stevens' design: 60cm (~24") square box that is 20cm (8") high. The bowl being 15cm(6") at the top and 5cm (2") at the bottom. The tuyere has diameter of 4.5cm (1 3/4") and will sit 3cm (1 1/4") above the bottom of the bowl. And will use charcoal as the fuel. I will be making two 30x50cm (11"x20") bellows as I cannot find a manual blower at a reasonable price. As for the dirt I was thinking of using some fire bricks that I have laying around and a 50/50 mixture of plaster of paris and sand to but, I see some people saying it's not a good option for a forge. I thought that a forge fire will not get that much hotter in the outside of the charcoal pile, because I see some people using it for a casting furnace, and so I thought it is a good option for lining the forge. And I do not want to use just sand, because the neighborhood cats will end up using it as a toilet. Unfortunately, other kinds of dirt are not a option at the moment. And thankfully plaster of paris is relatively cheap, the price of a cup of coffee for a bag of 1kg (2.2lbs). I will be making woodworking related tools and hardware: Chisels, plane irons, hinges, pulls and so on. A hatched and holdfast being the biggest things a can think of I making on this forge. Taking all of this in consideration, is my forge plan ok? Or is too big/small? Also, can someone say how much charcoal it will use per hour, so I know if a need to order a larger quantity instead of picking a few 5kg bags at the grocery store. Thank you for your attention.