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.