RandyJ

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Randy, your ball valve probably cost more than 10 forges I have built.  You didn't need a ball valve;  just cutting a slot in a piece of PVC pipe and sliding a tapered piece of scrap sheet metal would have worked fine and cost US$0

So if money is an issue STOP SPENDING IT and ask how to do something first! Doing stuff when you don't know what you are doing is not the way to get a good working system on the cheap!  (Too much trial and error involved...)

oh no man. I did not buy the $90 one. That would have been crazy for what I am building. I bought a $9 dollar pvc one.

Thanks for the clarification Charles. Thanks again everyone. I will feel alot better when I clay my forge.

Thanks for the clarification Frosty. I was pretty sure thats what 8" meant, but I wanted to be sure. As for not needing a refactory mix, I allready got the ingredients (perlite, silica sand, and fire clay). So, I might as well us it.

2 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

With charcoal it's just a gental breeze. You will need to either vent extra air or install a valve of some kind. Also you only need about 6" of fire ball, so about 8" of fuel pile. Anything bigger and your waisting fuel.  

I installed a ball valve to throttle my air supply. Had to use a pvc one or spend $90+ (that would have gotten me into a fair amount of trouble). I think that it will be far enough away to prevent damage. when you say 8" pile is that including the firepot. After reading these posts I was thinking about around 5" on the depth. I hadnt thought about using firebrick to increase depth if needed. On the other hand, if I need it shallower I still have some extra refractory mix.

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

I considered going side blast. Unfortunately, at this point I am committed to bottom blast. So what I understand is that I need to go a bit deeper than a coal forge firepot; I do remember reading this somewhere. I plan on using it to make tools, hooks, etc. and possibly knifes down the road. I am using a 24" charcoal dome bbq. My air source is a blowdryer. I kind of had to work with minimal spending (hard to justify spending money on a forge to my wife. I'm using a 2 inch diameter pipe for my air supply. I read that high air volume with low pressure was the goal. I dont know if these detauls help any.

I am new to blacksmithing, and I just started to make my second forge. This one will be a significant upgrade from my last one; it was cheap and started to break down after a few uses. I am in the process of claying it, but I have no idea how deep to make my firepot. It is a bottom blast forge, has a 2 inch pipe for air supply, and uses charcoal as its fuel source. Any help will be appreciated.