williamtd

Welshj 

Hi I'm not quite sure what you are referring to the table is 3/16th thick and the firepot is 3/8th both held up with no visible damage the firepot did glow and scale slightly but I think that was paint coming off or something no doubt that time will tell, I think 1/4in on its own will be to thin,  the first forge I built was made using the top of a gas cylinder which at its 1/4in and that was glowing bright orange and scaling badly despite having an under powered blower. My advice would be to try and get thicker plate if you can if not I have heard of people lining the firepot with clay. 

Because the table is a bit thinner than I would have liked I over sized the hole for the firepot so that the table wasn't in direct contact. The forge did get hot quickly 5/16th Square bar was up to forging temp within seconds. I hope this helps if you have any questions just ask. 

William 

Fired up the new forge for the first time yesterday and discovered the bug. 4 hours later and my first pair of tongs are finished they are still a bit rough and need to be wire brushed but I'm pleased. I've also included a photo of a cold chisel (far left) made from a masonry chisel, a bottom fuller and a hardy hole chisel (well pritchel hole), the last 2 made from an sds masonry chisel 

Jhcc

Thanks I will definitely attach one to my forge 

Thomas powers 

The gate idea is brilliant thanks 

Thomas powers 

I plan to do everything from small gate  hooks to forge welding, heavy stable door hinges for horses to bladesmithing. 

4 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

 the firepot looks a bit narrow and deep for my tastes for using bituminous coal.

The firepot is 8in x 10in and 5in deep, for the fuel I'll be using coke beans 

No sorry 

Maybe I've been designing it for about 6 months and using YouTube, pinterest and Google searches for ideas. 

My new solid fuel forge. 

The table is 2ft x 3ft made from a sheet of 3/16 (4mm) mild steel, for the lip I used 4in x 3in angle iron to both support the table, provide a lip and allow me to bolt the top assembly to the legs which are made from 2in x 2in angle. 

For the firepot I used 3/8th plate welded along the edges with a 4in square hole in the base I then welded a 1/2in plate over the bottom and cut out a 3in square hole for the ash dump/ air intake, for the ash dump I used 3in square tube and 2in square tube for the air pipe cut to 2 x 45° angles so that I had a gentle 90° (which is better for air flow). Because of slope from air pipe into the ash dump I added a mini dump/inspection port at base of the turn on the air pipe. For the blower I'm going to use a 1800w hair dryer until I find something more permanent. 

At the bottom I have also put pictures of my homemade anvil she weighs about 150lb and is made from 2 x 1and 5/8th plates bolted together 

Comments and criticisms are welcome 

Pnut OK I will, thanks again for your help. 

William 

Pnut 

Hi yup I ended up about 3in of clay all the way around, the blower was a squirrel cage type from the scrapyard oh and I forgot to mention that the grate melted (it was from a toaster grill) 

Thomas powers why not get a couple of apprentices /slaves in. Lol haha

Thomas powers 

Wow fascinating bit of history thanks 

William 

Thomas powers 

OK thanks

Hi Pnut 

The main reason I would prefer it to be overpowered is that my first forge was an absolute disaster (1) the firepot was to thin and started to glow cherry red (2) the blower was so weak it was almost a fortnight (3) the table held almost no fuel + no lip so all the beans fell off (4)the firepot was made from a gas cylinder and I went through 20kg of coke for nothing, now I've fixed everything but the blower. I hope this explains a lot. 

William 

Thomas powers 

No I've never heard of them 

ThomasPowers

Oh right, I only fired my first forge up once before deciding to rebuild so I know next to nothing about blacksmithing, I've been learning from watching black bear forge on YouTube. 

William 

Hi pnut I'm using coke beans they are somewhere between 1/2 and 1 cubic inch so quite small. 

William 

Hi pnut thanks for the reply that's great, I've included photos of the air valve basically it works by redirecting air away from the forge, I got the idea from a YouTube channel called df in the shop. The valve is spring loaded to the gate fully shut and tightening the screw opens the baffle allows air in to the forge.

William 

Hi I am building my first proper coal forge and I am a bit stuck with the air flow / pressure. My firepot is 8in x 10in and 5in deep and what I want to know is will 2x 1800w hair dryers be suitable for general forging and may be a little welding. I will be burning coke beans. 

Thanks in advance 

William 

That's great thanks for the input. 

William 

That makes sense I thought beans were the type of coke. I've had a look at the website and the beans measure 10mm(3/8)x18mm(3/4)approx 

I'm not quite sure, on the website they are labelled as coke forge beans if it helps I am in the UK 

OK thanks sorry for posting twice I didn't realise the first post went live I thought I had made a mistake. 

I've just started building a new coal forge and I was wondering about blower size, I have found one the motor is 60w, airflow 176 c meters/h or 103cfm and the pressure is 280pa. Is this suitable? 

I'm just getting started building a coal forge and I have found a blower, the motor is 60w, airflow 176 c meter/h or 103cfm and finally the pressure is 280 pascal. What I want to know is will this fan be suitable, the firepot measures 6inx8in by 5.5in deep made from 3/8in or 10mm plate steel. Also will 3/16in (4mm) be thick enough for the table which will measure 2ftx3ft.

Thanks in advance