Jealdi

I've really been enjoying apple wood in my wood fired pizza oven.

Yeah, I figured the price difference between 12, 18, and 24 inches was so minimal. And it helps a bit with my air from the little battery operated mattress pump I think. Tossed a cheap ball valve on the end of the pipe, matches up with the pump nicely.

Having only just recently started this myself (fired up my JABOD for the second time ever last night), I'd for sure advise trying one of those out to see if the hobby sticks. If you have to buy dirt, can always buy kitty litter like Charles used in his Mark III JABOD (I copied that one myself, works nicely). I originally built mine with scrap wood around the house, but those boards were a little too big so I ended up buying an 8 foot 2x8 and making a 2'x2' box with some 1x12 for the bottom of the box. Put it on top of a cheap HF rolling cart and it's just about perfect height for me, and easily portable. I'd recommend going through the JABOD threads and getting some ideas of what will work in your area.

I'm using a piece of 3/4" "black pipe" from the box store. The pipe itself is right at 1" as the hole I drilled was 1" and I just had to sand it a little to get the pipe to slide in smoothly. Knowing these are consumable in the long run, I picked up a 24" pipe so that as it burns up, I can hopefully just slide it in further until it gets too short and needs replaced. I was definitely happy with it last night. Just to see how well it was working, I managed to heat up a piece of mower blade I got in a bundle with my rail road rail. Was able to get that up to a soft yellow in a fairly good time and flatten it out a little. Was getting too close to the end of the night though, or I would have put a little more fuel in the fire and tried to see what I could do with it. Probably be my goal for next time I fire it up.

I don't "need" one. Just figured it would be something to make for working on some hammer skills. I'll grab some photos next time I'm working with it. I don't have a great one of it empty. But I'll post the one I do have.

Nothing fancy. Fired up my forge for the second time ever. Working on what I hope will eventually be a coal rake and a handle to put around a sprinkle can.

Welcome! I've been in a similar boat. I finally built a JABOD and have an improvised anvil. Super easy to do both and a great way to get started without breaking the bank.

$3.20 USD per lb is still pretty good price for a Soderfors is my understanding from what I've read on here lately. Sounds like you might have a nice little start!

If that price is $3.20 in Norwegian Krone and not USD... it's about $0.36 USD per lb....

Fortunately it's just sitting in my storeroom right now since I don't have a 220 hookup. I'll look into replacing it before I ever use it.

Good to know. Thanks for the input guys. Rockstar, I assume you are talking about the wire on the grinder with that statement, yes?

Picked this up from a guy a while back. It's just been sitting in my garage for a few weeks now as I'm trying to find an electrician to run 220 into the garage so I can use it. I think I'm a long way from actually needing something like this, but the price seemed good. The motor on it currently sells for $175 at HF. Debating if I should keep it and keep looking for an electrician to wire up 220 or just see if I can sell it off for at least what I paid for it.

I think I need a few more bricks so that I don't have to buy more litter right away. But otherwise I think it is ready. Two 35lb tubs of litter and 8 bricks. Box is 2x8 cut down to make a 24 inch square.

Sadly I'm currently having to tear down between uses.

So I tinkered a bit this evening. My boards I had on hand were too big (2x12). Might go buy a 2x8 tomorrow as well as some kitty litter since my dirt was super loose. Still gotta figure out how to chip some spot out of my brick for the tuyere too. Dirt kept falling in since I didn't have brick there. The daylight picture is when I first fired up. The dark picture is after I had turned my air off to shut down for the evening. I managed to flatten out about 2.5 inches of 3/8" round bar to start working on a rake, but that was all I got done tonight before it was getting too late to be pounding steel in the driveway.

What was the length on the first rake vs the second?

Yeah. I saw that earlier in this thread. Figured once I get things going with this set, I'd go get some more and get them nice and dried out so I'd have them ready for next time.

Luckily for me this friend has probably 50 of them just sitting in a pile. Said I can have as many as I want!

A buddy of mine messaged me yesterday and said if these don't work out, he's got some firebrick I can have. So that's my next step if these do not work.

I did some brief online searching yesterday at work... seems almost impossible to find "new" red clay bricks. Everything is cement or concrete now. I think the ones I got last night will be good. I made sure to only grab ones that did not have the holes in the center. Grabbed 8 of them, hopefully will get some time this evening to get into the garage and work on it. I did try building a small fire just in the wife's garden bed last night sans brick to test out my tuyere and blower. I think it will work nicely. Will get photos if I get any build time this evening.

Old coworker of mine had some solid red bricks in their backyard from when an old school building was torn down several years ago. They appear to be clay brick, so I took a handful home. going to see if I can build something up tonight or tomorrow. Gotta check my wood stock and see what I've got that I can use for a box. Probably just steal some dirt out of the wife's raised garden since it's empty right now.

It could probably benefit from a stitch if you really want one... otherwise super glue/butterfly strips and resting it for a few days to let the wound closure heal up enough to stay closed will work... but yes, there will be a bit of a scar. Moreso than if it gets a few stitches, but from the photo it does not look deep enough to really cause any issues. Keep it as clean and dry as possible for the next 5-7 days if you don't stitch it and it should be ok.

Couldn't find where it said what they were made of. All of the solid ones said concrete, which I knew was not good. I'll keep looking.

Nope. There are quite a few topics on solid fuels here on the forum. They all say no to BBQ briquettes. Lump Charcoal (purchased or make your own charcoal), coal, coke for solid fuels. Think I even saw a thread or two where folks were started out with raw wood even. Just takes longer as you have to burn it down to charcoal to forge.

Charles, Is this the type of brick you are using? Want to make sure it is the right stuff. Remove commercial add.