Hi. First post here, I guess this might have already been asked or talked about before, but I've searched and read and not really seen any examples of what I am thinking of.
I was looking at making my own forge for use with coke and perhaps charcoal, since for me it wold be simpler to manufacture and weld a forge fire pit from thick steel than it is to tackle a gas forge build and I like the idea of the solid fuel forge as well.
Now a bottom blast forge looks real simple and easy to build to me so I was leaning towards building one of those. Then I read that side blast forges have many advantages too, such as having more control over the fire and also working better with charcoal. From what I read a bottom blast forge will tend to go through the charcoal really fast becaue the oxygen stream c omes from the bottom and goes through the whole pile more easilt, whereas a side blast can be tuned down more and the air blast isn't aimed directly at the center mass of the coal fire. I dunno how true all this is, just what I reading on these forums. But it sounds interesting and I got the impression the side blast is what was traditionally used with older charcoal forges in the past.
So I started looking at side blast designs but I am a bit deflated looking at those designs, they seem to use a lot of mass, sand or firebricks and whatnot. I am looking to make a portable forge that I can wheel outside for forging, it will also sit in an uninsulated building so the water jacket isn't really sounding that great either, it gets real cold here in Finland.
Is there a reason I couldn't make a side blast furnace much like you'd make a bottom blast one from solid steel and no water jacket or massive insulation? In my head I was thinking a portable forge, a bottom blast design but just a different style of fire pit. I am imagening welding it up from say 10-12mm thick steel and just making one wall straight instead of sloping, then putting the air inlet on that wall. I tried to mock up something in paint, I could make something in CAD but not sure it's worth the effort if this is a dead end. Which I am kinda thinking because nobody else seems to have made it like this.
This is sorta like a bottom blast design, even has an ash dump / clinker breaker on the bottom, but the air inlet is on the side and that wall is made straight. I am wondering if this design doesn't work because it will blast air on the sloped forward surface and eat through even 10-12mm steel plate? Perhaps it's not possible to make a mobile forge on wheels with a side blast design? Or do you guys have any suggestions, should I go with a bottom blast or try to get a side blast forge?