DennisCA

Thanks guys, I got it home today and I could take some closer pictures

Was it painted red some time in it's life or just got splashed with some paint I wonder.

Lengthwise it's not flat

Crowned across the side here

But in others it's dished.

Difficult to read the year or anything else really but I don't think it's from the 19th century. I think it reads 191? instead.

It was pretty rusty so I rubbed it down with some boiled linseed oil. I am not sure if I should put it in the electrolysis bath or not, or just leave it as is.

I hope to be picking this one up tomorrow, will be my first anvil, is 69kg or 150lbs, Swedish made in the 1800s says the seller, Söderfors.

You could probably control the fan speed with a PWM. Or just a sliding gate.

JHCC you are correct I will have a separate container for the water that I will connect to with hose. Might run it with an electric pump or on the thermosiphon principle (self circulation, use the same at work on heaters for wooden hot tubs). I've been wondering if I should make the base of the firepot larger and have less of a slope on the walls, and instead fill in with bentonite clay for insulation and to get it a bit more like a traditional side blast forge. You suggest 18x18" but that would be basically as large as the surface of the forge in this case. The top of this pot is 225 x 245mm wide or 9x10 inches (roughly).

Here is a sectional view showing the inside of the tuyere:

I did find a company in the north of Finland that sells coke in "big bags", 860 euros for .85 metric tons + shipping. I am hoping me and this other guy could find a 3rd or 4th person and we could split one of these big bags. Assuming three people, how long would 620lbs of coke last you guys?

I'd ideally be using coke if I can find it. I was imagening using charcoal on occasion though. But it's pretty difficult to get hold of good fuel. 50 euros for a 50lbs bag of coke (1600 euros for  metric ton), or 40 euros for a sack of bituminous coal (big lumps so they gotta be broken up), seems to be one company left in the whole country which can supply coal. Or at least the only one who bothers putting it on the internet. If it's gonna be impossible to source coke I am not sure I will build a coal forge. I would be willing to try coal but I got neighbors and I think it could be an issue.

At any rate I did design a welded steel pot closer to my first idea just to get a "taste" of what it could look like. But I went and made the air inlet water jacketed and I designed it from using bits and pieces I got in my shop, like square tubing for the water jacket. Inlet diameter is 20mm or bit bigger than 3/4" and it sits two inches below the top. But I am still thinking a design with sand or clay is better since the pot can shaped and reshaped as needed even if it's heavier.

The inlet pipe (bottom) goes almost the whole way to the back wall so cold water is delivered to where it'll be warmest. Also tilted 2 degrees since it's not tapered.

I find I work a lot better when I can experiment in 3D first, when I try and do complicated stuff from the hip, it usually ends up as trash.

I am seriously considering going the BBQ route to start with. Like this:

I did say it wasn't complete earlier.

I draw the simple stuff first to get an idea of the whole. The tuyere is the most complex part and I am not even sure how exactly I want it to look yet. But ok.

I thought it was the air inlet size which determined that, the rest of the size was just down to the water jacket. Mind you in the picture, it's not complete. Just the outer casing, a rough draft.

I was wondering about how heavy it would become loaded up. And if one could have used hollow core fire bricks to help reduce the weight.  But a steel deck model would be a lot lighter. I can certainly draw up plans for both. I think I could make a steel version with a water jacket even.

There is no hurry I don't have a building to keep anything smithing related in, yet. Today I cast part of the foundation for it, using a mixer and doing it myself, so can't do it all in one go.

Well I got this far on a sketch to get a general idea of what I might want. It's 450x700mm in size, took the size from a PDF I saw referenced in one of the links. Need to work on the tuyere, not sure what design I will go with but I think making a water cooled one won't be that much trouble, begun work on a square tapered one. Angle iron and 3mm (1/8th) steel plate construction.

Joshua De Lisle had an interesting design he used in a BBQ based side blast forge which was welded from stainless steel, looked quite doable as well. I wonder if bentonite clay is better than sand though, from what I understand it sets up a bit more firmly when fired but can be wetted and remolded.

I might have problems sourcing fuel though, in my area of the country it seems difficult to get coke or coal. 

I kind of prefer the idea of a separate tank over that of a bosh, that way the tank can be separate and moved on it's own, making the forge lighter and smaller. Also less of the forge walls has to be in contact with the water so the rust issue should be reduced.

Thanks guys! Those pictures look very promising. Also looks like someone put in my location while I was  sleeping.  That forge by Mr Stevens looks a lot like what I had imagined, though I figured the inlet would be placed higher and the pit might be deeper so the clinker can sink below the air inlet.

I was burning the midnight oil and watching some interesting videos last night, Joshua Delisle here has a "demo model" with water jacket that looks like it could be made to be mobile with some large wheels also looks simple to build. I am also reading that an advantage of the water jacketed tueyre is the clinker won't stick to it. I am wondering now if it's worth making it a little heavier to have the water cooled tuyere like he shows. I only need it to be mobile enough that it can be wheeled out and back in without too much trouble. Don't need to travel with it.

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?