Jreed

Hair dryer puts out too much air for charcoal---try it with the dump cap *off* and see if that makes it a better mannered beast.

I solved that problem long ago. I just choke the intake for the hair drier with duct tape.

Dillon
Yes the drum just sits in the hole. As to it coking I couldn't tell you I have only used charcoal and anthracite coal in it. I imagine that it would do just fine.

Have you thought of solar? You can run the lights off of a car battery that is recharged with a small solar panel.

Here is how I put my break drum forge together. My link

Well I have been improving my set up. I got tired of being hunched over on the ground it was killing my back. So it was time to make an ergonomic change. I took the drum lid and cut a hole in the center with my trusty Dremel big enough for the brake drum to fit into allowing the lip of it to rest on the lid. Then I went to the local handy dandy Home Depot and picked up 3 1/2 floor flanges and 3 1/2X30 threaded nipples to act as table legs an bolted them up to the under side of the lid. The next part of the project was how to feed air to the fire pot. First I had to come up with an air supply so off I go to the local Goodwill store were I was able to get a second hand hair dryer for $5. Then down the road to the plumbing supply store for the fittings. I got two 2"X6" threaded nipples, One 2"X4" threaded nipple, One 2" Tee, One 2" floor flange, and One 2" pipe cap (note all peices are black iron the use of galvanized parts subjected to high temps gives off toxic fumes that can kill you :shock:) .

To put it all together. First off I had to drill new holes in the flange as the break drum is of a 5 lug set up and the flange only has 4 holes. After that it was just a mater of bolting the flange to the drum and screwing all the rest of the parts to the flange (I wont go into detail the pics explain it).

I lit it up to check function HOLY MOSSES this thing really gets hot fast. This is a night and day difference from the old forge. The old set up worked but it was a kin to a 4 cylinder this thing is a ticked off V8 HEMI. Well enough of my rambling on to the pics.
Here it is all put together ready to go.
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A shot of the underside to show how all the fittings mate together.
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Inside the firebox. I made the grate out of a piece of sheet metal.
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Flame on The hair dryer is on its lowest setting I found out quick that putting it on high sends flaming coals 3' in the air
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Here is a railroad spike that I am turning into a small tomahawk for my youngest.
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That is slick
Did you figure that out on your own? Weather you did or not doesn't matter it came out looking great.

Looks good. Is that a speed limit sign?

I would let it dry for several days before firing. I did a clay liner and fired it before it was dry it cracked so bad I had to tear it out and redo it.

Ron thanks I have never had much use for 4X4's so didn't realize that they were center cut. That being the case as long as they are all cut centered on the heart then no it wouldn't much mater as the grain would all be rings.

John Thanks for the pictures that was most helpful. I noticed that some don't have a full circle of grain and in those they are laid so that the grain opposes that of the one next to it. When I finally retire and Uncle Sam isn't moving me around anymore I think this would make for a cool shop floor.

Thanks all

Blocks are laid so that you walk on the end grain.

Glenn I understand that it is end grain up. What I am trying to figure out is if you oppose the end grain from block to block the way you flip the end grain between boards when joining them together to make a wider board to limit warping. Or do you just run the end grain lined up?

Dodge
Yep Still on active duty. Got 5 more years till I hit 20. I have never been there but we are looking forward to it.

John
Thanks for the info. I will most definitely sign up for the news letter.

Yes does anyone have any pic's of these floors? I never ran across anything like this growing up out west. When laying the blocks I imagine that you lay them with the grain running at 90 degrees to the block next to it to limit expansion and contraction is this correct?

Yesteryearforge Havlock is SE of Newbern I may have to get up there and check y'all out.

Mark thanks for the welcome. We are looking forward to the move can't wait to get away from all this snow up here.

I will be moving to the Havelock, NC. area this summer so I am looking for any smiths in the area. I already looked at the NCABANA web site but none of the scheduled meetings are close by.

That lid will work just fine for you. Mine sure has

That is gonna be cool. I look forward to seeing it all welded and finished up.

Cool.
I have just started to really look into learning to weld and have been learning a lot from all here. I saw this and was curious how it had turned out for you. I hadn't seen a lot of folks doing cast iron I look forward to seeing the update pic's.

That Is Awesome :D :D

That will do. :D

So how did this turn out for you?

I started with a flower pot, charcoal briquettes, 8" desk fan, and a large rock. Not prety but it worked until the pot broke up to much to be useful.

I use Anthracite. It is what I can get easily in my area and it works great. It does have its quirks but every thing burns in its own way and you have to learn how best to use it.

Did you end up picking up the coal?

Over 3,500 degrees F. boy howdy that will get the job done as long as it is a small one.

Many Asian cultures put less status and value on jobs that involve manual labor. The paler your skin the higher on the social ladder you are because your profession doesn't require you to sweat in the sun or do strenuous labor.

That came out great. One of these days I may be able to make somethings as nice as that.

That came out really awesome looking.

I saw your forge in a thread of solid fuel forges. That thread gave me some ideas.

That thread is where I got some of the ideas for my forge. I found that even the car break drum I am using was a bit large when I switched from charcoal to coal. So I lined it with refractory cement to take up some space and give it a better shape. The possibility's are endless my only advice is K.I.S.S. that is what I kept in mind when I built mine. :D