wd&mlteach

That is a nice looking forge Billy. I really like the flanges on the front legs. The front legs on my forge are just vertical angle iron. So far they have not given me any trouble but the ground is pretty hard now. I thought about welding plates on to stop it from sinking but I was pretty sure they would end up chewing my shins up when I moved it. I also love the large work space you have on the table. If you put a hood on like mine it might limit your work space. Do you have it indoors?

Thanks I love it and it was a hoot to build! The hood works well, not perfect, but good enough. When I first light it or toss on some more coal it puts out a good amount of smoke and I far as I know that is the way coal is. As long as I am on the blower or the fire is big enough and the draft is good, it does what it needs to do. When the fire dies down the smoke wanders a bit. Another nice thing about the hood is that when the smoke does wander, it gives me a place to hide while cranking the blower. Improvements could be made on the length of the stack, I know it should be higher and the mount. I went to Lowes and bought regular ductwork piping and a tab mount. The mount was as tight as I could get it but when I fired the forge up for the first time the heat loosened it up the thin metal. The stack height is 5' and it should be higher, but until I fix the mount I can't raise it. Hope this helps. Scott

I am new to blacksmithing and I have been looking and learning a lot about the tools a techniques, the biggest thing I have learned lately is that I know less than I thought I did. Anyway, I have been looking at swage blocks and they seem pretty expensive. Yea, I know a giant piece of cast iron on a stand will last the rest of my lifetime and the next guys but, at first glance they seem pretty specific. What are they used for and what do you guys find them indispensable for?

Charlotte you are right I do not know what I was thinking. I melt Aluminum all of the time in my crucible furnace and I know(or at least I think I do, lately, I do not think I know anything) that is around 1200 F. I also know Brass has a higher melting point, so what I said earlier does not make sense. Is 800 F the temperature that the flux starts melt? Why is that temperature in my head stored under the brazing file?

I do not think brazing would hold up to high temperatures around the tuyere, but I could be wrong. I have not worked with brazing much, if my memory is correct I think the melt temperature is around 800 degrees? I am not sure how hot the actual firepot gets but I would think it could get to this temperature or go over easily, especially if you were trying to weld in it.

The forge is only three weeks old so it still looks like I do not use it. I also swept out the firepot so you could see how it was made. Right now it is dirty and full of coal and coke. Last night I used it to roast my stuck leg vise. I got the 5 1/2" vise for $40US but the hinge was frozen fast and no mount. The guy I bought it from found it in his barn when he bought the place and never even knew what it was, what a deal! It took me about fifteen minutes of heating and beating to break it free, whoo hoo! Picture is aweful, the wife took it but it gives you an idea of scale.

UnicornForge I do not think you are an idiot. According to my Forney ARC welding book that is exactly how it is done, weld a bit, allow it to cool down while light hammering, and weld a bit more -repeat. The whole process is kinda like stitching it back together with short welds to keep the heat down. From what I understand the Nickel rods are also designed to stretch a bit to help with the cracking. The whole process makes sense to me, you might have inspired me to give it another try. The next time I am at Sahd's I will pick up some more cast and try it again. Maybe what I tried was too thin, hummmm?!?

I am not an expert by any means but that crack is a tough one. Your firepot is made from cast iron and from my experience cast iron is really tough to weld. Back in my younger days somebody once told me that you can't weld cast iron and I set out to prove them wrong. So I went to the scrap yard and got a brake drum, cracked it with a sledge hammer, tried to weld it back together. It ended up looking like a fish skeleton by the time I was done. I then researched into some other methods and tried again, still it did not work. What I have found out is that if you want to weld cast iron you have to heat the whole thing up to cherry red. This can be done in a furnace or have a bunch of guys painting it with rosebud torches. It takes a bunch of guys because it is hot work and it is nice to be able to change out when you really start sweating. Then when the whole thing is hot enough weld it quickly and control cool down rate. The whole time pray you do not get any more cracks. If you do not have a furnace big enough or a bunch of guys with Oxy-A torches your fixes are limited to finding somebody else to weld it(good luck with that), have a new one cast(too expensive), construct a new firepot and stand( my choice), or physical band-aids. If it were me I would choose to construct a new stand and firepot but I do not know what is available to you as far as tooling or supplies. The other option that might buy you some time is some band-aids made from 1/8” x 1” x 2” HR steel. Firepots are usually pretty thick and can be drilled and tapped. I would make a couple of these band-aids and strategically place them around the crack on the outside of the pot by drilling and tapping some holes maybe

Last summer while taking classes I got the bug to build a forge and get into blacksmithing. Mostly because I really enjoy working with metal and I have no power in my shed, I will eventually fix the lack of electricity problem. Anyway, I started searching for an anvil and explained to my wife what it was and how much it might cost, remember happy wife, happy life. At that point she was still not really onboard with the whole idea and when I explained how I would need to cut a hole in the shed roof for a stack-it was no chance, no way. So portable was the only way to go. I researched online and found a couple designs available and chose to put one together of my own, borrowing bits from others. This past spring I decided to take all of the information and finally build one of my own. I started off by purchasing a hand crank blower for $50 bucks. It came with a modified masonry forge firepot and tuyere. I say modified because somebody decided to cut the heck out of the sides with and Oxy-A torch to lower them for some unknown reason. Originally I was going to use this firepot and I thought about building a case out of steel and cementing the missing areas with refractory cement. However, the more I looked at it the more it seemed like not a good idea and I read somewhere that clinkers stick to refractory. Instead of doing all of that I decided to design my own. I started out with a 3