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I managed to get a 55 gallon drum this week that used to have hydraulic fluid in it. I was also able to get 2 different size brake rotors. I started by overflowing it with a garden hose since I could tell there was some fluid left in there. I would rather have water on the shop floor than hydro fluid. Less chance of busting my rear from sliding around. I then cut the front open. Used my plasma cutter to Cut the bottom using a smaller brake rotor as a template. Flipped it over cut a slightly larger hole in the top using a larger rotor as the template Put the large rotor in the bottom hole. It sets perfect in the smaller hole with the flange sitting on the drum floor. Next I built a fire the boy scouts would be proud of. looks worse than what it was. That's just the hydraulic fluid and paint burning of the outside of the drum. After it settled down, I cut a V in the front so I could rest my work piece on and opened it up a bit along the top of the front opening. Since it was all cardboard and paper in there burning and dinner was ready I let it burn out and called it a night.

Good day. Let me explain my setup briefly. I burn primarily charcoal, but I throw a few pieces of anthracite in on my grate above the tuyere before adding charcoal to keep the small pieces of charcoal from falling through (I designed my grate back when I knew nothing and as such, the openings are too big.) When I was cleaning it out the next day, there was an interesting looking piece of (presumably) coal left over, so I took it out and played around with it. It was white, like charred coal, but it just looked strange. I broke it apart and it was white all the way through. Usually the leftover coal is still black in the center, ALL the other ones from the same fire were, and they were similar size (nut coal). I asked a friend who knows far more about geology than myself, and he said he is confident that it is sandstone. Its very soft, like sandstone, but i cant break it with my hands like burnt coal. I know that all the pieces were black when I threw them in, so what gives? This makes me question the quality of the rest of the coal that I have. The brand is Franklin Anthracite if that helps. Poor quality pic, sorry, but it's one of the chunks left from when I broke it.

Hello all. I'm Chadwick Avery from San Antonio, TX. I'm a newbie to metalwork, but it has quickly become my passion as I've learned more about how to manipulate metal. I started off welding with oxyacetylene and quickly found myself needing a forge to apply a whole lot more heat. I enjoy picking through the local scrapyards and making artistic/handy items from what I find... which seems to be called "steampunk" these days. I have a shop on Etsy and eBay where you can peruse some of the items I've made. I also build/buy/sell/trade coal/coke forges and the like on Craigslist. Perhaps most notably, I have several tons of anthracite coal that I'm chipping away at via several ads/storefronts throughout the interwebs (and yes, this is one of the reasons I build forges... to sell coal). Another point of interest is the US Cavalry forge that I recently found in an antique shop (I foolishly started a thread about it, looking for documentation, when there were already several... typical rookie mistake, I suppose. As I live in close proximity to Ft Sam Houston, there are ongoing talks about putting the forge in their museum. I hope this will happen, but I can't just donate it. I have to recover my cost and it is, therefore, for sale to any collectors out there. I wouldn't forge in it unless I were involved in war re-enactments... though it's in perfect working condition. I'd rather just look at it and show it off! That's all for now. I just wanted to say hello. Chadwick www.pranavaworks.com ebay and esty links removed as per ToS

I'm a hobby level smith in North Georgia, with a small brake disc forge I made by modifying a lawnmower. It works great, but I have trouble getting coal. The closest blacksmith coal, (pea size anthracite) takes around a 3 hour trip, and is around 20 bucks for a fifty lb sack. Or I can go 25 minutes away and get a 40 lb bag of heating coal (also anthracite) for less than 7 bucks. First thing I learned about lighting coal, is that it's hard as all get out to light heating coal and keep it going. So, I usually end up buying the heating stuff and busting it up with a hammer and a boulder. Grant you, I've learned tricks to get faster, but this sucks. I've played with making charcoal, but it's time intensive, and burns up a lot more quickly (although I love to use it to start the fire). I've made gas burners, (mostly for casting) but had trouble getting past 2200 degrees. What do you do? Does the bigger stuff work for you?

Well, it was. Finally gave in and stopped busting up cheap anthracite heating coal. Drove just left of the middle of nowhere, paid twice as much for bitumous, drove it home and fired it up. I think I'm in love. Very different animal. I hadn't played with it in yrs, and forgot how it clumps together. My normal fan setting was way, way too much air, and after I turned it down, I used less than half as much coal to get the same amount of work done. Much cooler fire, but it gave me way more control, and I could get it going strong just by moving the coke around, didn't really have to change the air speed. The only real down side was that my tuyere screen melted. I've been using a piece of stainless steel sawblade cut to shape and drilled with a bunch of 1/4" holes for over two years. I guess the lower air speeds allowed it to heat up more. Maybe I'll just put some rod through the pipe. Hmmmm. Anyway, I thought while I got used to the new stuff, I'd try to make something that would be hard to mess up. So, when I finished messing that up, I made this. Sorta Dubliners/Dropkick Murphys' St. Patricks Day theme. It's just an old triangle, goes jingle jangle, all along the banks of the Royal Canal. :) :) http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36992-bitumous-triangle/

So this is my forge that I have made. It has been made from 10mm side walls 100mm high, the base is a 5ml plate with a hole in the center, the legs are just 50x50ml square tube with end caps in them to stop the rust. I have taken a trucks brake plate as the firepot and to this I have attached a 50ml galvanised plumbing pipe leading to my waste hatch and to my valve to control the air inlet. In the background you can see my grandfathers 120amp oil cooled welder. The only concern I have with this build is that I had to weld the brake plate to the underside of the base plate as shown here. All I have left to do with this is to finish all the welds around the edges and connect up the blower that I have made out of a washing machine motor and a blower fan blade and Ill have my own smithy ready to fire up. What do you think?