I went to my friend's cattle ranch recently in Cuyama Valley, Ca. I took measurements of his very old coal forge. It's about 18" X 22", has a brick layer, and about a 4" round center with holes in it. I noticed metal handles on the side to lift it up. My friend said he believed it to be an army coal forge when he purchased it a thousand years ago. Is this possible? Did the Army make forges? It has a hand crank blower and a nice hood to.

yess the army had forges (and horses) on thru WW2 and ive owned a coal forge that was a army forge it was dezigned to come apart and all the parts go inside the box and make a compact (and heavy) package.. the bricks were probably added by a smith when it became a more permanent forge... i ended up selling mine without ever using it..

If you look at it again I bet you will see the legs are angle iron and slip into brackets so they are removable. Look at this one attached. I'm not sure they were Military, but they were sure portable !

The picture is exactly what my friend's forge looked like. It did have angle iron legs, but I wasn't sure if he had made them. My friend thought he got it from the army. What a neat looking, compact forge. He had a hood with his. I'm not sure how long he has had his, but I know it has been many, many, many years. To bad, we can't get them at the war surplus store, Oh, they don't have stores like that anymore.

I have one like the one pictured, but mine has pipe legs. I understood they were "military forges' not sure what time period. Not all saw military use I am sure, the military probably wrote the specifications, and they were sold to private individuals also.

I've seen those (like Oak Hill's) in this country and been told that they are 'American army surplus left over after the war'. I don't know which war, people around here hang onto stuff!

The British Army Forges were similar bodies but with the tue iron at the rear when the lid was lifted.
The Guild used one for many years at shows with an electric fan, and a slide valve assembly to control the air flow, using coal as a fuel.

The forge pictured is not mine, just a picture form my collection. I bid on a forge like that at an auction but it was completely rusted away except for the blower. It still brought like $160.00

Do these style of forges have firepots? From the pictures Ive seen they look like they dont and the air pipe comes up to the table and has a grate that covers the pipe.
Chris

All mine has is a pipe with a grate over it....

Thanks Jeff thats what I figured. I am slowly gather stuff up to build a "Calvery Style" forge. It ll be 24x24 and will breake down.
Chris

As long as we are on the subject of grates. Cast or SS work best in my experience, mild steel will burn out quickly. I have SS grates in mine and it lasts pretty well. Cast grates will hold up. One thing about cast, and this goes for grates and fire pots, a splash of water will crack most in a heartbeat, so be careful when putting the fire out etc.

where could you buy an army forge?

An army forge dates from the time when the army rode horses and had to have a farrier and a blacksmith to take care of equipment. It is an antique portable forge.

I have one of those portable army forges as pictured above. I was told by a very old blacksmith that it was a army forge and a lot of them got sold as army surplus I suppose after WWI.

They do not have a fire pit so that can be a bit of a challenge but if I made a nice mound of coke when forging I could easily burn up the piece i was working if i didn't pay attention. You could also get welding heats.

Chris

A friend of mine bnought one in unused condition from a place that used to deal in Army/Navy surplus. His was a naval version that had a powered blower but at some strange voltage so he just hooked a hand crank blower to it.

I once found a giant buffalo forge with all the bells and whistles: coal/water troughs, down draft exhaust, original hood, etc at a store on the west side of Columbus OH that was army surplus. Never had a fire in it! I found a fellow that wanted to buy it from them at their price which was over US$1000. Moved away and don't know if thet store found any others.

I have acquired this exact forge just recently from great old timer! I have sand blasted it and it looks exactly like the one in the picture. I would like to restore it to it's original color. Anybody know what color that would be?

I bought one this past winter to help out some folks that needed to relocate. (He returned to the service and had trained under Peter Ross for 3 yrs) Mine is in near mint condition with a hand crancked Buffalo blower as pictured. Extremely smmmoooottttthhhh blower and moves a ton of air.

The USArmy still has horses and farriers. They are the First Cavalry Division's Horse Cavalry Detachment see here; http://www.hood.army.mil/1stcavdiv/horseDet/Default.asp And they are stationed in Fort Hood, TEXAS!

Colours I have seen on them were navy grey and OD green.

For a take on the earlier US army forge David Einhorn's book on Civil War Blacksmithing has the original specs for the civil war version(s) in it.

I've got one of those old army forges and I absolutely love it. You can take it down or put it togeather in 10 minutes or less. It makes a great travelling forge if your asked to do demos. I hang my most used tongs in the four carrying handles when its in use.

I have seen a different Buffalo version in a tech manual from WWII. My Dad told me that he had one in his mobile machine shop (van back on a 6x6) when he was in the army during WWII. The one in the tech manual had a curved clamshell top IIRC. It also had a list of the tools that were supposed to accompany it.

Just happen to run across this picture so I did a search for "civil war forge" because I knew there were threads previously covering this. A good clear original pic of a civil war forge wagon in the field during the war~

 

The blue prints for the portable forge can be found here
http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/blueprints2.htm
About halfway down, there are 6-8 sheets.

The blue prints for the portable forge can be found here
http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/blueprints2.htm
About halfway down, there are 6-8 sheets.