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I Forge Iron

Side blast "55 forge" ???


Brasilikilt

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Start with the 55 Forge but do NOT but the hole in the bottom. Instead cut a notch for a 1 to 1-1/4 inch pipe in the side wall about 3 inches above the bottom of the forge. Place the pipe about 1/3 into the pan and add fuel, fire and air. BP0238 (currently off line)

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Thanks Glen!

I was thinking that the instructions were a little more elaborate, but that would defeat the advantages of the 55 forge, now wouldn't it? :)

I was thinking that an old paint or coffee can could be used as a reservoir for a water jacket.....hmmmmm I'll see if I can come up with something for that.

thanks again...I'll post the result when I'm finished

Iain

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If you start with 24-30-36 inches of pipe, you can just advance the pipe as needed to replace what was consumed. Pipe is cheap and the fire does not burn the end as much as you would think. A piece of brick, angle iron, or other noncombustible material under the pipe about 2-3 inches from the fire end will support the pipe until you can build up a layer of ash. Cleaning out the clinker is just a matter of letting the fire idle down, and hooking out the muck collected in the bottom of the fireball.


You will need to keep a fair amount of fuel over the elevation of the air pipe as what is below air pipe elevation is usually just ash.

This forge is so easy to set up and get up to temperature that it should overshadow the original 55 Forge except that folks expect a bottom blast forge as that is what they have seen. I forged with the 55 side blast forge design for a while and the heat from the fire is a bit different from bottom blast, but nothing that would encumber your forging. The biggest issue is loading the forge with fuel as that is a 24 inch diameter pan some 4 inches deep. Once loaded, none of the fuel is wasted, as when the fuel is raked to the surface the ash will filter to the bottom. Every now and again, you will want to remove some of the accumulated ash to replenish the fuel supply.

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The concept behind the 55 Forge, the Side Blast 55 Forge, and the Supercharged 55 Forge is to build a working forge that should reach welding heat from materials available anywhere in the world. Most of the world has a 55 gallon drum*, and a piece of water pipe, or exhaust pipe from a vehicle somewhere laying about. That is all that is needed for the forge.

The forge is designed to burn most any solid fuel, coal, coke, charcoal, raw wood, have all been tested here. Other fuels you will have to test out on your own.

Keeping it as simple as possible, and using as few tools as possible, using materials available anywhere in the world, at little or no cost, is the key. This gets you started blacksmithing within a couple hours, provides you hammer time and experience while you look for the design and materials for your second forge.


*Ok Dale, metric in some places. (grin)

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  • 7 years later...

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