Hi, this is my first forge, its pretty much finished. i just have to mount my blower. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

interesting design. Couple of questions/comments:
1. how do you get accumulated ash/dirt/clinker/etc out?
2. will the smallish looking holes in the bottom of your firepot provide adequate airflow?
3. is there any way to restrict airflow to only a portion of the firebox - in the event that you do not want a "fullsize" fire?
4. what kind of fuel are you planning on using?

I currently use a little gasser, but have aspirations of moving to a solid fueled device

interesting design. Couple of questions/comments:
1. how do you get accumulated ash/dirt/clinker/etc out?
2. will the smallish looking holes in the bottom of your firepot provide adequate airflow?
3. is there any way to restrict airflow to only a portion of the firebox - in the event that you do not want a "fullsize" fire?
4. what kind of fuel are you planning on using?

I currently use a little gasser, but have aspirations of moving to a solid fueled device

Thanks for commenting. The tube coming out at the bottom should collect some of the ash, other than that i didnt think that part out all that well :/ . I havent fired it up yet so i dont know about the holes, i can always drill them bigger if need be. and there is no way of restricting the airflow to part of the fire box. I started building it before i read a lot on this site so if i did it again id do those things differently. but for my first forge (and my first welding project) im good with the way it is.

i am planning on using charcoal and coal.

I would have built the firepot with sloping sides. Is it shallow enough to get work in horizontally or will you have to push the hot spot above the level of the table.

The ash dump should not be the same as the air intake. You don't want to have to unhook the air just to clean the ashes out---usually the ash dump tee's off the bottom of the air intake with a length of pipe so you can run a while without having ashes blocking the air path.

Air holes are way too small and not distributed in a good pattern for general smithing.

Is the plate with the air holes removable so you can clean up the ashes that fall through underneath it?

I would have built the firepot with sloping sides. Is it shallow enough to get work in horizontally or will you have to push the hot spot above the level of the table.

The ash dump should not be the same as the air intake. You don't want to have to unhook the air just to clean the ashes out---usually the ash dump tee's off the bottom of the air intake with a length of pipe so you can run a while without having ashes blocking the air path.

Air holes are way too small and not distributed in a good pattern for general smithing.

Is the plate with the air holes removable so you can clean up the ashes that fall through underneath it?

i will have to push the hot spot above. I fired it up today and it seemed to work good, it brought a peice of mild steel up to non magnetic very quickly. The ash dump does te off at the bottom, the larger tube coming off at a right angle is where the blower hooks up to, the smaller tube below is the ash dump, however it is still not ideal and the plate with the holes is not removeable. Thank you guys for the input, this forge will work okay as a first one to practice making small knives but i will defenitly keep what youve said in mind in case i build a new one or modify this one. Thanks

Also after this picture was taken I made the holes slightly larger and a couple more near the center

Here it is fired up. i put a small knife i ground out of a peice of mild steel in there.

I suggest putting a firebrick across the bottom of the back of the forge so you get a deeper less large fire. Remember you want a lot of fuel *below* your piece to consume oxygen and lower scaling---*especially* if you are thinking of knifemaking!

I suggest putting a firebrick across the bottom of the back of the forge so you get a deeper less large fire. Remember you want a lot of fuel *below* your piece to consume oxygen and lower scaling---*especially* if you are thinking of knifemaking!

Thanks for the advice, ill be sure to try that. Hopefully i can find an anvil or aso soon so i can start really usin it.

will a flat cinder block work?

For an anvil no---though a thick granite slab will to an extent. As a forge modifier: not a good choice as they degrade in heat rapidly and some may be prone to steam explosions.

As for an anvil: pretty much *any* heavy piece of scrap steel will work if it has a flat area you can hammer on. These imprompto anvils work a whole lot BETTER than a cast iron ASO and are usually cheaper to boot!

Over lunch I was wandering around the lot that Campus stores stuff to auction off and found an odd item composed of two pieces of 3"x12"x60" steel *and* it had a lovely fuller strip bolted onto it. Unfortunately the next sale is in June and scrounging up a cutting torch to subdivide close to a ton of steel would really up the price even if I could figure a way to drag it home...
(Over 600 pounds per side and the heavy front piece too)

For an anvil no---though a thick granite slab will to an extent. As a forge modifier: not a good choice as they degrade in heat rapidly and some may be prone to steam explosions.

As for an anvil: pretty much *any* heavy piece of scrap steel will work if it has a flat area you can hammer on. These imprompto anvils work a whole lot BETTER than a cast iron ASO and are usually cheaper to boot!

Over lunch I was wandering around the lot that Campus stores stuff to auction off and found an odd item composed of two pieces of 3"x12"x60" steel *and* it had a lovely fuller strip bolted onto it. Unfortunately the next sale is in June and scrounging up a cutting torch to subdivide close to a ton of steel would really up the price even if I could figure a way to drag it home...
(Over 600 pounds per side and the heavy front piece too)

I meant for the firebrick, i just reread what i wrote and it did sound like i was talkin about usin it for an anvil. sorry for the confusion.

what kind of store do i get good firebrick at?

Anyplace that sells wood burning stoves will have a firebrick this time of year

Phil

cool. thanks

Ask if they have broken ones cheap---the forge won't care...

sounds good. I may have some brick layin around somewhere but if i dont ill do that, or ill weld up somethin the shape of the inside of the forge to slip in to make it shorter

Cbennett0811,

Nice looking forge. Don't sweat the small stuff - you forge will work just fine. There are countless way to improve any forge - just like you could make a better mousetrap. But I'm sure your will work more that adequately.

Good advice regarding firebrick, specialty masonry stores and some feed stores carry it. A mall concentrated fire will work as well as a large fire and be easier to maintain and control.

As for getting rid of clinkers/ash, your can always sweep it up and out after you're done forging. While my forge has a trap fro this stuff it seems like I usually end up celaning the clenkers and ash from the forge itself more than just dumping the trap - more trouble sweeping the stuff through the tuyere. I've never cleaned clinkers/ash out while forging one particular piece of work. But then again I only do one thing at a time (except maybe a couple of railroad spike knifes when the neighbor kids comer over for lessons).

Thanks, and yeah yesterday i just blew the ash out with my air compressor.