first try at my forge?

[cj112674]

I have an old gas grill I plan on turning into a forge. It's a smaller size grill, probaly 12 to 14 inches deep (bottom) and 6 to 8 inches deep on the top. Here is a link to aussie web site, makers of my old grill, that's what it looked like when it was new..Mine has seen better days, but mine as well use it it's free! http://aussiegrills.com/products_bondi_deluxe.php I'm not planning on a gas forge but rather a coke/charcoal I'm thinking. I'll try to post pics soon, I just have it dismanteled now, but hopefully soon I can sort some of these ideas out in my head and get going..

[Frosty]

That'll work with a few mods. I don't normally use a solid fuel forge but have built a few and may be able to toss a few useable ideas your way. A little more info on what you have in mind will make suggestoins from us more useful to you though.

First, do you want to use a side blast or bottom blast?

Blast direction will go a long way to fire shape and whether or not you'll want or even be able to use a fire pot. While a brake drum makes a perfectly usable fire pot a sideblast pretty well means no fire pot unless it's secifically designed for a side blast.

Another thing that springs to mind from the BBQ pic is it seems awfully deep unless you plan of filling it. A clay liner wil allow you to not only bring the fire depth up near the top of the BBQ pan but let you design the size and shape of the fire pot or as I like "Duck's nest" and shape the fire zones.

While simple in principle a forge can get as complicated and specific as a person wants or needs or it can just plain get away from you. YES these things can certainly get away from you, it's happened to me on more than one instance and not just the forge.

Frosty the Lucky.

[cj112674]

Thanks Frosty, and yes I think I might be letting my ideas get away from me just like my first marriage..But anyhow, I think I might downsize to something different, or smaller I should say. I like the idea of building my own forge or at least fabbing it the way I want it, that way if it's royaly screwed up, I only have myself to blame.

I was going to line the inside of the grill with furnace cement and then cut to fit a fire blanket inside of it as well. But, seeings how I might downsize now, who knows what the hell I'm doing.. I'm at least going to use the stand from the grill and make my first forge portable (grill has 2 wheels) and easier to roll it to where I need it or want it. I will keep you guys posted because I still have questions that only you guys can answer, or guys like us..lol

[Frosty]

Don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure all of us have gone overboard a time or fifty.

The solid fuel forge I was using most was one I made. It's basically a table 36" x 48", flange up angle iron frame with a 14ga. sheet under the deck, on 2" sq. tubing legs. It's higher than either of my anvils so that isn't according to common advice.

It doesn't have a fire pot but a duck's nest made by the simple expedient of leaving out a couple fire bricks from the forge table's deck. The air grate is 3/8" plate with a pattern of 3/8" holes that cover a circle about 3" in diameter.

What I like about a duck's nest is I can change it's size and shape to suit what I need at any given time. This one isn't a traditional duck's nest seeing as it's just a missing brick or two but it's easy to make as deep as I want by standing bricks on edge or side surrounding it.

The missing brick's 2 1/4" depth generally means just laying iron on the deck puts whatever's in the fire just a hair low in the burn zone, a little oxidizing. The cure is to either reduce the blast or just raise the iron either on the coal or prop it over something, a brick laying flat puts it a bit high but that's better than too low.

As simple as it sounds I got pretty carried away designing and building it but it works.

Frosty the Lucky.