September 6, 201015 yr My 'cheap' forge... Bought the blower, nipple and 2 fittings. Rest was scrounged up in a relatives barn. 20-25 gal drum, adobe insulating layer. The nipple can be pulled out to be replaced. Still tweaking a bit to get the cut-outs on front & back 'just right' in relation to fire. Scorched the back shelf when I had the other 1/2 of the drum on top. Plan on lining it (the top) with insulation, mounting a coulpe loops and rigging a way to lift and lower it on the forge. Since the photos were taken it's been moved to the back of the barn....
September 7, 201015 yr Looks like a great one to me! Please don't burn the barn down though it tends to make barn owners peevish and down on smithing!
September 7, 201015 yr Author Funny you say that, several family members have been hoping that a hurricane or fire it would take it out. So I've spent my time rebuilding and shoring it up. The old tools etc I dug up helped rekindle my interest and led to me to building the little forge.
October 11, 201015 yr Wow i like it.. I am very new to smithing and have tried make a few differnt forges in the last few weeks. This one looks like one i could do and not have to spend money. also looks like it would work great. hope you dont mind me using your idea. thank you :)
October 11, 201015 yr Author Go for it, and I have to give Tim Lively the credit for the idea. :-) It will crack, how much etc dependent on how stable/solid the container and stand are. It's easily 'fixed' or 'patched' up by adding/smoothing on fresh mix. Just make a bit more than you need, and keep it in bucket, if it starts to dry out, add a bit of water and stir it around a tad.
October 11, 201015 yr could i make it out of clay found by a river or should i use something special?
October 11, 201015 yr Yes, and if you really want to. You can also dig a hole (2-3 feet deep in many areas) and use subsoil. Worst that will happen is the clay will crack too much and you have to reline it. Phil
October 12, 201015 yr Author Part cleaning out/reorganizing the barn. Those were stacked in a drum, with several decades of rotting leaves etc. Cleaning em up, sell em next town festival or something and/or use with other projects.
October 13, 201015 yr i have another question how much should i fill that when I'm using it? I'm going to be using home made charcoal.Oh an whats the best way to lite it?
October 13, 201015 yr You need to fill it enough to provide a deep (but not very wide) fire for the project you are working on: 1" sq stock will need a lot more than 1/4" sq stock. You wanrt to be able to shove the stock in a neutral part of the fire. How it's being blown will make a difference too!. To light I usually throw a bit of kindling in the forge, get that burning and then add charcoal and air.
October 13, 201015 yr Sweet... thank you sounds good. Should have it up an running by Sunday. Im really pumped. It will be the first "real" forge i have tried smithing in.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.