It took a while to find the time but we got the forge done last night. The forge is now up and running. Works pretty darn good. Splitting the square tube for the stand, worked better than expected.

you might have a problem taking the cap off the bottom to clean it out...might want to use shorter pipe on both the top and bottom...

A word of advice from Captain Caution;"You need a bigger base".

you might have a problem taking the cap off the bottom to clean it out...might want to use shorter pipe on both the top and bottom...

Yeah, that was a point of great discussion. We wound up setting the top hub into a metal ring. It will lift up. But we also think we will get a shorter bottom tube.

A word of advice from Captain Caution;"You need a bigger base".

It seems pretty stable. We were worried about that too.

Looks very very good, well done! Do you have a clinker breaker? If not then don't even bother with the bottom cap as the clinker won't fall through.

I had to go look up Clinker Breaker to see what is was. So no would be my answer. I haven't use cole yet so I don't think I have seen any clinkers.

Looks very very good, well done! Do you have a clinker breaker? If not then don't even bother with the bottom cap as the clinker won't fall through.

If you don't have a bottom cap, or other blanking device, you will have difficulty controlling the airflow. You can use the blanking plate as an air control if you allow it to swivel or slide across the open end to act as a throttle

I haven't use cole yet so I don't think I have seen any clinkers.

To figure out what clinker looks like or is, build a good fire and then add a double hand full of dirt, sand, rocks, etc. and continue to forge. You will get some wonderful clinker. And no it will not hurt the forge. You just clian it out as needed anyway. (grin).

That looks perfectly usable to me, I've used far worse. A couple things to think about though:

A larger base might be a really good thing, sure it's pretty stable but it can still be knocked over pretty easily and there's nothing livens up your day like a bucket of burning charcoal spreading out on the shop floor.

Personally I like having a table around my forge so I don't have to stand there holding my work and have a handy place to pile a little extra fuel and or tool, piece of stock, etc. You can build a helper to support long stock and hang tongs, hammers, etc. from, I have those on my forge table they're so handy.

As Glenn says you can get a good first hand eyefull of clinker by tossing some dirt in the fire while you're forging, a little broken glass of different colors makes the same thing, more attractive though. Pretty clinker can be incorporated into the iron work as decorative elements, blue eyes in a sculptured head for example.

Frosty the Lucky.

It took a while to find the time but we got the forge done last night. The forge is now up and running. Works pretty darn good. Splitting the square tube for the stand, worked better than expected.

Sir, What you have there is a brake drum. Not a hub...Or a rotor for that matter. That was for your rear brakes...But a nice forge by any means...I would run a bead of weld from the base of it to a two foot square of sheet steel, 1/4" will work.