Ideas for making this beautiful

[GunsmithnMaker]

I picked this up Monday at my cousin's junk yard for $10.00. I've seen some very simple designs and read about how one person wanted to redesign their large brake drum forge. I'd like to know what design you would create with this at the heart?
I'm thinking about some kind of table but nothing as elaborate as one forge I saw here that was made with parts from a grill and has a more pieces than a swiss watch.

It is a weighty piece by itself, so portability isn't necessarily the goal here if it's suited to a full size forge. However if size also makes it large enough to be self-contained, I'd like to hear those ideas as well.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of size.

[jimbob]

how large is the big hole...if it's like 5 inches you can weld a floor flange for 2" pipe in it then use 3" conduit to make your air pipe used a 2" niple screwed in the floor flange use a 2" union plug welded in the 3" conduit air pipe weld up a drop gate and a right angle air inlet. set the whole thing in a table with a hole cut out ...

[Glenn]

The problem I see is that by the time you load several 5 gallon buckets of coal into the drum, it is still too deep to put the metal into the sweet spot of the fire. The idea of a forge is to have the sweet spot just about level with the top of the table, have about 2/3 of the fire ball under the metal so the metal only gets heat and very little oxygen. Use the big drum as a mounting pedestal for the forge, a grinder, a vise, etc.

[GunsmithnMaker]

The problem I see is that by the time you load several 5 gallon buckets of coal into the drum, it is still too deep to put the metal into the sweet spot of the fire. The idea of a forge is to have the sweet spot just about level with the top of the table, have about 2/3 of the fire ball under the metal so the metal only gets heat and very little oxygen. Use the big drum as a mounting pedestal for the forge, a grinder, a vise, etc.

Glenn, one of the ideas I'm mulling around is notching the rim on opposing sides to bring the work down into the fire. What if I do a drum inside a drum with some material between them? Another idea is to raise the fire with a false bottom (grate) to the right height. I guess one question I have is won't more fuel/fire area make it easier to heat your work?

[Marksnagel]

I have several drums and one of them is about the same size of the one you show. I opted out of that one due to the limitations that I felt it would have. Even if I notched the side to allow for longer pieces to be inserted into the sweet spot, it would still only allow me to use that spot and not the whole area around the drum. Sometimes my work will need to be accessable from two spots at once, such as a long curved piece that needs the middle heated. One access point or even two would not help if they were not in the right spot.

It may work for you though. Each person has different needs but I am trying not to let my current needs limit any future needs. The 55 forge has worked great for me because it has given me a larger work area but not increased the depth of the fire pot to an unmanagable depth. I went with a brake drum off of a 3/4 ton P/U and it works great.

As easy as a brake drum forge is to make, you might want to invest an afternoon and try the larger drum.

Good luck,
Mark<><

[jimbob]

put a clay liner on the inside...mix it with broken fire brick. you can also add some wood ash. have to replace it every few years but what the heck