This is my progress from 5 hrs of work taking breaks of course. I am hammering the side rails in.

BTW I'm naming it Forge32.
#32 cause that the sports # for my dad,I, my son and 2 daughters.

Great job and a fine example of making do with what you have. That should give you a lot of forging time. Thanks for sharing that.:D

Nice work on the forge. Hope you finish it soon.

Is that the top to a hot water heater? Love it when people use what's on hand.

Mark<><

OW! my ears are ringing just looking at that!

I tried similar treatment with a holed air tank. That is looking really nice. Good job!

Phil

It is the top of an electric hot water heater. I have changed my mind and am going with the top of a gas hot water.

Do you guys have any suggestions how to configure this top. I thought about closing the top of the pipe and drilling 2 sets of holes. One set for air the other for ash. I could wedge a flat round piece between the 2 sets of holes, then blow air from the top. Would that make sense?

Well here is the pictures.

Hot Water Tank.

The top cut out.

The Stand for the table

I hit a bump in the road. My grinder /cutter um...burnt up. I have to wait till payday..

I'm not real sure what you mean about the two seperate holes. Could you draw a picture. Sorry, I'm a visual learner and usually have to see something before I understand it fully. That water heater top should do you pretty good. It is nice and wide and will give you a good area to work with. I know all about waiting till the next payday.

Also, give plenty of thought into the base of your forge. I have seen some forges that I thought might prove unstable once you put coal/coke in them and started pushing iron into the fire. Nothing will ruin your day quicker than to have your forge tip over sending hot coals and your work flying.

Keep us post with your results/advancements.

Mark<><

I have it attached to the stand in the bottom picture above. That was a table. it is very sturdy and heavy.

I'm not real sure what you mean about the two seperate holes.

This isn't what I was talking about. But this is what i have done. Air comes down from the top of pipe. the pipe is 3" in diameter. The slot has 1/2 inch gap.

Cool, thanks for answering.

Mark<><

Well I finally fired it up. Of course some of this is temporary. I just had to get it hot. I cut a piece and flattened some out. Man I see why having the right tools will help a lot. I am using a pair of channel locks and it is very difficult. I am am trying to make a set of tongs. I am going to have to use a dimmer switch for my fan it seems to be going through the wood pretty fast. Here are some Pictures.
It blows on top..
Blows from side..
I will have to cut some of the pot out

Man, you got a heck of a fire going! Did it heat the metal up OK? At least you had your first fire in it. You're on your way now. Keep us posted and add pics along the way. :D

Yeah the metal got really hot. Moved it around a little. Man do I have a lot to learn, but that's the beauty of it. I will be attempting a set of tongs tomorrow.
I just the the PC out there with me. What surprises me is that the metal moves a little easier than I thought, I just need to move how I want it to.