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I Forge Iron

First Forge Plans (Will this work out?)


Giles S.

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unless your working for the railroad you dont need a forge that big EVER! i remember starting out (nearly 30 years ago) and wanting to make swords and was going to heat the intire length ... you cant work more than 6 inches at a time so your forge dosent need to be that big or long also hard to use that size... check out the forge plans on this websight ... even for forging swords it will work fine!!!!

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....if its has the potential to get to welding temp ....


It would help to know what you plan on using it for. As they say, "form follows function". Unless you have a pretty big pipe with fairly large holes it will not likely provide enough air to forge weld. Plus you are going to need something more forceful than a fan to blow air through a pipe, especially a small diameter pipe.

Back in the stone age, about 38 years ago, the smith teaching the non-credit course I took through University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT used a 1/2" pipe where the air was powered by a hair-dryer with its heating element removed. He reported being unable to forge weld in his forge.

Sand is not recommended as it can melt and get all over your iron. Refractory can be expensive, especially enough to flatten the bottom of the drum.

If you are going to go to the trouble of building a forge, I humbly suggest making a standard 2'by 2' forge with a fire-pot such as in the blueprints on this and other forums. You can cut the ends off the drum and form the square forge fire-place, and such a forge will likely provide a more pleasant and satisfying experience.
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unless your working for the railroad you dont need a forge that big EVER! i remember starting out (nearly 30 years ago) and wanting to make swords and was going to heat the intire length ... you cant work more than 6 inches at a time so your forge dosent need to be that big or long also hard to use that size... check out the forge plans on this websight ... even for forging swords it will work fine!!!!


Thank you for the feed back. I guess I'll just go with a tried and true design. I guess thats what i get for trying to be clever lol.
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Agreed that your first plan is not right. IF you could get enough air, and had unlimited supply of fuel, your fire would be to big to work with. However... I like the idea of the drum on its side, with a "normal" size fire pot towards the back, that would give you a large "cooling" table to rest hot metal, fire tools, reserve coal, kittens, beer, small water bucket for regional quenching / fire management etc. I miss working on a big forge (sigh)

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Thank you for the feed back. I guess I'll just go with a tried and true design. I guess thats what i get for trying to be clever lol.

How else do we expand our craft without trying new ideas. Don't apologize for being bold. I went bold and boy did it work!!!
Forge in construction


In operation
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Kittens?? :huh:

Never coal forged a cat before?

Actually found a stray sleeping on the fire brick one morning. Must have held some heat from the day before.


....
In operation


Excellent! Someone else who thinks that blowers are all built backwards and should be right hand cranked!
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Never coal forged a cat before?

Actually found a stray sleeping on the fire brick one morning. Must have held some heat from the day before.


Excellent! Someone else who thinks that blowers are all built backwards and should be right hand cranked!

Why not? Turn crank with right, pull out steel using tongs in left hand, release crank and grab hammer. Makes complete sense to me.....but then again I'm odd!!! Lol
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Why not? Turn crank with right, pull out steel using tongs in left hand, release crank and grab hammer. Makes complete sense to me.....but then again I'm odd!!! Lol

That is the exact way I think it should be as well! I ended up going electric blower because it ticked me off so much!
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