mOVING_tARGET Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Good evening IFI. This is my first post so I guess I should tell you about myself. young (27), reasonably well educated (I know enough to know I dont know much), bit of a tinkerer, love my hobbies and my wolfhounds. I have been lurking the forum for a month now gathering information for my first forge. *incoming wall of newbie questions* Hopefully you will allow me to pick your brains for a few questions I have regarding layout, before I start building. Specifically I will be doing iron work for the family farm and I want to make sure that I have room to work on large gates or stall doors. I have designs for a side draft masonry forge but I want to make sure its not too small (I'd love to make it smaller but I dont want to find out it is insufficient for later projects.) so far the plan is for a 3' x 4' forge surface, and I have zero clue what size of firepot to build or if I should go with one of the vulcan firepots from centaur forge. also I dont really have an idea of what sort of area should I leave around the sides of the forge to allow me to work longer peices of metal. and a shopping list for beginner tools (beyond the basic anvil, hammer, first set of tongs, fire tools poker/shovel) -vice (bench or legvice? both???) -anything else you can suggest (cross peen hammer? sadly I cant afford to even think of air hammers etc. But if you could point me to design plans for a manual treadle (sp?) hammer or a grinder I would be super appreciative.) I will be at caniron this year looking for tools and watching the demos. Thanks so much for spending the time to read this. tldr -what recc. space (forge and shop) for gate forging -what firepot size / shape -beginner tools list -see you at caniron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 As to working on gates, half the length of the gate off the far side minimum, full length of the near side. Either that or you are going to end up citing a hole in the wall to stick long stock out so you can heat it in the middle. Most of yore forge table is just that, a work surface for holding tools, stock and extra fuel. The fire pot only needs to acomidate a fire from the size of your fist, to the size of both put to gather for large forgings. I would love a 3x4 forge table but I make due with stock stands and portable tables. I personally like side blast forges for their versatility, as you can easily reshape the fire bowl, and it acomidates coal, charcoal and other fuels. But it is not as user friendly as a bottom blast forge. I also prefer a bellows to a blower, but they take up a lot more room. As to tools forge, anvil (anvil like object) hammer and a file are the basics, as you can create most tools from their. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.