Finally got some forge time ( pic heavyish )

[mojavedesertrat]

Well, I finally got some forge time, since I have yet to find all the components for my brake rotor forge so I had to dig a hole in the ground and run an air supply into it.




Yes that is my foot in the bottom of the frame, and no I did not forge the handle...it came that way.




This is kinda my take on a coal poker, though I don't particularly have a use for it yet, since i'm not burning coal.




And here is a proper shot of the end with a tape measure reading correctly.

Any comments are welcome, nice...or otherwise

[pkrankow]

I would consider bending the end at a 90 angle, so you have a rake with about a 4 inch blade with your loop. Good for poking, pushing and pulling. Good for charcoal, or any other solid fuel that is "nut" or "pea" sized.

Nothing wrong with a hole in the ground. People did that for centuries too.

Phil

[mojavedesertrat]

Ah thanks for the info

[mojavedesertrat]

Well, here are my two forges, the pit was the first, the trough is new and needs to be fired up for the first time. It's made out of cinder blocks, scrounged pieces of concrete, and mud. The interesting thing is, the soil on my property acts exactly like refractory cement for some reason.






Here is a close-up of the trough forge.




And a closeup of the intake for the pit forge




And here is my smithy as it stands waiting for me to get charcoal, the trailer holds my anvil and my tools, and it also hauls my motorcycles, go and try that with your wood stumps and tell me just how well it works out

[ThomasPowers]

Look up lively washtub forge made from a washtub, adobe, and a piece of pipe and designed to burn charcoal at a convenient height---like if you stacked your blocks up...

Isn't it great to have "dirt" that works for forge building! I use old adobe as there was a pile of it on my property.

[mojavedesertrat]

Look up lively washtub forge made from a washtub, adobe, and a piece of pipe and designed to burn charcoal at a convenient height---like if you stacked your blocks up...

Isn't it great to have "dirt" that works for forge building! I use old adobe as there was a pile of it on my property.

Ah, yes, I had to use an internet archive to view the page since it was missing for some reason. It is very nice to be able to use the dirt for building forges.

[Frosty]

The cinderblock won't last long at all, concrete doesn't like heat and it'll spall till it's nothing but gravel. The adobe will work just fine as it's iron rich clay as is fire clay. Add some sand and just enough moisture that it'll pack hard and ram it into the shape you want, let it dry and use it. I've used hole forges many times when I was a field guy. If there's a prevailing wind you don't need a blower at all.

As suggested opening the poker to around 90* will make it a more useful fire tool. Making fire tools is good practice as are nails.

Frosty the Lucky.

[mojavedesertrat]

The cinderblock won't last long at all, concrete doesn't like heat and it'll spall till it's nothing but gravel. The adobe will work just fine as it's iron rich clay as is fire clay. Add some sand and just enough moisture that it'll pack hard and ram it into the shape you want, let it dry and use it. I've used hole forges many times when I was a field guy. If there's a prevailing wind you don't need a blower at all.

As suggested opening the poker to around 90* will make it a more useful fire tool. Making fire tools is good practice as are nails.

Frosty the Lucky.

Yeah, I know, It survived about 6 hours of hardwood charcoal at full blower so far with no damage, but i'm thinking about just making a washtub forge, i'm really starting the like the trough design though. As for the poker, I turned it and bent it 90* down so it acts like a rake, but I need to forge the handle into a thick bar instead because the triangle shape is very awkward.