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I Forge Iron

Fire pot


Aljeter

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Well I started my fire pot! I had some 6 x 4 heavy angle iron and cut the pieces from that. It is 11" x 9" x 5". Its been around 6 years since I have done any welding with 7018 rods, and boy could I tell! I will add more pictures as I get the whole forge finished.

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Looks good! Want to weld one up for me?

You may want to add some holes in the bottom for your air supply however... <_<


I have actually built 2 of them. The other one still needs some more work done on it. I have not put holes in the bottom yet because im not sure how i want to build the clinker breaker yet. Any one have any good ideas throw them my way please.
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I have actually built 2 of them. The other one still needs some more work done on it. I have not put holes in the bottom yet because im not sure how i want to build the clinker breaker yet. Any one have any good ideas throw them my way please.


Holes in the bottom (as most firepots have) will guarantee that as clinker is formed, it will flow down and block off your air supply, which will make necessary a clinker breaker.

A better idea (IMO) would be if the bottom of your fire pot was raised so that there was room for the clinker to form without blocking the air. Imagine a ball cut in half with a hole thru the center for air. This could easily be forged and welded in place.

Your fire will be able to breathe without continuously 'breaking' the clinker and losing fuel in the process. When the clinker gets so large that it blocks the hole it can be removed from the top using a hooked poker.

Nice job on your pot so far.
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Nice welds it will hold up for a few years


Thanks. I used to weld for a living until about 6 years ago. Welding on foundation drilling rigs, building heavy duty dirt and rock augers from scratch. They were 12" and up to 36". I started building this fire pot and thought I will put a nice 7018 cap on the welds just for looks. Set the machine up laid a bead and the slag came right off with not chipping. I thought yeah I still got it until I seen what was under it lol. The welds are good they just arent as pretty as I would like them to be. Every weld I do I try and make it better than the last one.
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nice job!


Thanks. Hopefully I will be able to start beating some metal soon. After I help my father in law finish building his shop. I am going to see if he will let me use a corner of it to set up my smithy. Now I just need to find the metal to make my anvil stand. Maybe enough to make 2 of them since my father in law has a "im guessing" 200+ pound anvil collecting dust in his old barn.
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Holes in the bottom (as most firepots have) will guarantee that as clinker is formed, it will flow down and block off your air supply, which will make necessary a clinker breaker.

A better idea (IMO) would be if the bottom of your fire pot was raised so that there was room for the clinker to form without blocking the air. Imagine a ball cut in half with a hole thru the center for air. This could easily be forged and welded in place.


I did something similar using a pipe cap with a single 3/4" hole drilled thru it. Definitely helps prevent clinker blockage. Now I'm experimenting with different shapes of tuyeres.
11-Refractory_cast.jpg
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Tom my first forge was made from on old sink that looked like that but with the drain near one end. I put in a linear tuyere from the drain across the bottom to the far end where I drilled and knocked a round hole out the side. Used blacks iron pipe with a ton of 1/4" holes in the upper third of it and then packed clay in to make a v shaped valley forge that I then controlled the length of the burn with a "ram rod" through the open end of the pipe. Made a great forge for heating long blades for heat treating!

Used to make my own charcoal inside OKC city for it back around 1981,1982...

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Good use of common materials too with the pipe cap.


Thanks. I wish I could take credit for it but Grant suggested it to me. I'm currently using a tuyere shaped like two tear drops connected at their points. It seems to make a slightly elongated fire.

Use anti-seize on the pipe cap threads and you can just twist them off by hand and change them at will.

I had the pipe leading into the forge threaded for several inches. Then I made a pair of nuts for that pipe out of a standard pipe coupling -just cut a piece off of each end. In this way you can adjust the height of the tuyere within the firepot. I experimented with a clay-earth firepot until I found the size and shape that I wanted and then lined it 5/8" of castable refractory. Quick, cheap and easy.

Here's an image of the prototype forge with the firepot formed out of local clay-earth.

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Tom my first forge was made from on old sink that looked like that but with the drain near one end. I put in a linear tuyere from the drain across the bottom to the far end where I drilled and knocked a round hole out the side. Used blacks iron pipe with a ton of 1/4" holes in the upper third of it and then packed clay in to make a v shaped valley forge that I then controlled the length of the burn with a "ram rod" through the open end of the pipe. Made a great forge for heating long blades for heat treating!



Very clever design, Thomas.

This sink had the drain at one end, too. I just plugged that hole and made a new one in the center. If you drill a cast iron sink from the under side with a hole saw then the porcelain just chips away without damaging the hole saw. Very easy to drill cast iron.
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Nice. What did you use for the actual breaker element?


I used the cut out piece from the bottom of the firepot which is 3/8 plate. I welded it on a piece of 1/2 square stock on the bottom and then welded it to the round stock, to give it some room to turn.
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