At a recent blacksmith demonstration I had the opportunity to watch Paul Allen from England I was amazed at the control he got out of his side tuyere forge. He repeatedly forge welded with no flux his selection of where to place the heat was amazing. The only question I asked in all humility was about the forge, he said that's all he's ever used. Finding a Blacksmith book from Britain I proceded to replicate the forge. On my first fire it was great to see the forge in action. Even with a hand crank it worked well. With $50 in total material it was worth it.

Excellent, a great job, thank you for sharing.

What "Blacksmith book from Britain" did you find?

The book is The Blacksmith's Craft by the Rural Development Commission.
The size is 2' x 2' with a 7/8 air hole the tuyere goes 9 inches into the hearth and is 3 inches off the bottom. With the cooling tank I can move it back and up and down with shims for different fire positions. A 1 inch fire brick protects the bottom from heat. When I ran it the bottom got hot but not above 200 F

How did that hood do? Did it draw well?
Thanks

The hood was great 8 inch chimney 5 feet above the roof, no smoke in the shop very warm to the hand at high heat.

Looks good! What did you use for the tuyere?

It was made from high temp stainless surrounded with 1 1/2 tube steel...Air hole is 7/8 " the water tank is 5 x 24 x 24 high. In the demo Paul Allen worked the steel so well around the fire commenting on soaking the steel prior to forge welding.

Hey country is that a hypona I see in the background? I have one myself, had to order a new jet from canada ( mine was missing ) but my heat is far from welding that it used to be, hows yours running?

Just the same, no welding heat also. Good for production work, can keep steel in it all day without melting. ha ha

heh yea thats true, the one I owned used to be in use at the horseshoeing school, when we pumped it to about 30psi we could weld but it took some work lol but its a great forge for basic horseshoes

Is this the book

http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/cp_blacksmith.html

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<li>Yes. In the second part it shows the forge. I tried to make it as close as possible. After a week of working at it I am still learning how well it heats and forges .</li>
</ul>

the first forge I used was a side blast they work well

This forge gives you confidence, forge welding is much easier. You can see the metal as it reaches temperature. The selection as to where you want heat is also better. I still use my bottom draft forges for other work like larger pieces.

It has been three months since the side draft was built. It works all too well. I had some concern with the water freezing in the boss, but a gallon of windshield washer antifreeze in the water works well, minus 20 and it is not frozen.

-20? Where you at? Fairbanks?

Ontario, Canada yes it gets cold here.

Do you have any pics of the tuyere build up?

The tuyere is simple I had some two inch stainless square tubing laying around that was nine inches long and was welded to the boss. The pipe 7/8 ID was placed through the square tube and a square stainless piece was welded to the tube and around the pipe. The pipe going through the boss was welded and leak tested . When I start up the forge you can hear the water boiling on start up and then it starts to circulate naturally. I clean out what little clinker there is and inspect the tuyere daily a small piece of cut off sliver which is still on the end is still there not burned off. It gets hot enough steel does melt in the fire.

-20 F would kill me - I'd freeze solid walking to the shop. Have you tried an electric blower with damper or stuck with a hand blower (and if the latter, how big is it)?

On of my shops is in a small Livery, at the time there was no power so all the work was done manually. I would precut most of the pieces but some still were cold or hot cut. The hand blower stayed, the owners put in a plug for me so I will go to an electric blower soon.

Interest in a side blast forge? Since building the forge I have wondered if I could get enough heat out first with a hand blower, and enough to forge some large pieces. This forge will heat up 3 inch steel in no time and locate the heat in just the right spot.

The side blast forge I built a while back has worked quite well comparing it to a bottom draft, I use about 40% less coal for the same jobs, although I use it for smaller projects 3/4 inch and under. Forge welding is much easier as is control of the fire