Self Build Coke Forge - Help!

[Luke Horobin]

Hey folks!

This is my first post on these forums, so please be gentle. I'm learning as I go from resources I find online and forges I visit, so I know I'm probably not doing everything the BEST way, but I'm just trying to gather enough knowledge so I can get started with what I've got! That said, I really need some help. I've come to the end of how far I can take things and I'm hoping some folks here can help.



This is my current setup! Forge Mark I.



You can see here where I've in the past had the heat up enough to melt the steel grate. That wasn't good as it damaged the tray!



Here you can see how I pipe my air flow into the base of the tray.



And here is my blower. It is an old bouncy castle blower. It blows enough to blow the coke out of the forge if I let it, but airflow control has been an issue. Right now I'm using a bit of cardboard and duct tape!

Ok, so my issue is this! I'm struggling to get the forge burning, it often goes out and getting the balance just right with airflow and the amount of coke to put on the wood is tough. If I do get it going however, it works great for a few minutes. Long enough to get a bit of steel to weld heat, but minutes later the fire dies down and no matter how much more air I put through, it just goes out.

I have no idea what I am doing wrong. I'm going to make a video if no one can help from what I've included here.

If anyone has any advice, please fire away! (Pun intended hehe)

[Rich Hale]

When you visited other forges did you look at how deep the fire was when it was at working heat? Just looking at youi pics make sme wonder if you piled your fuel up high enough to work with. Most forges have a fire depth that is it has a bowl shaped area arouind the air inlet that aloows the fuel to be stacked in and give you a good supply of fuel to keep heat going. Fuel is added to that as it is used up. I use coal for my solid fuel forge and have a bowl shaped bottom, I put a wad of newspaper in the bottom and a few pine cones on top. Then left over coke from the last fire. I surround this area with large lumps of coal. as those lumps are heated they are kept a little from burning by an occasional splash of water. The coal cokes up and I pull it into the fire to keep working. Fire needs three items. Air, fuel and heat. A lack of one or more of those is your problem. Too much or too little air, too llittle fuel are likely your problem.

[Luke Horobin]

I cleared the coke out of the way to give you guys an idea of how I was getting the air through the base in case that was an issue. I usually have the coke piled up so it is a good 3-4 inches deep, though that could well be the problem if that isn't deep enough? I understand after reading some of the posts on here a bowl would of been best, but if I can make what I have work for awhile I'll change for the next forge. I'll try with deeper coke! Any more suggestions? Thanks Rich for that.

[Rich Hale]

Use some fire brick around the air inlet will be easiest try a couple of layers of them..Just stack no need to morter them in place. That will allow you to see how it helps. 3 to 4 inches is just not enough.. I would want a bowl to be below the table so I could rake fuel in But try a temp fix to see wot you like.

[Luke Horobin]

I'll try the temp fix, but if it works.. I could cut out a large hole in the table, build the same brick bowl below it and then level it out so the table is as you said you'd like it. It sounds like I'm not burning near enough fuel. Which makes sense, as the fire gets up to a good heat after I pile the coke on, but a few minutes later burns down and down and I wasn't adding more fuel as I thought I had enough. I really assumed 3-4 inches would be MORE than enough. I never checked the depth of other peoples fires, it just looked to be a few inches. How deep are folks pits??

[pkrankow]

Instead of building a brick bowl, look at building or buying a drop in fire pot. Bricking up the table is a good temporary option, and is durable enough for you to not be in a hurry to "fix" it again.

I like 3-4 inches of fuel on top of a 4 inch or so deep fire pot.

Phil

[Luke Horobin]

Ah, so nearly 8 inches in total? No wonder I'm miles off getting this thing going. I'll try again today! Cheers folks for the help. I had no idea where I was going wrong!!

[Larry H]

Luke.....as stated, you can use fire bricks standing on edge to simulate a fire pot....but you may need better air management, do you have an air gate on the delivery pipe ? if you let the air run amok the fuel will burn right up.
what state are you in ?

[pkrankow]

Yes about 8 inches total. The top of the pot should be the neutral part of the fire, the pot should hold the oxidizing part, and the reducing part is stacked on top...at least that is how I see it. You may need less fuel stacked on top depending on what you are trying to do.

Phil

[Luke Horobin]

I'm working on making a valve for the air flow, I need to pick up a welder so I can finish the job. I've also been trying to cut 3mm sheet steel with my grinder, but it isn't going well. I'm not very good at straight lines apparently. Sadly I'm not in the US, I'm living in England! Where we can't even buy blacksmith hammers, never mind anything else useful. Sure, we have expensive forges, but for a do it yourself weekend project, I've been struggling.

At the moment I can either have a small amount of air or full air... I think the problem has been, I've got the fire going, opened up my air to full and used up all the fuel in that area in a matter of minutes. Then the fire dies down and rather than add more fuel, I've been trying to add even more air. I'm a proper muppet I know! I'm going to make a video for you guys next time I'm able to try this out.

Thanks for the help so far, you guys have all been great.

[Kendall P]

Hello and welcome to i-forge iron

As a fellow bodger i too have done my best at trying many different "on the cheap" methods of creating and containing a forge fire -Hopefully youll find this as usefull as i have.

My fire tray was made out of thin mild steel sheeting - it wasnt expected to withstand much heat, and didnt have to - all it does it provide some large surface area with a big enough lip all the way around it to store my fuel around the fire-pot - also allowing the fuel nearest the firepot to get warming up ready to be burned.

The fire pot was cut out of an old oxygen tank i purchased from my lovely local scrap dealer - this steel is made to withstand one hell of allot of punishment as industry standard due to the nature of its content. its also naturally curved - after cutting a section from the tank - i preceeded to weld two slightly thicker lengths of mild steel on the side`s of this make shift pot with and additional 90 degree bent length welded to both the straight peice's lips allowing the mild steel tray to have a square section cut to the size of the complete "pot" and the "pot" to rest nicely on these 90 degree bent lips.

As for the air hole - i drilled 3 holes through the now base of my curved fire pot and then took a thick peice of 6mill steel plate and drilled many holes in this - this was cut to rest in the crux of the curve of the fire pot slightly elevated off the bottom. on the base i took some mild steel tubing - and mig welded it to cover the 3 holes i drilled in the pot - i constructed a dump valve for ash and another welded pipe at right angles to connect to my air source - i used a sliding gate valve for my air flow.

This set up lasted me a few years - and was put through some punishment. the grand total cost me $50





Things i learned after this build where:

1) Dont make your pot as deep as this - the core of the fire sat too low to work lenghty peices.

2) You don't neet some super fancy "uber blower" to fan a fire - a squirrlcage from an old car will do just fine. - less is more.

3) You dont "need" a clinker breaker built in - its called a poker and fire spade.

4) As a rule really - less is more when constructing these things - if your haveing to over-stretch to bodge something ropey that doesnt work - you probably havent read enough about what it is you want to acheive. Forge fires are simple in concept but you've still got to understand that concept.

5) Mig welders are awsome - after borrowing my brother in law's for this - i now love welding - and more importantly i love migs.

6) Be safe - you can never be too safe.

7) Im not great at spelling or grammer.

[John B]

Hi Luke, Whereabouts in England are you, and of course you can buy blacksmithing tools including hammers from various suppliers and manufacturers in the UK, not always cheap, but usually good quality. or if you are a blacksmith make your own, thats what blacksmiths do.

If you are near Westpoint (Devon) check out our Guilds website, www.blacksmithsguild.com and if we have a course on drop by and see what we do and what tools we have lying about for sale. Or drop in on a Forgein weekend and have a look and play.

You can see what we get up to if you check out Blacksmths Guild UK on this forum in the Groups section

[John B]

Hi Luke, sorry I missed this yesterday, was taking a course at Westpoint, Forges don't need to be deep, here are some we use in competitions that are in full extreme use for 8 hours at a session, and constanly being used for forge welding etc.

In the last month they have been used for a Forge in at Plymouth arts College, and at Finch foundries St Clems day celebrations.

The only problems we have with them is they tend to distort slightly due to the heat being created by the fire, but this is acceptable.

There are three stacked on top of each other for transporting to shows, and a picture of the underside of one of them. If you want plans for them pm me with an email address, and I will send you the details.

Being shallow, any clinker is easy to remove



Good luck with the project, and enjoy your new life as a potential blacksmith.

[Drewed]

For an 'el cheapo firepot, look into a cast iron dutch oven ( small size,) a bean pot ( also cast,) or I use a cast skillet. The skillet is a little to shallow. You should be able to fine any of these new for about $20 (us) or used uber cheap.