Side blown forge tuyere

[irnsrgn]

These are pics of the tuyere for the side blown demo forge I am making for use with my bellows. The 1 inch sch 40 pipe is Stainless Steel, I got the idea from Bruce Wilcock's post in the old forum. I use a butterfly valve to control the air instead of making a whole bunch of little pumps on the bellows.

[HWooldridge]

Do you like it and how is the fire compared to a bottom blast? Have you welded with it? Inquiring minds want to know...

[irnsrgn]

HW, I just got the tuyere made, haven't started on the forge part yet, I have never operated a side blown before, going to be a new expierience for me.
irnsrgn

[Ten Hammers]

Here is my information on the side blown. We at Threshers have a side blown with a fairly big set of bellows (4' double). The forge was actually built long time ago "just for looks" we think. Refractory (knifed in) pot lining over (probobly just) sand mortar mix pot. Some kinda pipe for the blast. NO cleanout on the bottom (and a solid brick forge with no real way to put one in without extreme surgery). Hence, the ash builds pretty quick and the blast pipe is level with the bottom. Clinkers stick to the refractory that is around the blast pipe (big time). This is with first class coal. I will definitely be interested in seeing how this evolves Junior. I can see as much use for the butterfly as I can a dual blower (Jim C) with power and crank. Many times all you need is a puff or 2 but you can also open it up and honk the blast to it if you wish. Are you going to build the pot ?

[irnsrgn]

Ten there won't be a pot as such, just a hollow in the middle of some clay, I think its called a ducks nest because it resembles the nest a duck makes. It will be fairly deep with the pipe entering a couple of inches off the bottom, I have never really seen one of these forges so it will be trial and error for the building process.

irnsrgn

[bruce wilcock]

yes the job looks right, the tube i use is a lot heavier more like hollow bar,

the forge is a pan about 1 ft deep and 3ft or so sq i make them 3 by 5 ft ,, the smallest would be 2 ft sq 1/ 8 plate will do

set the pipe about 3-4 ins down from the top of the sides ,8 ins spacer under the pipe welded to the pan bottom to hold it in place


place fire bricks on the pan bottom 3-4 ins thick no need to cover all the bottom if you havent the bricks 18 in sq under the pipe will do

then fill up with sand old foundry sand is the best but any sand that will ram up will do damp the sand and ram it in


make the nest as you spoke about leaving a covering over the bricks under the pipe and ram a bank with the pipe poking out 1 ins



the sand will come to the top of the forge at the sides

then lay a pice of plate from the edge sloping down on the sand at the side you work 6 in or so wide and 2-3 ft long to give somthing to slide your work peice down into the fire aim it to be ,mid way from the pipe and the forge pan top

so the job will be steered into the center of the fire


and thats it all sand ramed hard

1/2 a hour s work and your away the clinkers lift of



and if you want to go down the purist uk

throw broken fire bricks or soap stone 3 ins deep shovell sand in
then dig a turf with short grass on turn it over and make the harth bed with that and cover with soil make the nest and away you go


suprising the number of worms and so in a sq yard of sod


but it works well

this has definetly taken longer to type than do and proberly made a pair of shoes in the fire as well

[irnsrgn]

Thank You Bruce, this will be for occassional use only doing small work, I have heard a lot about side blown forges so decided to try it. I plan on using ordinary bank clay mixed with sand to make the ducks nest out of with some hail screen in there somewhere to act as reinforcing wire to hold it together, my whole forge will be portable so the whole thing will not be over 2 ft square at the most setting on a seperate folding leg setup. I was going to set the pipe 2 inches off the bottom of the nest but will go with your recommendation of 4 inches.
Again thanks for the insight into this.


Irnsrgn

[Ralph]

irnsrgn,
I might suggest that teh air pipe be closer to the floor of the hearth than a few inches. The side blown forge we have at Ft Vancouver has the pipe almost on the floor. Then the ducks nest starts about 2 inches from the tip and goes down as you said. Then the back wall of the nest actually is higher than the pipe. acting as a sort of back drop.

Also we have a water cooled nozzel. Made from 4 inch outer pipe with a 1 inch inner. Has been used pretty good for about 6 years and there is no degradation so far.

[roelf.muller]

how does one go about ridding the forge of clinkers in a side draft forge?

[matt87]

Reduce blast for a minute or two, then hook it out and chuck it on the floor. It tends to pool into one lump, since it's not messed about by the blast.

[psilogen]

We've got a side draft, and to be honest I'm not much of a fan. Ours isn't designed very well though, it's just got a three inch pipe leading in that got burnt back within a week, and a flat square firepot, also with no clear-out mechanism. Because the air comes in from the side, the hotspot is fairly irregular, and only symmetrical when viewed from the front of the forge, rather than the side where I work. It may be that I don't know much about fire-tending though, which is definitely possible, and the pipe issues probably contribute heavily to the main problems. We're also burning charcoal rather than stone coal, so YMMV.

[John Martin]

Sorry, but I don't see any pictures, I know this is an old thread.