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I Forge Iron

Show me your Forge


Glenn

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It was very helpful, I'm sorry having a bit of stress related issues right now lol kinda funny that I was a who's flame is bigger contest lol... yeah that sounded odd, but know it did give me something to think about and apply once I really get it up and running. Thanks :) I'll get a right start in the trade :)

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In my experience with charcoal, the bigger the pile of charcoal, the bigger the fire since it requires less air to burn than coal. You have to make sure to keep it wet on the outside to keep the fire from spreading and too much water douses the fire down. It's definately a fine balance that comes with experience and I still can't say I'm a master at it. I just let it burn usually and keep the fuel pile the size I want to burn.

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Hammerkid,

You may want to weld a handle onto that cap for your ash dump to make it easier to remove. If you can find a pipe flange with the same thread, you can use that and make a pivoting ash dump, which is common and easy to use.

I don't know what you're using to control air volume. I've used a reostadt on a couple of forges, and I'm not generally impressed, but I think some blowers will handle it better than others. I'm going to try a gate in my new one.

Fire it up!

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks, at the time when I got the table I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I knew I wasn't going to let it get scraped, it's heavy, 4"x4"x1/2" angle legs and frame and 3/8" steel plate top, I just cut 12" off of the legs and a hole for my fire pot and it worked out perfect.
There are some things that I still have yet to do, like mount my vise, (note the C-clamp holding it) finish the ash dump, make a hammer and tong rack and then sometime I'll eventually make a nice hood and then paint the whole works black, I am also going to make a gas forge one of these days and I'll probably make a mount for that somewhere on the table, probably movable.
If I ever get it cleaned up I'll post some finished pics.

welder19

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i built this coal forge with three legs
hard to see but i welded unistrut on both sides of forge to add accessories
like stock carriers , small quench tanks etc.
a centuar firepot with dumping ash gate
surroundings are a horse run in shed i bought with a crush and run floor

4266.attach

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Very nice welder19. Frosty is right, nice to have a forge table at least big enough to dump a full bag or a couple buckets of coal on. You have that plus! Plenty of room to lay your fire tools (mine don't even have hooks or eyes for hanging, they always lay ready in or on top of the coal) and room to lay tongs as they cool (a good habit is to never put hot tongs back in the rack, they should be laid off to the side or put on the floor). Plenty of room to have the pieces you are ready to forge handy and to lay the things you have just forged to cool.

If this forge was mine I would be cutting a piece out there at the right end to allow long pieces to be heated in the middle for twisting, bending etc. You could weld one of the pieces you cut off the legs underneath the cutout to reinforce it. The 3/8" plate would likely never bend in use but might if you pick it up to move it.

A really nice forge!

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Thanks Steve, I have thought about the cut out for long stock but just havn't decided how I want to do it yet, I actually thought about cutting the lip off of the entire corner and reinforcing underneath, I usually over think everything and put it off as long as I can so I don't do it and then wish I had done it different but usually do any way.

welder19

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  • 2 weeks later...

I built this forge 2 weeks ago, and have used it twice so far. It works great. I went from a junk BBQ forge to this, what a difference. The firepot is actually a cast Iron floor drain flange from the local home improvement store (big orange) $17! I thought the stepping stones would crack from the heat, but both forging sessions were 5+hrs, so I guess they will be ok.

Small fire, and it was the end of my session...

firepot:

7005.attach

7006.attach

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Nicely done Timekiller. I love thinking outside the box... which is somethign we have to/should do as blacksmiths! :D My charcoal forge is a 9" stainless steel bowl with a hole punched in the side for the tuyere (was once part of a shopping trolley). Lined with ashes and such, it works just fine for me! Kinda like a ground forge but above ground. Will get some pictures tomorrow when I have it lit.

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As promised, a pic of my ghetto forge.
DSC00127.JPG

The air draught is provided by the blue and black air pump in the foreground (designed for inflating infalteables I think) and elbow grease. The lagest stock I've used in it s far is 1"x1/4" mild (as in this photo) and it can get it to yellow if you're patient. The bowl cost

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  • 6 months later...

well i have seen manny post like show me you anvil flypress swage and more but never seen show me your forge.
so lets see it.

heres mine... its a steel table lined with bricks with a smal brake routor in it...
i am currently making one with a real firepot and table for my shop!

This has been combined with another thread on the same subject.

hey Glenn....
thanks for combinin my post with this one!

6998.attach

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in the uk ,as a young man the workshop was called the Forge ,in the industreal areas the fire was called the Hearth, , in the country the shop was called the smithy, and again the fire was the Hearth, if it was built into the shop ,we spoke of the smithy being built around the Hearth , a blacksmiths forge usualy was free standing and in a workshop doing other things ,around the mid 60s with the decline of men doing all there work in the fire ,to speak of the hearth fell into decline, and nowdays very few dont use the word Forge .

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