Show me your Forge

[Glenn]

Show me your solid fuel forge. Doesn't matter whether it is home made or store bought, coal, coke, charcoal or other solid fuels. Please give us a little information on the construction.

[Glenn]

This forge was constructed from 10 ga plate steel, angle iron legs and a cast iron fire pot. The fire pot was about 8 inches by 11 inches and 5 inches deep.

[Mark Parkinson]

made for re-enactments

build photos on my website at forgecart

and my every day "mobile" forge

[imagedude]

Mine's made from 6mm (1/4") steel. The air is blown through a 8mm (3/8") stainless steel plate though mild steel would be perfectly acceptable. The fan is a 270cfm blower that was once used to cool the laser on a printing machine.

[Frosty]

This is a pic of my large coal forge. The angle is a little odd but I wanted to show the ash dump which is a truck exhaust cap. The tuyere is welded up from 4" exhaust pipe.

The table is 3' x 3' fire brick on 12ga sheet, angle iron frame. No fire pot, I like a duck's nest and fire brick stacked to make whatever size or shape "pot" I need. The big hood is only marginally effective, I made it years before I knew what would work. When I move it into the new shop it'll get a side draft hood.

I also have a cast iron Buffalo rivet forge and hand crank blower but no pics.

Frosty

[skunkriv]

This is my shop forge. 1/4" plate, angle iron legs and a Roger Lorance cast iron firepot. The hood is roughly the same size, shape, and color of a 100 lb propane tank

The air from the blower (which is on the other side of the wall, less noise) is piped through 3" pipe to a box with a butterfly valve in it. Air exiting the box flows either to the tuyere or to a 3" pipe that is inside the hood. This pipe ends just below the chimney pipe. The air flowing through this pipe induces draft into the chimney (venturi effect) and so it draws really well even though there is only about 9 feet of vertical pipe, including the hood. When the air to the tuyere is totally cut off (and the fire is just smoldering) all of the air goes to induce the draft. Works great.

Edit-Ash buckets fill and then overflow. There are 8" dams on three sides welded to the legs. Ashes dump on the floor. When this area gets full I get a flat shovel and a wheelbarrow.

[irnsrgn]

My first demo forge, set up in the ballroom of the hilton Inn in Sioux City, Iowa for the 100th National Blacksmiths Convention.

[HWooldridge]

Buffalo factory forge with large rectangular firepot - I added the tong rack. Used to have a factory half hood but that rotted away in a few years. I bought it practically unused from a man who had obtained it through government surplus. Apparently, the local military bases had scores of forges from WW2 that were sold off in the 1970's. The motor was 220v and he had it wired 110v. Since it would not come up to speed at that voltage, he simply set it in the corner until I found it in 1987. The factory rheostat and motor will create a great fire on the lowest setting with the damper barely cracked - I believe these blowers were designed to run several forges at the higher settings so it has no trouble with a single firepot.

[KevinD]

Here I am rescuing my grandfathers coal forge.

See more pictures here...Excavation and Restoration

[jimbob]

my coal forges

[primtechsmith]

This is one of the portables the Blacksmith Guild of Virginia built in our Forge building class in June. We finished 15 or so in about 3 hours!!!!! This design is by Mike Tanner....not me.

Peyton

[yesteryearforge]

Here is my forge shown in the old building, and a view of the new shop with all three in place

forges made from either 3/8 or 1/2 inch plate
hoods made from 3/16 plate
The big one is mine and the sides are cut out of 3/16 plate 6 ft wide and 14 ft long all one pc
the chimney is 1 ft deep x 4 ft wide.
Im 6 ft 6 so the forge is rather tall for most people but i built it to my specs


Mike Tanner

[Jmercier]

I'm getting forge envy >_< Nice cone btw Mike. I just sold mine this last weekend. Not that i really wanted to sell it, but it was the least used item in my shop and I took the money from it and put it asside towards the money I need to get a powerhammer (with an upcomming build-a-hammer workshop at a metal arts school near me).

Here's my meager coal forge =P

http://www.tharkis.com/images/shop/coalforge.jpg

And here's my fancy coal bin !

http://www.tharkis.com/images/coal.jpg (that's the cone i just sold this last weekend /mourn, but at least i know the person i sold it to and he said i can go and visit it at any time and use it whenever i want =P )

[meancoyote]

this is my forge, its made of a old washtub, fire bricks and clay. i burn charcoal, coal, wood, or what ever i can get. coal is real hard to get here. sorry i dont know how to post the thumbnail pics like everyone else.



Answer to your question:

Make your post as usual. Then below the box where you type in your text is a section called additional options. Go to the "Attach Files" section and click on Manage attachments.

Upload File from your Computer will let you browse your hard drive for photos. When finished and click on the UPPER button called UPLOAD.

Upload File from a URL is where you place the URL if your photo is posted on the internet (such as the IForgeIron Gallery). Copy the URL and paste it here. Click on the LOWER UPLOAD button. To add another photo, repeat as needed.

When you are finished attaching photos, go back to the box where you type in your test and click on Submit New Thread to save both the text and the images.

Site Admin.

[Don A]

Meancoyote,

If that is charcoal briquettes you're using, you can get a lot more heat from the real stuff.

Lowes usually has real charcoal (about $4 / bag)... or you can make your own. There's a lot of info around on how to do that.

I'd venture to say that you would be better off with seasoned wood that you would with briquettes. It's a bit smokey until it chars, but the heat is going to be a lot better than the Kingsford or Matchlight.

Don

[Michael]

Here's mine, brake drum forge, I've since cut slots in the side for longer work. Legs from half inch square. I've got a bit cast iron sheave pulley on the lower rails now with lots of scrap piled on it. Currently looking to find or fabricate a squarish table out of bed angle iron and plate to give me a bit more room on top.

[Frosty]

Consider an appliance lid or door, they're really easy to find if you know where the local illegal dump sites are. :cool: My first forge was a washing machine lid with a brake drum let into it and packed with clay to the rim of the drum.

Frosty

[Ten Hammers]

Shop forge here at home. I might add that the forge table is 7 ga ( 3/16 ) and the hood is 14 guage. I have an airgate ( borrowing Junior's plumbing design to the tuyere) and power blower ( probobly a blower from a high efficiency appliance of some sort ). As Steve White I have a Roger Lorrance firepot but I built the tuyere and ash dump. Coal and Charcoal forge.

[Dutchmancreek]

Here's my coal forge...steel framing and table with a Centaur Forge firepot and hood. Before you say anything, the photo was taken after a major cleanup and painting...it's a lot dirtier now.





Steve

[Dutchmancreek]

This is the front of the forge now...I forgot to include it in the previous post.




Steve

[Glenn]

sorry i dont know how to post the thumbnail pics like everyone else.

Make your post as usual. Then below the box where you type in your text is a section called additional options. Go to the "Attach Files" section and click on Manage attachments.

Upload File from your Computer will let you browse your hard drive for photos. When finished and click on the UPPER button called UPLOAD.

Upload File from a URL is where you place the URL if your photo is posted on the internet (such as the IForgeIron Gallery). Copy the URL and paste it here. Click on the LOWER UPLOAD button. To add another photo, repeat as needed.

When you are finished attaching photos, go back to the box where you type in your test and click on Submit New Thread to save both the text and the images.

If the process errors out, it is usually because the files are too large in size. This is why we suggest posting to the IForgeIron gallery as it automatically resizes the photo for you. It also gives you a thumbnail link that you can copy and paste into the text of your post. When you click on that thumbnail, it will open another window and display the larger image.

[Hoary]

Well, I had put clay in to stop up the holes in the rim then a lit the fire to bake it not too bad. it was actually funny, since I didn't have any base for the forge yet I just put it up on a ladder turned on its side in the shape of a v. I'm hoping to find a more perminate base for it. but anyways here it is...

[jimbob]

go to Lowes or Home Depot and get 1/2 dozen concrete blocks ...three on each side leave room for the blower. cost should be about $10.00

[Brian C.]

Here is my forge. Designed & 98% built by Loren Roper of Simply Smithing Blacksmith Shop. It has a homemade firepot of 1/2" steel plate.

[HWooldridge]

I have to comment on something I keep seeing in these pictures - mainly for the new folks.

I can't speak to charcoal and this doesn't work as well with coke, but a coal forge does best with a lot of fuel in the box. Although it may seem counterintuitive, piling a lot of coal up and around the fire will actually insulate it and use less fuel. In addition, it takes much less maintenance to add fresh fuel and makes the fire deep enough to weld effectively.

I have some lump coal from the Midwest and some slack coal (mostly fines) from Oklahoma that I use in my forge. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with the fines and wet it with about 2-3 quarts of water. After the fire gets going with a little coke from the previous session, I pack the wet coal around the fire so it will begin coking. On the outside of the wet stuff, I rake up whatever is dry and laying in the hearth. The mound at the firepot is at least 5-6 inches above the hearth so it is a nice deep fire. As the fire burns down, I pack it in from the sides with a poker. Most people work on bars of some sort so this method creates a trough in the fire.

I have seen newbies who tear down and practically destroy the fire with every heat or two trying to manage the heat, but effective fire control is more about regular and minimal maintenance to keep that hot glowing center, which will provide an efficient heat on the metal.