Tucker Props Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 As the title says, I finished assembling my brake drum forge today. At first, I had planned on building a table with a box on top, adding lots of braces and support underneath, and pouring concrete into the top of the table. I decided against this plan for now, and went a MUCH simpler route. I stacked up a bunch of cinder blocks to support my brake drum, and I might go buy some more to build more of a surface around it. I bought some black iron pipe and a few stainless steel bolts at Ace, and a dryer duct at Lowes. All in all, I spent less than $50 on materials to build my forge. I fired it up before going in to work just to make sure everything worked on it. It's small enough and pretty simple to disassemble, that I could probably take it with me to shows and stuff if I wanted. I connected the dryer vent to the iron pipe with a clamp that you screw down to tighten, but it didn't connect so well to my Champion 40 blower, so I used a bunch of duct tape to hold it on. Works for now. Does anyone have a better suggestion for the air flow? The dryer duct works right now, but I'm afraid it will come apart at the connection points eventually. Also, I bought some Hardwood Lump Coal. I know its probably not the best out there, but its the only thing I could find locally. I really didn't want to buy anything online since I'll only be using small amounts for now. I know this forum doesn't deal with making armor or knives very much, but I figured I could at least share my forging experience with all of you. I'll also be making an account over at the Armour Archive to display my work. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the forge. That last photo was right after I first started the fire. I let it burn for about 20 minutes or so just happy with myself that I actually built something that works, then I let it die down and covered it with bricks so the ashes won't catch anything else on fire before heading off to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Congratulations! That is exactly how I started out 2 1/2 years ago and have since built a smithy and a new forge. You are well on your way! I look forward to your progression and expect pictures of your work. Thank you for posting. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Props Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 Thanks Mark! I've been so excited this week to get this finished. Several weeks back I had visited our local blacksmithing club in Wichita, and made an "S" hook out of 1/4" square stock and an elbow cop out of 16 gauge mild steel. It was a HUGE learning experience for me, and really made me want to build my own forge. I want to be able to make my own armor. I've made chain and scale maille in the past, so I figure plate is the next logical step. Here are a few pictures of some of my other projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Just the ability to make and modify stakes for armourmaking is a big plus in forging. Now keep your eye open for a RR *bolt*---often used at crossings. They can make a great hot dishing hammer or plannishing hammer, just slit and drift the end with the screwthread for a hammer handle and grind any lettering off the face and polish it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Actually there is a lot of info in the knife forum below on main page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Props Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 Thanks guys! I've got a section of rail that I'll be using as a temporary anvil, and a section of about 4 inch diameter steel pipe that will be "almost" simulating the horn of the anvil. At least it will let me do some curves. I also picked up a stump for free, that I'll be carving into the top of to make myself a dishing stump. One issue I've ran into though, is that I don't have any tongs. Can I start off with a pair of pliers or vise grips or something? They won't melt if they're decent tools at all right? One of my early projects is definitely going to be making my own pair of tongs, but I don't have any stock for that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Nice start there. You've got a blower, so you're ahead of the game already! Dryer hose works really well for getting the air under the fire. I've used baling wire to attach the hose to the underside of the forge, just wrap and twist with pliers. Dryer hose is practically a consumable on my forge, I end up replacing the hose every couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Props Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 Baling wire! Great idea! I was using some sort of compression clamp, but I think I need to be using bigger pipes for airflow. My dryer duct was 3" in diameter, but didn't really fit on the end of the blower. But I had to crush the other end and then clamp it on the air pipe. I think it was only 1 1/2" and I should probably upgrade to a 2-3" pipe in the future huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Entrance Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 I used channel locks until I made my first couple of pair of tongs. Weren't the best for the job, but they worked ok. I never kept them in the fire, so melting wasn't an issue. They would get hot quick, so definitely wear a good glove on that hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Props Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 Thanks Private Entrance! I'll definitely give that a shot. Hopefully I'll have some time to play with everything tomorrow before I go to work, or later today I guess it is now. If not tomorrow, I might get another chance on Saturday or Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewed Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 What you bought locally is lump charcole, not coal. There is a differance. You can use charcole in your forge, but you might have better luck if you break the chuncks up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Props Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Thanks Drewed! Breaking them into smaller chunks does help. Though over the past few days I've learned that I might want to swap out my brake drum for a larger/deeper one so I can pile on more charcoal. Right now I can only get a thin layer on before it starts overflowing. Doesn't matter too much if I'm gonna be making armor though, as basically I can just set my steel on top of the coals and let it heat up, but today I was trying to heat up a railroad spike, took me a while to find the center of the heat, and took quite a long time to heat it up to glow at all. I could barely get a dull red glow. With better coal, it would probably heat up more, and with a deeper fire it would probably heat better as well. Right now my brake drum is only about 2 inches deep, so I imagine that would make it hard to get good heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Entrance Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I built a table for my brake drum forge and it really made a huge difference in how well it worked. I didn't have to worry about overflowing, etc, and gave me a place to put a reserve of coal, things to cool, etc. I made the table out of an old bed frame and some sheet metal I pillaged from a washing machine a friend gave to me. There are pictures of it in the thread 'Ghetto Forge Rebuild.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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