can this forge be fixed and used

[berliner]

A friend of mine has this old forge as a yard ornament, as you can see it needs a little help, can this yard ornament be fixed to a working forge, if so how, and what would be a fair price.

[ThomasPowers]

Considering that you can use a hole in the ground as a forge---yes that can be fixed. To me it looks like an industrial forge used for things like rock drill bit sharpening or jackhammer bit sharpening and was used with a gas or oil burner in the side.

It is not a good configuration for general smithing.

If I wanted to use it for general smithing I would install a tuyere in the upper hole and put the air pipe through the side hole. I would then put a fence up top so that coal wouldn't fall off in use. Given that you could do the same thing with a flat piece of sheet metal and some firebricks I wouldn't pay US$10 for it myself.

If you were getting into a bit sharpening business and had experience with waste oil burners I might go $50 but be sure to dry out the firebrick thoroughly before bringing up to forging temps!

[Larry H]

that looks like a coke forge, reconfigure the bricks to make a square pit, get a strong blower and you are in business . That looks amazingly similar to the one I've been using for the past thirty years, I'll try to remember to take a picture of mine tomorrow

[knots]

From what the thumb nail shows I am with Thomas on this one being oil or gas fired because I see no evidence of the provision of an ash dump. Having said that I would like to see how Larry H has configured his forge to work with coal. Hopefully he will be able to either show us his or describe it if pictures are not available.