I'm about to make my first forge and would like to have it done by the end of the month, but I cant decide on the size and shape of it. I'm planning on using this design. http://www.livelyknives.com/washtubforge.htm
I have a rectangle shaped "tub-like-object" thats 25" by 13" :shock:(I think too big), which came out of an old oil burning stove. And also an oval shaped tub thats 13 1/2" by 9", which I think may be too small once I put the clay mix in. I could probably make the big one shorter (maybe 17-18" would be good?) by cutting and bending in the sides without much effort since the bottom unscrews and the sides are quite thin.

I'm worried about this size issue because I dont want it to consume massive amounts of charcoal :shock:

I'm certainly no expert, so I won't comment much on size except to say that there are ways to temporarily fill space in a forge so that you don't use as much fuel (fire brick comes to mind).

I do have a comment on the Lively washtub forge. I'd put a 'U' bend in the blower tube so that you can crank the blower from the side of the forge. This way, you can put longer stock in without leaving it unattended on the unheated end.

Just my opinion, and you know what opinions are like. :oops: :lol:

I've been poking around on the Lively tutorial website. Have you looked at the arrowhead tutorial? If not, check it out. It shows how to temporarily reduce the active area of the washtub forge by blocking holes at either end with adobe. When you want to use a bigger working area for larger projects, you just pop off the dried adobe blocking.

I built a forge much like Tim's back in 1981 I left the back end of the tuyere pipe open and put in a "ramrod" that I used to control how long an area received air to set the length of the fire.

Thomas