simple permanent coal forge questions

[jblue]

Im finally done building my shop and wanna put a permanent forge in it but dont wanna spend a ton of money but dont want one that looks like u set it on top of a bar stool and taped it together.I need some ideas and im new to blacksmithing. Any help would be great. thanks

[Michael]

Don't get committed to a style of forge early on. Forges are like light sabers, you need to build one to get you started, but with some skills
and some practice under your belt, you will find you can build a better forge in a couple of months, or a year from now. By then, that pile of bricks you put together might not fit the work you're doing.

My first forge was a brake drum on wobbly legs with a furnace fan providing the draft. A year or two later that same brake drum was mounted in a modified plant stand that had a table on one side and a tool rack on the other side with a hand cranked blower attached. 2 yrs after that the same brake drum was mounted in a rolling service cart with a wide steel table and fire bricks deepening the firepot for charcoal.

Now I've got a big cast iron table with firepot and am forging with coal, but 4 years prior I wouldnt' have recognized the value of THAT forge when I saw the lousy picture on craigslist. That original brake drum in its third base went to a new smith at an Iron in the Hat event a couple of months ago.

How the forge looks is meaningless to how it works and the work you produce with it.

[ThomasPowers]

What type of forge would be good for you depends a lot on what you are going to do---which you don't mention.
A forge that's great for knifemaking may be horrible for ornamental work.

You also don't mention what fuel you plan to use. So someone could spend an hour typing in details of an oil fueled forge only to be told---well I want a charcoal one.

So give a thought as to what kind of information we would need to help *you*!

[jblue]

U bring up a good point. Ive been eying up a roll around cart at work but dont think i can get it it would be alot less work to be able to roll it outside...do u have and pics of those other forges i plan on using coal and as for what i plan on doing idk prolly more towards ornamental work i guess. I havent found my grove yet

[ThomasPowers]

Have you given any thought or taking a junked propane grill cart and re-building it as a forge?

I have done this several times, removing the grill and bolting a metal plate across it and then mounting the forge to the plate. A brake drum can make a decent firepot in such.

I tend to make something to get started and then modify it over the years as my needs change. I consider pretty much *everything* in the smithy to be a "consumable"!

[jblue]

i havent thought about a propane grill.that may actually work pretty good for me since i know where one is...for the brake drum part does size matter...is bigger better like in other cases or should i stay small

[ThomasPowers]

Bigger is not necessarily better. I had a student make one from a Semi brake drum that he ended up throwing away as it was too heavy to move and too deep to easily use.

When I had such a set up I used a fairly small drum and then had a "fence" that fit inside it to allow me to pile the coal high. Just some sheet metal (unplated or painted!) that I bent around into a C leaving a gap to put metal in and out of the hot spot and then I cut a "mouse hole" opposite the gap to allow longer pieces to fit through. This of course was tweaked for blade forging and billet welding.

For ornamental work having the firepot fastened to the underside of the forge table with angle iron "walls" alone the outside of the table allows you to fit larger width pieces over the top of the firepot and then you can rake coke over it to get a heat where you need it.

[Francis Trez Cole]

I use an old propane grill converted to a forge. The one question I have not seen asked are you going to be forging in side durring the winter. So with being said the chiminey/ ventelation is more critical to match up with your forge.