Choices on blast direction

[EnglishWraith]

Hi everybody, this is my first post on here and after doing some reading finding lots of helpful information :) 

This is my first steps down building a forge route. I have been on a weekend course blacksmithing through a Archaeological society I was part and really enjoyed it and moved through it too quickly for the tutor :) He said I should take it up.  I had finished making a candle stick and even had time to make a fire poker with ring welded to the end which I was chuffed with :) 

 

So looking what I have access to I can build almost any type I want. For my first I'm thinking a 55 type forge with a chimney of 8" flue pipe I have around. But do I build a bottom blast or a side blast?

 

I believe I need to have 4" below the tue for a pit and was thinking of lining the bottom with 1" fire bricks, Will there be enough room in a 55 to hold a good fire ball, And I have seem people have had to make a stop opposite the tue to keep the fire in a ball, could this be done with a ring of fire bricks, The tue will be a solid thick walled tube. But then I'm thinking that is more like a bottom blast so should I just go with one of them for a while?

 

I'll be using coal/ coke if I can get coke here. And will be interested in pattern welding some knife blades in the future. But mainly small decorative items to start with.

 

Many Thanks for your help and indeed the site :)

 

Nick

[John B]

Hi Nick and welcome to the site. The choice of which hearth (forge is the building) to make depends on many things. ie Type of fuel you are going to be using, the work you are going to be doing, space available, facilities available on or near to site.

 

Bottom blast hearths are a good way to go as they do not take up such a large footprint in the workshop, they also do not require a water tank/supply to prevent them from burning out the tuyere.

 

If you would like some working plans for a bottom blast hearth, then PM me with your hoe email address and i will send you a set as an attachment.

 

Check out the Blacksmiths Guild UK section in the groups forum to see if we can be of practical help.

 

Have fun with your new adventure into 'smithing.

[EnglishWraith]

Ha sorry still not 100% on terminology :( 

I have answered my own question via another search on google which brought me to another thread in here where there was discussion between bottom and side. With the outcome something along the lines unless you go full water cooled it's not worth the extra hassle of side blast. And looking at my stores I have enough scrap for a bottom blast.

 

I will Pm you for some plans :)

 

And will be looking in on the BG UK section :)

[Charles R. Stevens]

I personally like the versatility of a side blast, very easy to reconfigure for different fuels and projects. Admittedly she needs to be flirted with a bit more, but that's the charm.
As to the tuyere, it can be sacrificial, instead of what're cooled, stainless lasts longer, as well as putting a hole in a kiln shelf or stack of fire brick. With the bottom blast I much prefer using a bullet grate, as it makes slag so much easier to deal with .

[Dale M.]

I wonder about the water cooled part..... I see it mentioned in old publications (1860-1910 publications) but do not see or hear about it much today....Could it be a thing that has actually gone by the way side with the newer modern materials....

 

Could the process of using a water dipper and raining water on outer ring of coal/coke to help control fireball made the water cooling obsolete?

 

Excluding the water cooling may simplify your forge construction, but then again it may shorten its life span... But then how long do you actually expect it to last....

Dale

[John B]

Water coling is more a European thing,

 

Sacrificial cast iron tuyeres were used and reasonably effective for coal, but now we tend to use forging coke, which burns hotter than coal coke and will burn out dry tuyers