My "too fancy for a brake drum forge" thread

[tantofolder]

I thought I would share the progress of my first coal forge build.My idea is to attempt to make a drum brake forge that is portable and that has an "old world look"to it.I mean this in a generic aesthetic sense,and hope to try some techniques I haven't tried before.I expect this to be an ongoing project/thread( I don't have as much freetime as I used to) so bear with me.The stuff completed here doesn't have its final finish yet....I am still deciding on that.

 Late last year a friend gave me a brake drum he pulled off of a camper he was restoring,so that is how I got started.

Next I decided to go with the 2" pipe method for the tuyere,air inlet,and ash dump.Here is my starting material:

And here it is attached:

I intend to paint most of this(piping) flat black to make it less in the foreground.

Here is my weighted ash dump handle made from a rail spike and some portions of round stock:

Next I aquired a decent hand cranked blower(nice,but with a small broken section on fan housing):

The air outlet on the blower was a bit large to fit inside of the 2" pipe,(where the casting of the to halfs of the housing join)so the pipe had to be flared a bit. I am trying to keep the original integrity of the blower since it is an antique,yet still have it work with my setup.Sorry I don't have a closeup of the pipe flared right now.

Next, I decided to make a bracket that used the original mounting holes on the blower,to connect it to the forge.Here is the start of the bracket with the crumby swage I made to accomodate the cast lines on the blower rather than grind them off:

 

And some thumb screws I made to hold the blower to the bracket:

This is what I have so far.Let me know what you think.And thanks for looking.

[VaughnT]

Very nice!  I really like the touch you did with the thumb screws and can't wait to see how you do the rest of the forge.

[windancer]

Liked the hand-made touches with the fabricated fixtures!

Dave

[Frosty]

Very nice looking. How soon you think till you put it to work? I'd like to see it with a fire in it.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[tantofolder]

Thank you VaughnT and windancer! It sure has been fun so far.

 

Thanks Frosty!I can't really say at this point how long with work,kids,etc.....Also There are some new(new to me) techniques I will be trying.So I may have to work out some kinks there. The frame will be a riveted hoop with three legs,that the firepot/piping drops into.I am  toying with the idea of doing some partially forged pipe for the legs,but I need to see if it will work for me.More to come.

[Pug}{maN]

Neet design so far look forward to seeing it done

[Michael]

Nice work. Love that ash dump!Are you doing all this in a gas forge? Any plans for a table top or tray in your plans? In all of the renos i did to my brake drum forge, most were about getting some "counter space" next to the fire.

[Michael]

Nice work. Love that ash dump!Are you doing all this in a gas forge? Any plans for a table top or tray in your plans? In all of the renos i did to my brake drum forge, most were about getting some "counter space" next to the fire.

[tantofolder]

Thanks guys!! Yes I am doing all this with a single propane burner and a brick pile...its not great,but has gotten me pretty far(minus forge welding).I do have some plans for some table space,but haven't worked out all the dimensions yet.As I mentioned before the firepot will drop down into a frame,so my plan is to make a small table that goes under the lip of the firepot and will be flush with the top.Gravity pulling the firepot down should be enough to hold it in place.I hope my explanation makes sense. I haven't decided on a final shape yet,but I will. Any suggestions for table shape?Here is the hoop that the firepot will drop into and that the legs will be attached to:

 

 

[Nick Esposito]

Make sure that Galvanized pipe doesn't get hot enough to produce fumes. Other than that, it looks great.

[tantofolder]

Well I finally got a chance to do some work on my forge.I put a slight curve on the bracket for the blower(sorry no pic),so it would sit flush against the fire pot hoop.

Next I started on the legs.The upper portion of the legs will be 3/4" square bar and riveted to the hoop.The lower 1/3 of the legs(where it will flare outwards) will be made from pipe.I am still working out the transition from bar to pipe,but at this point my idea is to split the bar,inset into pipe,and weld into place.The pipe will hopefully look like the legs of a cloven hoof animal(goat/deer).I have never formed pipe before,so this was a new experience for me.

I started with some thick walled pipe pieces 1 5/8"(?) in diameter about 12" long.Though the outside was rusted the inside still had plenty of galvinized coating which I had to burn off...yuck.Then I heated a couple of inches of the ends and flared them over the horn of the anvil.Next I made a couple of tools to work the pipe with.Each is made with angle iron.One I made the angle wider(I read 117 degrees was ideal for supporting pipe,but didn't have a way to check it) and made it to fit in the hardy hole.The other I made the angle smaller than 90 degrees and with a tab to hold it in the vise.This one has got to be the ugliest tool I have ever made.It worked though and is what I used to put the notch in the hooves(I slid the pipe over it and used a brick chisel).

I actually haven't needed the wider angle tool much so far as I have mostly been working over the anvil.Here are the hooves started:

 

Hopefully I can work more on the legs today, to finish the next joint and flatten the upper portion of the leg.This pipe work really is fun!!

[Dan C]

Beautiful work Tanto!  Makes me embarassed to post pics of my brake drum forge, but I will say that I love the ability of mine to lay large pieces of steel across the table onto the firepot and it's easily portable as I roll it out of my garage & onto my driveway.  The first picture shows the frame which is then covered w/ 3/16".  I later added a squirrel cage.for the blower.

 

Later I lined the drum w/ refractory cement.  The steel for the frame came from a wrecked firepit that I helped a scout working on his eagle project replace.  As rusted and bent as the metal once it worked well, 6011 rods welded right thru the rust.

[Marksnagel]

Very nice work!

[Frosty]

You guys are on the right track for sure. I'm stil looking forward to seeing a fire.

 

Frosty the Lucky.

[Dan C]

Fire for Frosty's sake and my son & friend roasting marshmellows over the forge.

[tantofolder]

Thanks for the encouragement dcraven and marksnagel! Sorry Frosty,but the fire will be a while....I promise to let you know though. :D

 

Here is a bit more progress on the lower legs.Just a little more refining on these two and then the third one.This is just about what they will look like though.

 

Hopefully I can get started on the square stock soon.

[VaughnT]

Very neat work, Tanto.  Those hooves are looking very nice, and details like that really showcase your craftsmanship.  Potential customers will take note of that!

[tantofolder]

Thank you for the very kind comment VaughnT,it means a lot to me.It is rare when I make money from my artistic ventures,but that is never really my goal. I have worked very hard in many mediums and crafts(drawing,sculpture,armour,to name a few) and second only to my process is my joy in communicating with others through my work.Thanks again.More to come.

[roncapps]

Nice work Tanto! I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

[tantofolder]

Thank you Ron!I made a bit of progress yesterday,so here goes.

 

I had been needing to do some work on my bandsaw which I hadn't used in a least a couple of years. It is a Wellsaw Model 58BD which is a horizontal metal cutter,but can also be used vertically.So I got a new blade,but had to build a work table for the vertical position(it did not have one when I bought it).Unfortunately,I didn't realize until after welding it that the work table(12"x12") was not perfectly square to the blade(looking down at the table).So I wont be able to just measure for placing any jigs I make on the table.Maybe later I will cut it loose and reposition it.Here is a photo of it:

The upper portion of the legs for the forge are to be made from 3/4" square,but I wanted a nice transition into the pipe portion.Here are  3 foot sections of the 3/4" stock,a little longer than I need but I wanted to be safe.

I decided to split the 3/4" square on the diagonal and spread it open where it will join the pipe.This is what I needed the bandsaw for.The jig is one I had made before for drilling holes into round stock on a drill press.I welded on some tabs,so I could clamp it to the work table.It held the stock fairly well.You can see here how off the table placement is.

I split each bar 7"....well almost, before my blade broke on its weld.I had to use a hacksaw for about an inch.

Hopefully,I can get out to the forge today and start shaping these ends.The tough part will be getting the pipe to stay at its angle,while getting the 3/4 bar plumb.Then I plan to plug weld the bar into the pipe.Anyone have any suggestions for holding this stuff in place? 

 

[tantofolder]

Well I was able to get some work done today.....2 days in a row!!

 

I took the 3/4" bars and heated a little less than 1/2 of the split ends.This is about how much of it will be placed into the pipe portion of the legs.I didn't worry about getting it perfectly round,but just wanted to have less grinding for fitting it to the pipe interior. 

 

Next I blended the corners a bit,then heated the full split section so I could spread it open.I used my hot cut for this,which is really a tooth from some Caterpillar machine with a hardy shank welded to it.I put this in the vise since it gave me more length for spliting.

 

Here are the leg sections so far. 

   

 

The next step is going to take some time.Getting the angles right,fitting the two pieces together,welding,etc..Part of the joining of the pieces will require some more forge work on one side of the splits and the pipes (for aesthetics),but I will just show that rather than trying to explain it for now. I am also planning a twist for a section of the square stock that I haven't perfected yet on practice tries,but I am close.

[roncapps]

It appears to be going well. It's going to be nice. That CAT tooth is a good idea too. Let me know if you stumble upon any more.

[Dan C]

When you are finished I swear it's going to be so nice you're not going to want to get it dirty!

[tantofolder]

Ron,I can't remember for the life of me where I got that thing.It is good,hard steel though...I couldn't drill through it,so I set my stick welder on high and melted a hole in it.I have another idea for you though.I will PM you or tell ya at the next Guild meeting.

 

dcraven,I have to use this thing or Frosty will never let me live it down. :D

 

I'm not sure when I will get another chance to work on this....maybe a couple of hours after work on Friday.My next chance after that will be at least a week. :angry:I did do a bit of work on the pipe leg prep,but will wait until I have more to show.  I hope to have pictures which are a little more interesting next time. Thanks for looking!! 

[Dan C]

Can't wait to see the next set of pictures.  Who knows maybe after seeing how nice yours is I'm be prompted to do something similar, but not anytime in the near future.