Gonna turn my old gas barbeque into a forge

[Bo T]

I have an old Coleman barbeque that I am going to turn into a forge this summer. It is @ 14" x 26" by 8" with a stepped V side profile. I'm planning on burning coke almost exclusively. I plan on lining it. I've seen a couple of designs. One is placed in a small wash tub with pipe running horizonally along the bottom. Holes are cut every few inches to form the tuyere. I've read that the tuyere can be partially blocked off to make a smaller fire pot? The other is an up draft with an ash dump and a clinker breaker. And today, I read something about a side draft?  What are the trade offs for these designs? I'm a little concerned about the coke laying right on top of the tuyere with the wash bucket design. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Bo T

[Frosty]

Yes, all these will work and you most certainly design ways to block portions of the perforated pipe to change the length of the fire. for the most part though a long forge isn't a lot of good till you're ready to heat treat. You can only forge a few inches of blade at a time  so heating more does more damage to the steel than necessary.

 

A side draft is a way to draw smoke and fumes away from the fire. (Draft, pronounced draw and means the same thing in almost all forms. How's that for a little smithish FYI?) In general a side draft hood is more effective than an overhead hood. Search out Super Sucker or Hofi side draft hood. Most guys post pics of their hoods drawing (drafting) smoke and flames off the fire. The pics are impressive but just wait till you build oe and find out how well it works.

 

Blast refers to how air is supplied to the fire. A bottom blast blows air up through an air grate into the bottom of the coal/coke/charcoal/etc.  A side blast blows air horizontally into the coal/coke/etc. through a tuyere pipe or a tue iron. both work well, both have their up sides and down sides. Everything associated with blaksmithing has it's up and down sides, you just learn to work with it or change it or ?

 

take a look around the site at forges, there are most every kind ever invented or used shown here. The general categories are solid fuel, gas and induction. Bring a lunch, something to drink and a comfy chair.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Bo T]

Thanks for the information Frosty. If I don't need to worry about burning up the tuyere pipe with the coke? And since I can block off part of the pipe to make a smaller fire box. I think I'll go with that longer design. Being able to put a couple of muffle pipes for longer pieces seems appealing. I'll remember the blast is for the air and the draft is for the smoke.  

[Frosty]

The why nots of building a long forge, especially a first forge has been gone into in detail many times, posts can be found in the forge section. Not to be discouraging but my neck and head are hurting too much right now to do a re-hash so I'll leave it for you to do some research.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Bo T]

Thanks Frosty. I hope you get to feeling better. I just needed to go back far enough to find the info I was looking for.

 

So, I am going to build a washtub like forge. I am looking to put in a 2" liner made out of dolomite, vermiculite, and refractory cement. I will add an extra 2' of liner to the ends to add a little extra support. The fire pot will be 12" X 18". I'll make a soft brick tuyere block coated with the liner to cut the fire pot to 12" X 12". The up blast tuyere will be a simple schedule 40 or better 1" pipe with holes drilled in the top along the length of the fire pot. I am thinking of putting a 90 degree elbow at the end of the pipe with a section of capped pipe facing down. The tuyere could be cleaned by removing the cap and blowing the ashes into a bucket of water. I'll start pulling the extraneous pieces off of and out of the barbeque this weekend. It will be at least a couple of weeks before I start with the liner and tuyere. If there are any comments or suggestions please post them. If anyone is interested in the build let me know and I'll take some pictures.