millphoto Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Would like to gather some opinions from experienced smiths. I'm building my first forge and I will be using wood scraps to run it(my family is in the wood business so I have access to all the wood I can use). I'm building it in a "v" shape similar to the whitlox forges. My question is how long would you guys recommend my trough to be? The v is bent and right now it's 48 inches long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millphoto Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 I'm going to line it with fire bricks and I will build a divider so I can shorten my firebox for most projects. I am mostly interested in the decorative side of smithing but I would love to one day make a sword and I think the long length would be handy for heat treating in the future. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 When you heat the metal, you only need to heat what you can hammer before it cools and has to be reheated. Using raw wood, you will need to run a DEEP fire, much deeper than what is shown in the whitlox forge video. You are converting raw wood to charcoal and then forging with the coals formed by the charcoal. You still need several inches of hot coals between the metal and the air blast. It is the actual coals that transfer the heat to the metal, NOT the fire and air blast. The width of a coal forge is less than 12 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millphoto Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 My trough is 14 inches deep without the firebricks. Will that be deep enough? I was planning on using the thin bricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRoberts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 been using nothing but raw wood for a year now. im doing a similar setup and found that if the V is too deep it gets very difficult to get hot coals built up to where its level with the top plate of the forge. it limits you to only what you can push down into the V. if you need to heat the center of a longer bar if the V is too deep you'll end up with all the heat down in the V and none of it flush with the face of the forge where the bar stock is lying. i recently lopped off the V with my plasma cutter and am in the process of shortening it to bring the coals level closer to the face of the forge. origionally it was about 10'' deep, now it will be about 3'' deep. i also use a brake drum with a high wall welded around the edge that works very well with raw wood. i have a slot cut into the add-on 10 gauge steel so that the stock can lay flat at about the 2.5'' level with a good 4'' of raw wood/forming charcoal above it. you'll achieve much greater success if you chop your wood up into chunks about half the size of your fist as well. you want lots of exposed surface area for quick charcoal conversion. let the wood cook for a while on low air flow while you prep up and constantly add as much wood as you can pile on top without it falling off for a steady supply of heat about half way down the wood stack. brake drum with high wall welded on Deep V forge - too deep in my opinion. most of the hot charcoal rests at the bottom of the V, the wood simply burns too fast to establish a hot coal line above the face of the forge. in this picture you can see what i'm talking about - the bar stock in there has to be pointed down into the V to reach the heat. http://davidproberts.com/2013/01/04/big-forge-build-log/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I would get a couple of layers of 5/8" firecode sheet rock on those wall ASAP. And cover them with some steel plate. It looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRoberts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 they dont even get warm to the touch. been using it nearly every day since jan 2013 without issue. it's fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millphoto Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 been using nothing but raw wood for a year now. im doing a similar setup and found that if the V is too deep it gets very difficult to get hot coals built up to where its level with the top plate of the forge. it limits you to only what you can push down into the V. if you need to heat the center of a longer bar if the V is too deep you'll end up with all the heat down in the V and none of it flush with the face of the forge where the bar stock is lying. i recently lopped off the V with my plasma cutter and am in the process of shortening it to bring the coals level closer to the face of the forge. origionally it was about 10'' deep, now it will be about 3'' deep. i also use a brake drum with a high wall welded around the edge that works very well with raw wood. i have a slot cut into the add-on 10 gauge steel so that the stock can lay flat at about the 2.5'' level with a good 4'' of raw wood/forming charcoal above it. you'll achieve much greater success if you chop your wood up into chunks about half the size of your fist as well. you want lots of exposed surface area for quick charcoal conversion. let the wood cook for a while on low air flow while you prep up and constantly add as much wood as you can pile on top without it falling off for a steady supply of heat about half way down the wood stack. brake drum with high wall welded on Deep V forge - too deep in my opinion. most of the hot charcoal rests at the bottom of the V, the wood simply burns too fast to establish a hot coal line above the face of the forge. in this picture you can see what i'm talking about - the bar stock in there has to be pointed down into the V to reach the heat. http://davidproberts.com/2013/01/04/big-forge-build-log/ Really appreciate the info! What would recommend as the ideal heigth for stock placement in the v? I have not built my ends so I can easily notch them to allow for lower stock placement. Sounds like you would recommend about 3 inches above the top of my pipe but I wanted to confirm to make sure that's correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRoberts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 some V's ive seen are open on the edge so the depth is a mute point, but if you're going enclosed on all sides and dont intend on making a fireball the size of a truck tire when you forge, i'd go about 3 to 5'' for wood "chunks" about half the size of your fist. ive had to fight to keep coals high enough in the deep V forge pictured above every time i fired it up. you may hear other opinions to the contrary, but this has been my experience with raw wood smithing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRoberts Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 looking back on the build log - '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> some of the first advice i was given was that the air holes were too deep, that turned out to be spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Building it long because someday you might use it for heat treating a sword is rather like buying a dumptruck for your daily driver because you expect to carry a load of coal a couple of times a year. You can always dig a quick and dirty trench forge in the ground for heat treating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millphoto Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Building it long because someday you might use it for heat treating a sword is rather like buying a dumptruck for your daily driver because you expect to carry a load of coal a couple of times a year. You can always dig a quick and dirty trench forge in the ground for heat treating. That's true but if it doesn't work she will make a sweet BBQ grill:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRoberts Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 That's true but if it doesn't work she will make a sweet BBQ grill:) thats why i made 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 An other option is to build a retort and convert the scrap to charcoal. Of to build a "key hole fire" like in your Boy Scout manual. Exept use the cooking area to build your fordge fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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