Here is an old forge I picked up recently. The main drive gear is missing a few teeth so I've got a welder friend fixing that for me. Should I just reassemble it and use it as is?

 

 

 

Well since you can't tell us what you want to do we can't tell you if that will work for you.

 

Small ornamental stuff should be fine in that forge using charcoal (lump NOT briquette) or coal.

Stuff most of those tongs would hold would be way too large for easy working in that forge.

Well, at this point in time, I'm not sure what I want to do. It's good to know that I should probably make other arrangements for larger forging projects. One thing that got me interested in this stuff was some tomahawks forged from ball peen hammers.

Thanks for the input!

I agree with Thomas, running that forge with charcoal for generally small projects should be fine.

The tongs could be altered but they are generally speaking a bit large. I'm guessing that gear is going to be cast iron, is you welder friend ok welding that up?

I look forward to seeing a restoration thread going up soon. :)

All the best
Andy

Thanks guys!

 

Yeah my welder friend is a master welder, he specializes in cast materials of all kinds. He welds for Precision Castparts, I was pretty lucky.

I think you have a great antique there. Good to see you intend to use it and I believe it will serve you well. You're lucky to have a mate who can weld cast - a valuable skill. No doubt there'll be a few beers heading his way.

This is a great site for learnin' and such, thank you all for adding to my post. I'm sure I'll be contributing some pics and asking questions along the way. I see some amazing work being done by members here, VERY inspirational!